MV FRAM is a
ship that is built especially for polar waters. Most times of the year the ship
is operating in the Arctic or in Antarctica. But there are always some activities in between. After the Arctic season the ship has to sail from the North to the South
in September and October and of course in April and May it has to be brought to
the North again after the Antarctic season. On the way to the South or to the North, Hurtigruten offers wonderful European cruises and from now on it is also
possible to join the so called “crossing” from Las Palmas to Buenos Aires, or the other way around.
And today
we started our crossing, this special tour over the Atlantic. In 19 days we
hope to reach Buenos Aires. We leave the autumn in the northern hemisphere behind
and we are looking forward to the spring in the southern hemisphere. We are
only a small group of 27 passengers but we have our own expedition team with
us. Everything seems to be very relaxed. We were welcomed in a friendly way and
our cabins were already prepared when we arrived in the afternoon.
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After the mandatory
passengers mustering we left Las Palmas around 8.00pm. We will not see land for
the next weeks until we will reach Buenos Aires. We said good bye to the last
trees in the harbor area and the last pigeon. We will not see any plants before
we will reach South America, but we hope for some birds.
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During the
crossing we will have our meals together with the crew in the restaurant. That
will be a new but also a nice experience for all of us. But it is always nice
to enjoy good food together with other people. We will know each other better
after a while and perhaps we will even find new friends.
In the
evening the Captain invited us to a welcome cocktail. For us it was funny to
see that there is more crew than passengers on board.
As the
weather was so nice we walked around on the open decks before we went to bed.
The first day is always a little bit hard. But tomorrow we will feel better
after a good sleep in our nice cabins.
