Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 4/28/20
 
Attendance: Richie, Laura, Peter, Harold, Don, Denise, Mary, Bob, Beckie, Dan, John, Randy, Dave.
 
Announcements:
  • Need two members to take the Grant Workshop (John, Mary, Randy), it’s online.
  • Harold: Daughter and Son-in-Law adopted a child.
  • John: Attended Zoom meeting with incoming DG President. Folks talked about what they are doing with their grant money, etc. Fairly well-attended.
  • Dan: School District is not good. “We have the budget set and we’re paying people.” He still goes into office. Schools are opening up in Germany by staggering kids, but it’s a mess here. We’re scared of the what budget could bring because of the loss of sales revenue. The district has mobile “wi-fi hot spots” on just eight buses. Avra Valley where it is the most challenge for Marana school kids.
  • Mary: Zoom fatigue is an issue.
  • Don: Some clubs still doing ‘happy bucks’.
 
Our special presentation came from Don J. with “Antarctica: 3 Worlds. 1 Voyage.”
 
Don and his wife embarked on an expedition cruise to Antarctica. A total of 162 passengers and crew were on board. They landed first in Ushuaia, S. America and traveled across the Drake Passage, which took 2 ½ days. South Shetland Islands were first sighting of land. They went out twice a day, sometimes on Zodiac cruises to look at glaciers and wildlife. Kayaking to see penguins, humpback whales, through ice flows, and landings. Penguins everywhere and never got tired looking at them. Leopard seals everywhere. Expedition guides gave mini-lectures about the geography, the ice, wildlife, etc. they explored Neptune’s Bellows, an extinct volcano and saw former whaling structures. They moved from day to day -- anchor and go on shore to different islands and then landed on the continent. Also landed at Port Lockroy, old observation and experimental station for the British from 1944-62. It was amazing to nature in action. They had a choice of mountaineering, camping, and kayaking but those were weather dependent activities.
 
On the return trip, they were supposed to dock at Ushuasia on March 18th, but Argentina government said they were not allowed to dock because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crew then steered toward Buenos Aires, and it noticeably got warmer as they sailed north. They were not allowed to dock at Buenos Aires, so they then headed to Uruguay. Docked on the 25th in Uruguay, but had to have had proof of travel, masks, gloves, and were taken directly to airport. Five days of anxiety to trying get flights home while traveling up the coast to find a place to dock. Fortunately, they made it home from an Incredibly memorable trip