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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Mar 20, 2006 07:00 PM Third day at sea
Days at sea are long? The leader of our expedition is trying to organize
our time. We have live lectures (1 hour per day) and movies from DVD.
Now, when the outside temperatures are higher people often prefer to
stay outside, enjoying the breeze and the sun. It is already quite
strong, the sunscreen is necessary. Unfortunately hey have not chairs
for the deck. Russian crew tried to find the solution, they installed
primitive timber bunks on the top deck, but they are not very
comfortable. This is not a cruise ship!
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Mar 19, 2006 07:00 PM The third drill
If you sailed before on the cruise ship you will know what is a drill.
On the signal everybody takes lifejacket and is going to the muster
station. Then they check if everybody is there and pack us to the
lifeboats. No, the lifeboats stay onboard? It was already third drill
on our voyage. Fortunately it is already warm and pleasant on the deck.
After weeks in cold Antarctica we wear now shorts and T-shirts. Today
for the first time we had our lunch on the open deck over the bridge.
Sun, breeze and a lot of fun?
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Mar 18, 2006 07:00 PM 1300 nautical miles to St Helena
Sunny weather, calm ocean but bad news, Due to the wrong calculation
made by the voyage organizer we will loose one day planed to be spend on
the island! Planning the itinerary they thought that we will sail from
Tristan to St Helena in 4,5 days. Weather is OK, but the captain said
that they overestimated technical capabilities of the ship. We need 5,5
days to reach St Helena. But they do not think about exceeding the
voyage; they will reduce by one day our stay on the island. Passengers
are not happy. They paid for the possibility to visit the islands, not
for the boring days at sea!
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Mar 17, 2006 07:00 PM Access to Inaccessible Island
Tristan da Cunha is archipelago of 3 islands. But only the main one has
settlement. You need a permit from administrator and you are obliged to
take local guides to visit Nachtingale and Inaccessible islands.
Nachtingale, where we landed in the morning has interesting landscape
due to the presence of two little islets located at its coast. Fur seals
were waiting there for us. From the landing place on the rocks (it was
dry landing) steep, muddy path climbs to the plateau. It is most
difficult part of the trail ? the guides installed there ropes to make
the access easier. In the 1,5 m high tassac grass there is a lot of
nests of wandering albatrosses with big, funny chickens on them. I took
there a lot of pictures. The left branch of the bath took us to the
colony of Rockhopper penguins. I saw them for the first time and I was
very sorry to spend there only 10 minutes or so? It was like a run
through the island?
In the afternoon we moved to the Inaccessible Island (what a name!).
From the distance it reminds the castle rising from the sea. With a help
of ours local guides we found at the bottom of the cliff little stone
beach suitable for short landing. There was high but diminished
waterfall with seal?s puppies playing in the pool at the bottom. We
found also rare bird ? the rail living only on Inaccessible Island. The
access to the interior of Inaccessible Island was not possible?
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Mar 16, 2006 07:00 PM Tristan da Cunha ? the most remote?
Only 274 people live on this little island located in the middle of
South Atlantic. In fact it is 2-km high sleeping volcano with a little
plateau on the northwestern side ? the only settlement is located there.
The landscape of high, green and steep slopes is beautiful? It was warm
and sunny when we landed at 2 pm. Just above the miniature port I saw
big sign: ?Welcome to the most remote island?. Is Tristan the most
remote or maybe it is Pitcairn where I have been few years ago?
Supply ship is coming to Tristan 6 times per year.- it collects the
crayfish ? the main source of income of this small society. There are
two tiny churches ( but no priests), public hall, pub and the post
office. Sorry, no internet facility to check my e-mail box via webmail.
People are little shy, they speak strange dialect of English. 40 cars
but only 6 km of road. They have free education and health service
(there is even a doctor). I was climbing little volcano erupted in
1961-62 for the nice view of lava flows going to the ocean and for the
panorama of the high cliffs. One more exotic place on earth to my
collection?
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Mar 15, 2006 07:00 PM Land on the horizon!
End of the storm? After six days at sea we finally saw today a piece of
land on the horizon. It was Gough Island. Due to the lush vegetation and
thousands seabirds nesting there UNESCO put the island on the World
Heritage list. But landings are not allowed. There is only South Africa
Weather Station where 10 people work from September to September.
According to the program we should arrive to Gough today in the morning.
But we reached it at 3 pm. According to the program we should board our
zodiacs and make a cruise along the coast enjoying the scenery. But it
is too late. So the ship will only pass along the eastern coast of the
island and? we can delete the next position from the program of the
expedition? Bad luck! ? or bad planning...
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Mar 14, 2006 07:00 PM Only the lonely 'Maryshev' in the ocean?
Storm. Since 12 days we didn't see in the ocean any other ship. Very
limited number of commercial vessels sails to the deep South Atlantic.
Lack of info. Some of my wealthy fellows have private satellite phones
with them, so every evening they can check what is going in New York or
San Francisco. I am feeling isolated from the rest of the world: no TV,
no printed news, no radio? I think it is good idea to take for such a
expedition with many days at sea miniature shortwave radio. I left my at
home. Pity!
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Mar 13, 2006 07:00 PM Empty horizon?
One more sleepless night. We are still rolling on the high waves. In the
dining room they use wet table clothes to avoid permanent movement of
the plates and other stuff. But it does not help much. Sometimes I am
finding cornflakes in the orange juice or cheese sprayed by jam. The
Russian crew is doing its best. I like them - they are hearty, open
people always ready for the joke. All of us are tired due to this stormy
weather. It is difficult to smile after third sleepless night. But we
try anyway?
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Mar 12, 2006 07:00 PM Through the rough Southern Ocean...
Second day at sea to Gough Island. Few people slept last night. The ocean is extremely rough. The walls of water are
virtually exploding under the bow, generating "fountains" as high as the bridge. At least I found in our expedition two
people travelling my style. Jeff from California and Michael from Geneva. They also organize their voyages on their own,
travelling alone to the remote destinations, crosing overland exotic continents. It was so nice and surprising to find that
Jeff and me stayed in the same hostel in Bukhara/Uzbekistan. Small world... Three of us are ready to visit Tibesti if the
situation will be stable. So our next meeting could be on Sahara.
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Mar 11, 2006 07:00 PM Thousand miles to Gough Island...
The ocean is showing his power. We are sailing against strong wind. The bow is jumping up and down. Limited visibility due
to the heavy fog. With both motors on we can afford only the half of usuall speed -5,5 knots. We gain about 10 hours
departing from Bouvet in the morning instead in the evening. But the boss says that on the next place - Gough Island we will
have only 3 hours for the cruise along the coast. I am not sure if this expedition is reliably planed: after 5 days at sea
they offer only 3 hours for the visit of the island!?
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