Day 2: At Sea

A day at sea is a perfect chance to explore the vessel that will be our home
for the next few weeks and the MS Expedition is certainly a homely ship.
Beginning life as a hard-working ferry in 1972, most of her days were spent
carrying vehicles and passengers between the Baltic countries until rescued
from this life of toil by G Adventures (then GAP) in 2008 after the
unfortunate loss of the ‘little red ship’ in the Antarctic in 2007. Refitted
with comfortable cabins for up to 130 guests, a library, gym, dining room
and Zodiac facilities, she began her new life in 2008. A sturdy
ice-strengthened (1B) ship of 104m and 3960 GRT, she cruises at a leisurely
14 knots.

Briefings, as per normal, include crew and expedition staff introductions.
The seasoned and well-travelled team include Susan Adie, who began her
expedition cruising career in 1989, spending most of her years with Quark.
The most unusual introduction however, was for Mike (just Mike), our
security team leader and former British Army ‘specialist’ who assured us his
trio of highly experienced professionals were expert in dealing with “tricky
situations”. You won’t see any pictures of Mike or his team on this blog.

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