13 Jan First full day on the Polar Pioneer


Each night Martin would write on the whiteboard - which was conveniently outside our room - a schedule of the next morning. This was what he had written before hearing the news ...

When we got up we noticed that the boat wasn’t moving. We soon found out why. One of the engines wasn’t functioning.


After breakfast we gathered in the lounge for a briefing. A very serious briefing, explaining that we could not proceed with our journey due to the engine fault. There were not many dry eyes amongst us but everyone was accepting and remained stoic.

From then on for most of the rest of the day we spent trying to work out what to do next, checking our insurance cover, deciding if we could pick up a berth on another vessel going to Antartica and wandering aimlessly around the boat trying to come to terms with what we had just heard.


We did spend some worthwhile time enjoying the environment, bird spotting etc

Cormorants


This tiny dot is a seal jumping out of the water


Black-Browed Albatross



Tejals cabin buddy Anna - who Heidi learnt a lot from while taking photos



Then at approx 4:15 we were all called to another meeting in the lounge for an update.

Important announcement- the chief engineer explained that he had fixed the problem with the second engine by fabricating a tool in order to fix the engine.



Of course everyone was so jubilant. What a rollercoaster of emotions. Time to celebrate with a drink

The engines were started soon after so we went out on deck to enjoy the situation of the boat moving again and being back in action


Went to bed on quite a high.


There was a lot of rock n roll during the night with some things crashing around in the cabin.

Comments

  1. AditiJanuary 22, 2024 at 5:42 PM

    What! My heart skipped a beat when I read that….as I anxiously read ahead, I was feeling sad too. I am so glad that you guys could continue your journey. I am eagerly waiting to read next chapters of your journey xx

    ReplyDelete

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