Friday Jan. 16th 2009 Idle in the Falklands Jan. 17th at Sea

We arrived in Stanley at 4:30a.m. The weather getting there was like being on one of those small to the ground pigs, ponies or the like in a city park on a short heavy spring that rocks you either grntly at age 3 or wildly at age 10. We were like 12 year olds on those springs, pitching backwards and forwards to where you would lose the sight of the horizon each time! We all did fine sleeping through the worst of it. Our ship needed fuel to be able to make it to Antarctica and back. This was the gas station. We were not able to port in Stanley. Instead the captain thought it best to go ahead and get our fuel situation squared away. The fuel tanker (Russian) pulled aside us in 65 mile an hour wind. They waited until the wind got down to a 50 mile an hour rate before they tried pumping the gas as not to have any of the cables break way and cause an environmental problem. We stayed hooked up to these guys until 10:00p.m. as the weather did not die down enough to remove the lines for fueling. Around 10:15p.m. we pulled out of the Falklands as only with a drive by experience! We were warned to put any breakables on the floor, inour sinks or tubs with towels. The weather last night was about 50 times worse than the previous night! Remarkably, we are all fine. The ship is solid, it is just the people on it that have problems! Our family unit on the whole is great. Due to the weather it is hard to make the kids read as that magnifies the problems with sea sickness. They have attended all lectures, some on sea life, some on birds, some on rocks, some on the first explorers of Antarctica. It has been very educational and quite fun. The scientists sit among you and are very interesting to talk to after the sessions. We are off to a penguin lesson soon. The internet service has been spotty at best. I di have many pictures to upload but have not had the internet time to get it done. With extremely high seas today, many people will not be using computers and I may have my chance! We are Rocking Right Along for now. One more sea day and we will be in the Antarctic to see the last continent. We are all very excited. Being around these people on the ship even makes you more excited to get there. If you have a chance Google Drake"s Passage. That is what we are crossing. Our Oceanography class yesterday explained the whole thing to us. Very interesting but VERY rough!!! The call it "The Dreaded Drake".