The Journey

After a rigorous round of orientation programs, briefings, training andsight seeing around Goa, we sailed from Mormugoa harbour on the 6th Dec 2007at 13:35 hours for Cape Town. The ship was an Ice Class one of Russian make,licenced in Liberia, owned by a Greek company with Russian crew fromVladivostok carrying Indians to Antarctica. There were 33 expedition memberson board. 25 people had already reached Maitri, the India Antarctic Station,by air by 2nd week of November in 3 groups. There was a lot of excitement aswell as apprehension of what lay ahead. I would now see this country afterone year. Before that, come what may, I cannot come back. After all, I amgoing for wintering to the remotest, coldest, windiest and driest(Antarctica receives less annual rainfall than the Sahara Desert) continenton Earth- a continent which resembles the moon more than it does the Earth. The journey by ship was a great learning experience. We had to abide bythe rules of the sea, learn the language of the sea. The deck, focsle,stern, port side, starboard side, muster, bridge, engine room, life boats,life jackets, rolling, pitching, hold- all were an integral part of ourvocabulary. We had all forgotten what it is like to walk on stable ground.We had become used to walk as if we are drunk. When a storm approached, wevomited our guts out due to the rolling and pitching. We had all becomemeteorologists and could predict the arrival of the next low pressure andthe direction the ship should take to avoid it. Although there was nothing but water all around us, but each passinghour brought with it new sights- the roughness of the sea could be told bythe surf- also known as the sea horses, the birds that came our way told us
the distance from land, various kinds of sea animals- dolphins, flying fishand a few more could be seen with each passing latitude. Each hour of theday gave the same sea water a different colour and mood. It was as if thesea was a living creature. We finally crossed the equator after 7 days at 57deg 4' 6.6". There wasa big celebration on board- we were all drenched in a cocktail of wine andplum juice. The crew too joined us. After 15 days journey we sighted land- small uninhabited islands nearMadagascar. After crossing Madagascar through the Mozambique Channel, wewere along the South Africa coast. There after we were sailing parallel tothe South Africa coastline. We sailed past Durban, Port Elizabeth and EastLondon on the way. After an endless wait, we finally reached Cape TownHarbour on the night of 21st Dec- a journey of 16 days. As we sailed into the harbour, the city appeared to be lighted upespecially for us. It was the excitement of seeing land after 16 days orsomething else, I can't tell. But we had our cameras in position till wewere parked in the harbour. That was a beautiful night.