Bon Voyage!

After a festive night of music and tango dancing (Anja is REALLY good!) our team boarded the M/v Plancius, their home away from home for the next 18 days. Soon after the M/v Plancius was towed out of port by two tugs where upon she turned south east and started the long voyage to South Georgia Island. Our team is in the very capable hands of Captain Alexey and a fabulous crew including one of the on board hotel managers, Natashia from Holland. Everyone is very excited to be on their way! Among our team is Jane Goldsmith who celebrated her 82nd birthday yesterday. Happy birthday Jane!

As the Plancius departed the winds were lively from the south. As guide Paul Schurke mentions it is a day that Shackleton would have liked because it would have blown him north from Elephant Island to South Georgia. You can listen to Paul's full comments below in the first of our daily audio dispatches. The temperature was around 55 F and the waves were a bit bumpy. We are hoping for smooth sailing in the next 5 days, but this part of the Atlantic can get a bit blustery, and more than one expedition has spent much of their passage heavily medicated with anti-sea sickness drugs. As the ship approaches the Antarctic Convergence they can expect a change in sea temperature and general sea conditions. We'll write more about this later.

The Plancius

During the passage the team will be comfortable on board the M/v Plancuis. The ship was built in 1976 as an oceanographic research vessel for the Royal Dutch Navy and was named “Hr. Ms. Tydeman”.The ship sailed for the Dutch Navy until June 2004 and was finally purchased by Oceanwide Expeditions. The vessel was completely rebuilt as a 114-passenger vessel in 2009. It can accommodate 114 passengers and it has a restaurant/lecture room and a spacious observation lounge with a bar and large panoramic windows for viewing the spectacular scenery. It also has several outdoor decks for watching birds, whales and catching some fresh air. Make sure to listen to Paul's audio dispatch and check back again soon for the next update! If you have a question for the team make sure to send it to us!