Adventure Travel Blogs

Ship's log: 3 March 2011 - Long sea days are seldom rewarded so bounteously. By first light a posse of canary-clad seafarers were bristling buoyantly on the bow. An arc of cloud was slowly morphing from grey to nasturtium as an ambitious early sunbeam bisected its abdomen. Ahead lay a scene impossible to dream up by even the most ostentatious of science fiction directors. Castellated, crenelated, capacious icebergs dotted the horizon, now radiated by the fully grown sunshine....

Ship's log: 2 March 2011 - Yet again the South Atlantic showed her broody side with a sepulchral dawn canopy clogging the horizon. However there is a snap in the step of every Antarctician, the goal is no longer so distant.

This morning the various riot acts were read with both severity and sensitivity. This is a savage but precious Eden; the footprint must be light. Sadly too many pagan ships have besmirched this paradise; the Ioffe is not about to add itself to t...

Ship's log: 1 March 2011 - Yesterday's Mediterranean afternoon was soon a distant dream as dawn beckoned the ship South with a foreboding, stygian sneer.  Mother Nature serves balmy bounty sparingly and she indignantly resorted to type for most of the morning. It would be precipitate to consider the Drake tamed, as she can be fickle and cantankerous. Her sudden savage squalls are enough to keep any complacent mariner honest.

The albatrosses are constant companions...

Ship's log: 28 February 2011 - Twelve knots with a bow scything through spume is a match for any potential sea day doldrums, particularly when the weather is Sicilian rather than South Atlantic. The biting Atlantic convergence is yet to be breached so yellow jackets remain largely virginal. Two words stay with me from Victoria's presentation, one is James, the other Caird.

Think on this as Neptune smiles benignly on this, our own fabled vessel. The Caird was two ro...

This morning I headed to Hyde Park to have a go at a new sport for me - Rollerskiing. Joined by Anna and Claire from the product team we braved the wind, rain and a rather early start to try this increasingly popular sport. I had been told that it would be a great way to train for the ski marathon but it all honesty I was terrified I was going to fall and injure myself with only a couple of weeks to go before the race date!