The night was relatively calm. In fact at one point, around 1.30am, I woke to check the cricket score. As you do, and we were making normal speed, Kelvin tells me, 13.5knots. How does he know that?…:) The sea was calm, and we were sliding through it.
There is a promotional talk for kayaking this morning. US250/per person per 1.5hour paddle! Will we, won’t we? We are not entirely virgins in this area. Several years ago we kayaked down the Whanganui river over three days, with James & Sarah, Jen’s youngest son and his future wife. On the last day of that event, I managed to send Jen base over apex, into the river…:) It could be her opportunity for revenge..:) I doubt survival time in these waters would be much longer than 5 minutes!! That could be motivation…:)
The next talk was on Snow-Shoeing. Again a 1-2 hour optional tour. The snow shoe, now a modern device, not the wicker platform of earlier use. This option is only US$150/person, with all equipment supplied.
Will we – won’t we?
We register for both and will make a decision at a later point.
At 2.30pm after another lunch…it’s sleeting outside and 1deg C. We have a wind from the north east which I suspect, is helping us along. The ship is incredibly quiet, which makes me think it is driven by electric motors, diesel powered, of course…;) The sea looks to have about a 2m swell. There have been some reporting of whales, but we have not seen any. There are many more sea birds today, indicating we must be getting closer to shore, though no land is visible. We have a balcony with a table and two chairs, but it would be a brave soul, who would avail themselves.
This afternoon, Jen has gone to a Penguin talk, then we both go to a talk on cetaceans – whales, dolphins and porpoise. The presenters are very knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects.
There is an interesting phenomenon. Through the double, maybe triple glazed doors and windows, you can hear both the sea and wind, yet every now and again, there is complete quiet. No sea, or wind noise???
Maybe we should sell Poki and buy a yacht and sail around the world…:)? Yeah…right!!
This evening as we are on our way to the 6.30 briefing on tomorrow’s events, there is great excitement. The first iceberg has been spotted. It is on the opposite side of the ship to our cabin, so we were not aware of it. The windows on that side of the ship are getting snow covered, so it is not so easy to see, but it is enormous. We all had a bet on the timing of the first iceberg spotting. I was way out, as I had said 0500 on the 19th.
Amongst icebergs.
This evening’s briefing on tomorrow’s events, advised we will arrive at Recess Cove at 0800 and our group, Blue group, will board the zodiacs to visit the ice formations in the area at 08.30. In the afternoon we will relocate to Meusnier Point, where we will again board the zodiacs for trip to the Antarctic mainland, our journey to the 7th continent. Here we will walk on land. All the activities we do will be subject to the weather conditions, but this is the hoped for plan.
In the afternoon a brilliant presentation on a 1880’s expedition to the Antarctic, by a Belgian group of scientists. It took years to prepare for and had the drama of defections, mutinies, deaths including the cat, which bought about an explosion in rats, and some success. The names of some of the players is etched in islands, straits and other features, in Antarctica.
At dinner tonight, our dining companions were a young Russian couple from Moscow, Andre & Euvgenia?. They both spoke good English, so we had a conversation about our travels in Russia and their careers and a bit about the current situation regarding the war.
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