Wednesday 11 March was a sea day as we crossed Drake Passage towards Falkland Islands.

It’s quite something to look out your window and see nothing but ocean. 

After breakfast we went in groups up to the bridge to have a look at all the fancy equipment that gets us to where we’re meant to be going.

It’s really spacious out there, no steering wheel (as there’s no rudder, only propellors), and the top level crew have really nice suites.

Everything’s all very high-tech and touch-screen operated so you had to be careful not to touch anything.

On either side of the bridge there are the same driving equipment and a window built into the floor — all this is used when they’re parking the ship at the dock.

All suitably impressed, we left and played a round of Monopoly Deal before I went to watch a lecture about albatrosses of the southern ocean.

As far as I can remember there are five types for us to watch out for: Wandering, Black-browed, Southern Royal, another one, and another one with a really pretty beak.

After lunch was another lecture, this time about the Falkland Islands across time — which used a lot of the information that was used in the later lecture about the Falkland Islands War of 1982, only that one had a bit more about the war.

Either way, full bottle on the Falklands now.

There was also a lecture about why the Drake shakes which is to do with wind, waves, and current all being pushed through a tiny land opening between Argentina and the peninsular.

I went and looked at some salp under a microscope. This is the stuff that’s blooming in the oceans but it’s not great for mammals as it produces a negative energy effect (like celery).

Kinda weird stuff too — a clear gelatinous ‘body’ with an orange blob.

Then it was the war lecture, a gym work out, a preview of the next day’s itinerary, dinner and many rounds of Monopoly Deal while Andean x Welsh folk songs were being performed in the background. 

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