Vacation, Interrupted

While I was trying really, really hard to take a break from technology for a few weeks, I figured that the extraordinary events of this day warranted a short message to let you all know that, believe it or not, your blogger friend e is currently down in Antarctica. Perhaps even more unbelievably, I am on the National Geographic Endeavour--one of the two ships involved in the rescue operation early this morning for the Explorer, which sadly had to be evacuated after it began to sink as a result of damage incurred in its engine room (we don't know exactly what went wrong, but figure they hit an iceberg). The internet connection on board is slower than the dial-up line I had in 1996, so this will be the only message I'll post until I am back on December 3rd. However, since the story has made headlines (though from what I've seen, many of the details are incorrect), I figured I should let my dear readers know that I am down here, I am safe, and I will have some incredible pictures to post in December! The pictures of the sinking ship that are on the BBC (I have only heard about them, haven't seen them yet because of this slow connection) were taken by one of the crew members on board with us, Mike Nolan. Some from-the-air pictures, however, were taken from a helicopter from a nearby military base (I think it's Brazilian or Chilean, not sure).

Anyway, we are now almost back to where our ship was when we received the distress signal at 1:45 AM and will be disembarking soon at Half-Moon Island, and then later on this evening at Deception Island (it's never dark here, so that's a bonus), for you nerds out there with maps of the Antarctic.

Let's hope the rest of my trip is a bit calmer!

Until December 3rd,
- e