Penguins! and Whales!

We took fairly early Zodiacs down the Errera Channel to another island off the continent where we landed the craft. The channel was where we spent the night surrounded by huge mountains and icebergs. When we landed, we had the possibility to climb a very large rock and ice/snow “hill” which was covered in Gentoo penguin colonies all around. Many of them were molting which made them grumpy and we were not supposed to get closer than about 10 feet though many of them would come walking right by you as you were walking up.

It was very cold on the boat and on shore. I had on around 5 layers on top and about 3 on the bottom. My feet keep getting frozen in these rubber boots we have to wear so I went to 3 pair of woolen socks this time, but it did not seem to help that much. I did manage, like many people to climb this hill which afforded fantastic views of the surrounding seas, mountains, icebergs and wildlife all around. We all took pictures on top which has a metal latitude/longitude marker.

After we returned to the ship, we then were taken via Zodiacs again to the sister ship, the Ioffe from which we would have our awards and BBQ. It was freezing out though I added another heavy jacket and another pair of socks making total of four! It was a great BBQ on board their deck with hamburgers, steaks, chicken, ribs, corn, potatoes, and all the fixins.

Thom then gave out the awards to the best times for men and women plus best time per age group. Della, who at 69 is the oldest woman on board, got the best time for 60 and over with her 8:02. They then awarded the best ship time, where our ship, the Vavilov beat their ship by around 1 ½ minutes only from the top 10 places, so they technically had to buy us all a drink.

By this time, many of us just wanted to go “home” to our ship and get out of the cold. So we lined up for the dreaded Zodiacs for the 5 minute ride to our ship where many of us congregated in the bar for some warming hot chocolate or tea.

One of the other activities going on today was kayak racing in the calm seas. I decided to pass on that, never having done it, and was not sorry a bit.

Later tonight, they took volunteers for those that wanted to go camping on the continent in provided sleeping bags and tents. Since, I am still trying to keep warm in some way, I thought about doing it for about a millisecond and decided for sure, “no!”.

While cruising through this channel this afternoon, it was another amazing experience. Sitting in the relative calm of the protected 4^th deck outdoors, with the sun shining down and just looking out while the ship cruised at around 7-10 knots. The scenery is really indescribable with icebergs in all shapes including coves and arches, seals sleeping on bits of ice and diving and frolicking in the seas, penguins diving all around and just to top it off, another couple of whales following the ship doing their spouting and deep diving; just amazing and words cannot describe it.

Now it is around 5:30 pm with dinner about 2 hours away, seems time for a good power nap before dinner and then some warmth under the covers!