September 22- kitchen crew and shipboard amenities
The Bergy Bits are back, as well as periodic drift ice! We are headed southwest back to Arkhangelsk, but going a different route, through Shokalskiy Strait, between Bolshevik and Oktyabrskoy Revolutzii (October Revolution) Islands. Shokalskiy Strait will lead us from the Laptev Sea to the Kara Sea.
Time to meet some of the ship’s crew and take a tour of the ship! I will begin with the wonderful Kitchen Team who have been busy meeting our needs throughout the cruise. They are all from Saint Petersburg, or close to it.
Daria (Dasha) Migunova: Whenever we talk to the kitchen staff and they don’t quite understand what we are saying they will always call for “Dasha!”, and she will come over with her bright smile eager to translate for us. What Dasha likes most about working on the ship is she really loves travelling to places like this, where we are now, because it is so remote. Her favorite place so far is South Georgia because it is really green and there are a lot of animals- a living island. South Georgia is a British island next to the Falkland Islands. She has worked for two years on two different Russian icebreakers including the Akademik Tryoshnikov. What attracted her to working on ships is her desire to go to Antarctica. She did get the opportunity to participate in an expedition cruise that circled around Antarctica.
Lumila (Luda) Ostrova: Luda also has a beautiful smile. The reason she enjoys working on the ship is because she likes seeing people, especially when they smile. In general, she loves people. Her favorite expeditions are the ‘wintering parties’ because there are a lot of foreigners. Wintering parties are a group of people that stay all winter at scientific research stations for long periods of time. She has worked on the Akademik Tryoshnikov for four years and her favorite place so far is Cape Town, South Africa. She just came from there recently after staying for ten months making trips back and forth to Antarctica.
Uriy (Ura) Kovalnogov: Ura is often seen outside on the decks with his camera around his neck. Photography is his hobby. He also set up the composition for the photo below. The photo came out quite nice. Ura likes working on the ship because it is a perfect match with his job and hobby. Before working on ships, he worked as a cook, and then decided to get extra training to be able to work on ships. He has worked on icebreakers for two years, including wintering on two polar stations, one in the Arctic and one in Antarctica. He has traveled quite a bit, including to Australia, Europe and the United States. He much prefers wintering at polar stations for a whole year where he can really get to know the place. Unlike the short visits where you don’t really get to know too much of anything.
Konstantin (Kostya) Samosadov: Kostya is one of our ping pong mates, and he is very funny. He loves the sea because it is romantic. This is his second contract working on the ship. Contracts are for three months. His favorite place so far is Norway, especially Kirkenes, because of the fjords and mountains.
Two lovely ladies clean the expedition team members’ rooms twice a week- Sveta and Katia. They are both very sweet and kind, but are shy about having their photos taken.
Another lovely lady is Lena, who provides us with clean sheets and towels once a week. She always brightens our day with her beautiful smile.
There is a full-time doctor on board, Igor Mazurenko. Igor has regular office hours, 9:00-11:00, 16:00-18:00.
We have access to a library every day between 5:00-6:00. Sveta checks out and repairs the books.
The gym is very popular among the ship’s crew, and sometimes the expedition crew when they have time. Not only is the ping pong table located in the gym, there also is a dart board and exercise equipment.
All crew do their own laundry. The laundry room never closes. There are two washers, and laundry is air dried.
- Breakfast: oatmeal, meat and cheese
- Lunch: mushroom soup, beef roulette, stewed tomatoes and rice
- Tea Time: cottage cheese pancakes
- Dinner: stewed pork, and pasta