Woke to a Force 9 gale with 7-9m waves and snow. Water hitting our portholes on 3rd deck. Lots of crashing and smashing since the early hours, culminating in an ominous, lengthy, percussive, cacophonous descent of cutlery, glasses and dinner across the dining room floor. Passengers in the bar were not reassured by the opportunity to examine the waves at close quarters. Adrian has spent most of today reclining in the foyer, on a green leather couch in the centre of the ship, so got full benefit of the low-level food display. This morning’s presentations on plate-tectonics and ‘The Plight of the Albatross’ (longline fishing kills hundreds of thousands of albatross and petrels every year) were followed by ‘mandatory’ ones on Antarctic behaviour and Zodiac protocols, and a speculative announcement about our potential, possible, weather-dependent, condition provisional route. Sounds soo exciting. The crew are clever at spinning out the events and information to keep us busy, because the decks are out-of-bounds of course. The seasoned Oz Alan Parker (62nd trip to Antarctica) says we need a bit of rough after Drake’s Lake to provide an insight. “But this has gone on long enough.” There seem to be few who are unaffected and not sporting pink behind-the-ear patches. An élite club – thank heaven – I don’t believe that green suits me. I have found a great reading den - in the foyer outside the library is a panelled area with four armchairs, sculptures and easy access to picture windows beneath the bridge. Although I have found my beer on the floor on one occasion and my chair sliding gracefully into someone’s cabin, it’s a fine and secret place. (Sorry Marvell). It’s now Happy Hour and I’m drinking a White Out special with the glimmerings of blue sky and a first tabular iceberg in sight. Earlier we saw our first island too, Smith Island in King George Island group. Our fellow passengers are mostly Australian, NZ, Germans, US, Canadians and Brits. (One family from Brackley!!) Lots of bergy bits and an enor-mous tabular iceberg straight ahead! Bring on Leonardo de Caprio immediately!