Journals, week of 3/4/96
Barbara Herr, Teacher
March 4, 1996 aboard ConcordiaFaculty Journal: Early Morning Shower
I jumped into the head wanting a quick, refreshing and successful wake-up shower before breakfast. A successful shower aboard the Concordia involves not only becoming clean, but also keeping the water in the shower. I noticed a large port side slant of the shower floor, but thought nothing of it as I pulled the shower curtain across the 2.5 foot width of the head. I turned on the water and began to wet my hair. The water, or course, rolled to the port side of the floor. Unfortunately the drain in my shower is on the starboard side. The water level was just below the 2.5 inch rim separating the shower from the rest of the head. I quickly turned the water off, hoping to maintain my successful shower using the easiest water draining technique, the ship's roll. As the ship rolls with the waves, the water is moved back and forth, eventually down the drain. The technique uses no energy on my part. The roll began. The water moved halfway across the shower floor then the roll stopped. As the ship rolled back to starboard, so did the water, taking its position just below the rim. Realizing I couldn't rely on the roll, I went to technique 2 - the one-footed sideways shuffle. Not only does this technique remove water, it also tones the muscles of the inner thigh. To master the technique one holds onto the shower walls and gently sweeps the water toward the drain. I began the shuffle but watched in disbelief and horror as the water slipped beneath my foot because the slant of the shower floor was too great to push the water to the drain. The water crashed into the port side of the shower, forming small waves breaking over the rim of the shower and onto the head floor. There was only one technique left to save my shower status and prevent the floor from getting any wetter - the sponge. With dripping wet but unwashed hair, I grabbed the sponge and threw it onto the small stream of water crossing the shower's rim. After removing the evidence from the head's floor, I sponged away the rest of the shower water which was still threatening to cross the rim. My quick wake-up shower ordeal finally ended 30 minutes later. I washed my hair in the sink and quickly rinsed myself between sponging the shower floor twice.
Tove Hermanson
February 27, 1996 St. Paul Island, Indian OceanA Beautful Island
When I woke up for galley duty a few days ago, I looked out the window and saw the first land we had seen in over 14 days. I joined a large group that had congregated on the bow and took pictures of the thrilling sight of ile St. Paul as we approached. St. Paul's is very unique in that it was a dormant volcano, so it's round, with steep cliffs encircling a protected cove. It's a picture-perfect sight. It was uninhabited, except for the numerous sea lions and penguins. The penguins were primarily white, with black wings and red eyes. They had longer, skinnier feathers that were bright yellow, protruding from around their head. Their eyes were bright red and their feet were dark orange and webbed. They hopped around on those webbed feet. Many of the sea lions were sizes of small cars, and when lounging on the beach, they were easily mistaken for big boulders. I was amazed at how close we were able to get to the animals some people were even able to pet them. We all felt like we were in an article for national geographic, walking through the untouched wildlife. After a picnic lunch, a group of us set out to hike up the cliffs to the top of the island. My first hour on land since leaving Durban was quite shake and I stumbled a lot before I found my land legs again. Without any path to follow, my group ended up scaling the toughest parts of the island. We relied only on the bountiful dead grass to keep us from plummeting down the face of the crater. It was really amazing to see the penguins hop up the lower cliffs after us, as we struggled walking. However, as we ascended we came across many a blood stained rock and mutilated penguin.
The view at the top and the sense of accomplishment was worth every aching muscle, cramp, and drop of sweat we had endured. We could just barely make out the sounds of the belching sea lions, and only white specks of the penguins could be seen. We had a small victory picnic sitting on the summit of the uninhabited island, looking out over the Indian Ocean and the Concordia while smelling the salty breeze. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. From there, it was downhill to the shore, into the zodiac, and back to the Concordia. It was a great first day back on land. Australia in early March will be our next opportunity to get back onto land.
Brodie Fraser
March 2, 1996, aboard ConcordiaWildlife, wildlife, wildlife
It's been a week since we landed on St. Paul island. St. Paul was amazing - there were sea lions everywhere, as well as these fury little baby sealions that actually let us pet them. The adults weren't so friendly. My friend and I took a path along the rockybeach - it was covered with sealions. We walked, disturbing them as little as possible. First we woke them up and then we got them to move out of our way. They all bark at you, then start to move away.some however were a bit aggressive. I guess that they are protecting their territory, but it's scary when a 300+ pound, open jawed, sharp teeth, growling animal charges at you full out. You just turn and run. We also saw sea elephants weighing in at about ton. By dark the funniest thing we saw were penguins. These penguins had punk hair cuts, little bright yellow hair, and red eyes. Some of the students and staff followed a path all the way to the summit of the island. We had to push our way through literally hundreds and hundreds of penguins. I never thought I'd be telling a penguin to hurry up and move out of the way. Although most of them would run away at the first site of us, there were a few that would charge us with their beeks open, squaking the entire way. You needed to jump out of the way not to get hit or bit. The summit was a very peaceful place with a fantastic view of the island and the Concordia. The island was a great place to visit. It's amazing to think how many other life forms live in the seeming middle of nowhere - until we intrude on their privacy.
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