Captain's Logbook Day 1&2

The Malizia Explorer set off from Ushuaia towards the Danger Islands on its first Antarctic mission on the 19th of November 2025. Two days in and the crew made up of 14 scientists, sailors and media representatives are getting used to life onboard. Captain Lucas Lanusse has shared some insights into these first two days onboard. 

DAY 1 - SETTING SAIL FROM USHUAIA

Finally we left Ushuaia after some really busy days. These last days in Ushuaia put all members of the expedition hands on to get everything ready. I can say we have an excellent team on board and a special mention to captain Jo and Blaise who have been working hard till the last minute.

Apart from the technical things, there were so many things to get done that could only be done right before setting off: Getting all equipment on board, personal belongings, scientists equipment, oxygen tanks, fresh groceries and finally deciding on where to put all these securely to go through the Drake passage. Marin, who is part of the crew, worked hard securing things on board and Estefania (cooking onboard) ran all around Ushuaia to get all she needed to feed 14 people for nearly a month.

Now after the first 24h at sea, the rhythm is way more calm. We are taking turns doing watches with Boris, Marin and Andreas and taking care of the boat and some seasick crew members.

All's well and seems like already we're all feeling at home on board Malizia Explorer

DAY 2 - ANOTHER DAY OF DRAKE LAKE

Another day of drake lake - that's how these strange calm days on the drake passage are called. Today we had a little breeze that allowed us to sail for a few hours. The highlight was the first deployment of the CTD Rosette to a final depth of 200 meters. The scientific team from ThINK Jena took some water samples for contaminant analysis. So even whilst we are still sailing to arrive at our next destination, there is already science going on!!!

We are approaching the Antarctic convergence and the plan is to make another CTD cast on the other side of it, once we get to the polar waters

We will be arriving in King George Island tomorrow so today we had a little organisational briefing! The plan is to drop two scientific teams at different locations, where they will survey the islands and populations via Drones and begin with "penguin studies". The Malizia Explorer will go on to the Chilean scientific base to dry to drop off equipment some equipment for another research vessel coming south for scientific research this Antarctic summer. Once this little drop-off side-quest is done, we will go back and pick-up the scientific teams! See you soon!