Where's Thando? Getting ready for ScienceGuy

in #adventure7 years ago

Last week in this post, I introduced you to Thando Cebekhulu, who will soon be introducing himself to you once his account is activated. I've now registered it and am waiting for the e-mail to say he's been accepted - as @scienceguy. He's sent me an #introduceyourself post which I'll format for him and post on his behalf...soon, I hope!

How is he sending this stuff? By Facebook Messenger. I kid you not. That's the only way we've been able to communicate since he left Earth, er, Cape Town. I'm still trying to figure out a secure way to send him his Steemit password. If any of you have ideas on how to do this, short of taking a photo of cut up pieces of paper with the password on and sending that back to him via Messenger (and no, I don't think carrier pigeons will fly there), I'm all ears. I wouldn't want his opportunity to earn compromised by poor security in the startup process!

As I explained in that post, Thando (pronounced Tan-doe for those not familiar with Zulu names) is a young South African zoologist researching birds (and seals on the side) on Marion Island, a cold, windswept, volcanic rock on the way to Antarctica from South Africa.

We, along with his mother and his sister, saw him off on his voyage with 70-odd other intrepid seapeople on the SA Agulhas II (pictured below) in early April of this year from Cape Town Harbour.

Panoramic view of Cape Town Harbour

The sharp-eyed among you will see @tim-beck in there for scale and moral support. By the way, I learned a lot this morning trying to stitch five photos together to make a panorama. For those who do this for a living, I tip my hat to you. After hours of trying, I found an app on my phone (bimostitch) which did it in under a minute. Eish and oy vey. But I digress.

Some of you might have seen @marcel1965's post on the sights of Cape Town's V&A Waterfront (https://steemit.com/life/@marcel1965/v-and-a-waterfront-some-sights). He also picked out the venerable rust buckets you can see on the right!

We had a chance to say goodbye in person to Thando on the morning of Friday 7 April. That's him disembarking, then with his mum Geslina, then with Geslina again and his sister Zandi.

Thando disembarking

Thando and Geslina

Thando, Geslina and Zandi

This is the next generation icebreaker - and an impressive vessel closeup.

SA Agulhas II closeup

SA Agulhas II moored

Thando gave us each an expedition badge, sporting the logo the expedition team designed themselves - I'll let Thando tell you why the 4 is lying on its side, a story which will be worth reading.

74th Marion Island expedition badge

...and then he had to go back on board. That was the last time we saw him before the ship finally sailed sometime the next day.

Bye Thando!

I hope we get approval for his account soon so you can start reading his stories in his voice, not mine. And yes, getting penguin pictures!

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Awesome! Can't wait for Thando to get his account. I am in...now to figure everything out..... :)

Yeah! You and me both....🤗

A most excellent post. I enjoy reading posts about others who are encouraging others to join Steemit. I too am currently speaking and doing meetups about Steemit in Cancun, Mexico. Trying to bring the concept of crypto currencies to the latino nation is a slow but rewarding process for me.

I like your style :-) Upvoted and Followed

Hi @mithrilweed, I just read about you getting together with other Steemians in Mexico - lovely to meet you! Thank you for your kind comments. Much appreciated! 🤗 Wishing you well for getting a Latino Steemit following going. Let's compare notes on getting real people signed up, one by one....

That's very nice to have have a friend like YOU (-:
Awesom!!!

Well, thank you, @awesome-seven, with a name like that I've gotta awe-sume you know awesome when you see it! ;-)

Hope Thando will be as soon as possible between us. I sure he will enjoy this community as much as we do !!

Thank you on Thando's behalf, @nicolaepavelean 🤗

Thando seems interesting, gotta follow him when he's here :D

Thank you on his behalf 😊

That's amazing! Wish him success and i hope that carrier pigeons won't get lost on the way.

Lol! Or blown off the planet. Thanks for reading.

Awesome, looking forward to seeing more from Thando, from his brand shiny new account

Me too! Another friend got approval in 3 days for her account, so I think I need some patience - after all, I just registered his account barely 24 hours ago.

I am very jealous of this trip- would love to go. Any idea how much trips might be to Antarctica from Cape Town?
I'm Following you now.

Hi, @thinkit, that's a great question which I don't have an immediate answer to. We have a friend who led a research expedition there, ummm, a couple of decades ago (we call him Captain Antarctica - no joke). On a serious note, we have another friend in Cape Town who's pretty jacked up on things expeditionary. I'll ask him and get back to you. As for a trip to Marion Island, unfortunately (!), that's not a tourism option. Researchers only. They get dropped off in April and picked up the following April, or May, or June...we'll find out from Thando. Nobody else lands in the meantime.

Maybe hey need a deck hand- Ill break the ice off the .. off something lol.
I had a friend visit last year but he left from Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina- cost him something like 6000usd for 10 days I think. Must be really amazing to be part of those trips.

Awesome I really enjoy reading your posts

Thank you, @yeobo! That means a lot!

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