More Ice,Ice Baby!! Today is our last day of exploration.

 

Okay, today is cold and windy…but Im ready!

Into the Zodiac we go… Al is equally dressed for the weather.. AND it is windy, cold and there is water being sprayed onto my face,back and legs. Today is a true test of the equipment Viking has given us. Right away there is a gallon of water sloshed into my gloves…and my pants are soaked, but underneath I”m dry. Boy am I glad I wore my goggles!  Did you now that the ice has names? Like big chunks are Ice bergs, smaller ones are Bergy Bits,partially submerged ones are Growler’s and really small chunks found together are called Brash ice.  During today’s zodiac cruise we got to see examples of all of them.

Immediately after our zodiac ride, we turned around and hoped on a SOB for one last cruise. We were wet and figured why not finish our trip off with another activity .  Well, that would have been fun except for the fact that we were very wet, my gloves needed wringing out, and i found the water pants had done a good job,but not at the waist…. So our SOB ride was rather cold. Im really glad we had our gators and goggles! Our pilot took us out to open sea and looked for whales,sea lions and penguins. We didn’t see much of anything but more ice…. It was still very pretty and Im glad we went.

 

 

We enjoyed the last adventures and will remember them always. Tomorrow day and night we have a crossing of the Drake passage again until we reach the Beagle Chanel and Ushuaia. Sunday we start our trip home. 

A whale seen today

 

Linda’s penguin encounter.. I’m on my own today

 Today we had the fun of heading into sea ice. The captain decided to put the bow right into a pristine piece of sea ice as a background for taking pictures for his Christmas cards . He asked all passengers to make their way to the bow so the picture could be taken. First a picture of all passengers, then a picture of of the 80 LWC passengers and then one of the staff. It was a beautiful backdrop! 

We have an exceptional crew! 

 Cruising on the zodiac to the landing spot. A preview of the colony

More icebergs on the way.

Ive made it onto land and looking at the colony. There are three or four separate areas that the penguins are nesting. Many of the males are walking on the shore looking for pebbles to take back to a female to build a nest. 

Notice the ground color…lots of penguin poop! For once I was glad I don’t have a sense of smell much anymore.. I was told it was horrible! I have hundreds of pictures, but will include only a few more of closeup pictures some of the expedition team took so you can get up close and personal!

Carrying a pebble

It was a great outing and Im happy I got to see so many penguins in one spot!

Charlotte Bay , where we try the landing climb again and are rewarded with success!

This morning we are again in the “A” deck waiting for our turn at cruising in the Zodiacs. It’s set up well, the crew check you out and in after each activity.

The zodiacs always travel in pairs near each other. 

Our zodiac driver Daniel from SoCal! 

Leaving the ship

Lots of sea ice today

More amazing coastline 

A small iceberg 

With three resting penguins! And when you see penguins you must take at least 1,000 pictures of them😁

After our zodiac we headed to lunch and then the ship moved across the bay and we will prepare for our landing on the continent… so far the sun has remained bright and the winds calm. I’m hoping my energy and desire stay high for the landing. The steep slope of the last time just about did me in. The view from our room as we sail into the next bay. Here is where we will do a landing on the actual continent.

On the zodiac heading to shore

We found a Waddel sea lion taking a nap not far from our path

Looking out from a hill at our ship

My new best friends

Still sleeping

Passengers walking on the crest. We made it a ways up the hill but walking in fresh,moist,icy snow just didn’t suit either of us so we headed back to the landing site to catch a zodiac back to the ship. When we got off, there was room on a SOB so we took a quick ride through the icebergs and sea ice. Im going to. Just post pictures with no narrative and just comment now that pictures do not do justice to the Antarctic.. and there aren’t enough superlatives to describe what we experience

 here.

 

Sailing past the other Special Ops boat

Another seal napping

 

I just cant believe how special this place is!