“MORE POWER, SCOTTY!!”

• Today (2/1/12), we headed north – away from Antarctica and toward our next port of Ushuaia (the southernmost city in the world).  Tonight and tomorrow, we’ll pass over some of the roughest waters thus far – with 20-foot swells expected.  Thankfully, they haven’t started yet!  After lunch today, some friends invited us to join their son-in-law, Jacob, for a tour of the engine room and bridge.  How cool!  Turns out, Jacob is a 3rd Engineer.
• We learned that, e.g., the ship has 5 diesel engines (3 X 12-cylinder plus 2 X 16-cylinder); it uses 140 metric tons of heavy fuel oil (diesel) per day (at 21 knots) and 420 gallons of lubricating oil, but still gets 96 miles to the gallon; it’s capable of producing up to 370,000 gallons of fresh water per day from sea water and consumes up to 174,000 gallons per day; the ship was built in 1998 and delivered to Holland America in 2000; its maximum speed is 24.5 knots (28.2 MPH) – oh, and they steer the ship with a joystick!
• Here are some photos from our exploration from the ship’s “underbelly” to its lofty bridge:

THE ENGINE ROOM (AND CREW PASSAGE)


THE BRIDGE