The captain of Le Boreál has an “open bridge” policy, meaning that he welcomes passengers to come up and visit—as long as the crew isn’t dealing with tricky maneuvers, bad weather, or other situations that require their undivided attention. You just go up to the fifth deck and see whether the sign on the door is green or red, indicating whether it’s OK to come in.
We’ve been cruising all night, and after I got up this morning, I stopped up to take a look, and also to find out where we are. The captain showed me one of the computerized maps they use, indicating that we’re just about at the entrance to the Antarctic Sound:
The Antarctic Sound is kind of the gateway to the Weddell Sea, on the south side of the Antarctic peninsula. On this map, the ship is that safety-pin-looking thing in the upper left.
I looked around the bridge a bit and, with the captain’s permission, took a few photos with my iPhone. (I also started to shoot a video, but the first officer quickly told me that that’s not allowed.) Below are a few photos from the visit:
While I was up there, the weather seemed to deteriorate quite a bit, with the winds and the waves kicking up. I tried to ask a question, but the first officer shushed me, so I took my cue and slipped out. As I left, I noticed that the green sign on the door had been taken down.
Hi, sitting in the Houston waiting for the last leg of the trip home. So enjoining reading the blogs Tina.
The big black things on the bridge windows are heaters. They keep the windows warn so in bad weather ice does not form to block the view from inside the bridge.