Plan A! and plan B, and also Plan C

Lat 39 56.3 SLong 058 47.8 WCOG 215 SOG 4.5Weather good to very good. Sunny and bright ful moon at night.Time for an update.Last week we landed safely in Montevideo, Uruguay. The city had a very relaxed vibe although there are about 1.2 million people living there.We stayed in Montevideo for 5 days. Part of the crew and Voyage crew/ guests went home and others came. We got stores, new spare parts, some extra sleep, live music and a beer.I handed over the ship to Captain Klaas and now have a new role on board as First Officer, ready to discover the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic. I am very happy and will learn a lot I think. On the day of departure to the Falklands, just before we left I went with a ship chandelier to gather the last items in Montevideo.Some screws for the bosun, Loctite for the Engineer, cement for the anchors, a hub for the IT department amongst many more items.In his car we drove to many different places.First we went to something that looked like Playmobil Land, people with bright outfits, bright forklifts, bright helmets and colourful signalling posts, but they didn't move to much.The highlight was the drive-in tool shop where you park your car inside this huge shop surrounded by endless pumps, electric screwdrivers, welding machines and many more items. My personal Credit Card was about to burn through my pocket, very eager to spend money. Luckily I was able to contain myself and bought nothing. Well almost nothing.Just before I left Holland I quickly went to an outdoor shop to find some Antarctica clothes.For the last 10 years I have been able to escape the severe winter conditions. It was time to trade my shorts and flip-flops for something more weatherproof.I got a pair of very big Everest-and-beyond-climbing-shoes, each one is about as big as I am. (I say this because I am used to only wearing Flip-flops. For their size the shoes are surprisingly light though.)I bought thermal underwear and a hat and then my budget was done.So here I was. Ready to conquer the Antarctic in my Thermo Underwear.Even with logo of the Bark Europa attached to it, it still would not look very professional.I had to come up with a better plan. Time for Plan BAt home I found my spendex-Iceskating outfit and a bright-tight-wind-block-bicycle-shirt.Although this was better, I was still afraid that I would be arrested if I arrived in a bycycle-Iceskating outfit with an energy bar and Banana in my back pocket at the beach in St George or Deception IslandPlan C,To wait for further Antarctica shopping till arrival in Montevideo when my new monthly allowance is in my account.The ship chandelier brought me by a shop for safety items. This is where I got lucky I found everything that I needed.There was a very friendly man surrounded by endless boxes in an old building, outside it was 27 degrees Celsius.When I explained I was to go to Antarctica, He started climbing over one of the big-box-mountains-ridges and then, from far away, somewhere behind the first series of box mountains I heard his voice.I heard some other noise and the appeared with my new outfit.It was Silver Grey and the size of a space outfit. It has reflectors and I could add a golden cap to the front and breathing apparatus to the back. Ready for the moon!He told me this was special for people that need to work in extreme refrigerating plants and other space projects. I am a happy man!In the mean time we are at sea. The water temperature has dropped to 12 degrees and the air temperature is 11. Every day we loose 2 degrees on the thermometer. Let's see when it will stop.I look forward to more cold and all the beautiful things we'll encounter during the coming period.Safe sailing Fos