You would think that, with on average one medical consultation a day, I would have plenty of time to be writing about my comings and goings at sea. Not so; for I am finding myself remarkably busy these days. Admittedly this is mostly eating and drinking tea. I am starting to get into a bit of a routine, which starts at 0550 (yes that is correct) when I get up to go to the gym. The gym is on Tween Deck which is three decks below where I live (Boat Deck) and is very warm . Even at 6am. Even with air conditioning. Anyway, I am in the process of rekindling a love of rowing machines, by which I mean I'm seeing if I can get significantly quicker at rowing 5km over the course of the passage. There is little competition for the rowing machine at this time in the morning and no one to see me turn fluorescent pink. Ideal. After spending a while in the shower trying to tone down the pinkness, breakfast is at 0715. Then I can amuse myself until 1000 when it is time for 'smoko' which I think is sea terminology (though it could be BAS terminology) for a morning break. This takes place up on The Bridge and means I can find out approximately where we are in the world (somewhere fairly close to the Canary Islands I believe). Then it's back to finding ways to occupy myself until 1200 when it is lunchtime. Today I discovered that liver can actually be quite delicious. I'm left to my own devices until 1500 when it's back to The Bridge for afternoon smoko - damn I love fig rolls! Finally a bit more work until 1800 when I have my one and only drink of the day (24 hr on call and all that) in the Officers' Lounge, followed by dinner at 1830. Rather surprisingly I discovered today that I have in fact lost weight since joining the ship. I can only think this is down to energy burned trying to keep myself upright, since it is certainly not due to any self restraint exhibited on my part when it comes to the daily menu.
Just a picture to show how sunny and lovely it's been
The view out of my back door in the surgery
In between the various food and tea breaks today I have been making myself vaguely useful by helping sort out 'the bond.' The bond seems to refer to the alcohol store on the ship, and in our case, this not only means the supply for the ship but also all the bases (except Halley) for the season. That means quite a lot of boxes, which I have been helping to shift around in order to create some semblance of order. This was surprisingly enjoyable, a bit like a weights session in the gym, only way more interesting as I had someone to talk to, and the stacking up bit was like a 3D version of tetris with added danger due to the weird twisty rocky movement that the ship has been favouring all day. Also, I got to play with one of those brown tape dispensers (which comes in a close second to the date stamps you get in libraries in the list of work-related tools that I am inexplicably fascinated by). Anyway, I was also rewarded with not one, but two packets of dry roasted peanuts for my efforts which made for a most successful day.
Hmmm there are a few other things to mention but I have no doubt people will get decidedly bored if I twitter on for too long. The salient points are:
1) We saw dolphins off the port bow - lots of leaping out of the water and general dolphin wonderfulness but no pictures as they weren’t that close
2) We passed very close to Madeira (sadly not close enough to get cake)
3) I had a tour of the engine room which is massive, and very confusing, and not somewhere I should ever be allowed to go unless I am closely accompanied by someone wearing a boiler suit. Most excitingly the control room looks like something out of a Bond film from the 70s and I am now considering the possibility of getting a long haired white cat on board
Madeira - about 5 miles away I think
Engine control room - if only the chief engineer looked more like a James Bond villain and less like my dad!
