It is beautiful music, packed with both adventure (to match the view of open ocean out my cabin window) and suspense. I like to try to guess which part of the Shackleton story the music is portraying without checking the name of the movement first.
I have loved exploring the inside of the S.A. Agulhas II. It is a massive ship, full of fascinating spaces. I have a lot of fun wandering between the various expedition teams and seeing what they are doing. I can watch the helicopter team securing their gear in the hangar, and then go down a deck and see the sub-sea team making final tweaks to the Saab Sabertooth AUV/ROVs. I can go up into the business center and science labs, where everyone is monitoring live ice data in the Weddell Sea or calibrating their equipment. I can walk up to the highest decks, past the bridge, where Captain Knowledge Bengu is looking out to sea. And on my way back down, I might pass the documentary team filming a meeting between expedition leaders. There is so much activity, and never a dull moment.
I finished “The American on the Endurance”, which is a memoir by William Bakewell. He was indeed the only American on Shackleton’s expedition, and he lived a fascinating life before and after his time in the Weddell Sea, too. I am not the only Endurance22 Expedition team member from the U.S., but I’m one of just a few, so I really relate with William Bakewell. Now I have moved on to “An Antarctic Mystery” by Jules Verne. It is a strange and wonderful novel, first published in 1899. I like how it portrays the Antarctic as a place of mystery. It is exactly how I feel.
