November 10
Today was a BUSY day! It's the first day that we've had multiple bookings. When we left Porter Point yesterday we were not sure where we were going, but the goal was to find a spot where we could have a shore landing and see penguins. Expedition Leader Marc explained this morning that one of the ships scheduled to be at Cuverville Island had to rush back to South America with a medical issue so their slot opened up, and here we are. We had originally been booked for both a zodiac cruise and a special operations cruise on November 5, but the times got changed and we had to drop the Special Ops boat. We were told we were on a "Wait List" and when we checked this morning there were no available slots. But shortly after the 9:30 am meeting our Viking app showed that we had a 2:30 pm landing and a 6:00 pm special operations cruise! This conflicted with our dinner reservation at Manfredi's, but as much as we love it there, we can eat any time.....but cannot ride in a special operations boat in Antarctica "any time." The morning brought sunshine and blue skies and LOTS of ice bergs. I cannot impress upon you enough how unbelievable these are. Those of you who follow us know we love Alaska (been there six times!) and we've both remarked that if we saw any of the "just ok" ice bergs that have floated by EVERY DAY, ALL DAY long that I have NOT photographed, that would have been an amazing day in Alaska. And another thing which is just mind-blowing to us is this....here is a photo from our August trip to Alaska......
Now look at the banner photo above. We see this ALL the time, every day. And we thought that on this day in Alaska it was so amazing to be so close to the glacier! Just a sampling of the ice bergs floating oh-so-close to the ship......
Ice berg off the bow at the "Continental Landing" party yesterday evening
Coffee with a view this morning
Our group was next to be called when we noticed the ship was moving......OH NO, has the weather turned and we won't get to go? After about twenty minutes the announcement came on that the ship was moving CLOSER to land to make our journey to the landing zone easier and shorter AND to allow us more time on Antarctica. We were called down about 2:40 pm and soon were on our way in the zodiac. It was a smooth ride and not that cold. Zipped through the many huge and magnificent ice bergs until there it was.....and what caught the eye immediately were the hundreds, if not thousands of penguins all over the place. We had a "wet landing" where we slid out of the zodiac into two feet of a clear arctic water with huge stones on the bottom. The beach was all made up of these uneven rocks but the expedition team was there to assist us to the snow steps and once there we were free to wander to the top of the crest to view the glacier & ice sculptures. And all....ALL along the way were penguins. The rule is you may not approach THEM to within fifteen feet, but if they come to you, that is fine. We spent the next 45 minutes wandering up and back from the highest point we could journey and take one photo after another of all the penguins who were not shy about approaching us and about making all kinds of noise. It was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.....and you'll notice that it was so comfortable we took off our hats and gloves!
The landing site and snow steps
One of the M-A-N-Y penguin groups
Hangin' with the penguins
Good afternoon :)
The panoramic back drop.....WOW
Photo op amidst the locals :) And at the top of the hill, MORE penguins!
The penguins come right up close to check you out and then waddle away
The orange poles you ask? Mark the path we can go and "X" where we cannot
Breathtaking view of the glacier, the penguins, the ice - note the clouds & sun - just, WOW
Returning to the "beach" / landing area, penguins come to say good-bye
Y'all come back now, 'ya hear?
The Special Operations Boat Excursion
Our original one-and-only cruise on a special operations boat had been cancelled (by us) because it conflicted with a zodiac cruise. That was the first day here in Antarctica. At the time there were no slots available and we were told we'd be put on a "wait list." As of this morning we'd heard nothing, so we went to the expedition desk to ask and were told by guest services that we were not scheduled for one, and that there were no slots available. But the helpful Viking girl said we COULD go down to the launching point and see if there were cancellations because that was happening from time to time. We went to the morning briefing and when we left there I opened the app to see double check our landing time and BOOM there was a special ops time - at 6pm. So after the twenty-minute or so return from our landing with the penguins we were back on board at 4:30pm with an anticipated meeting time of 5:30pm for the next excursion. Headed up to the room and I didn't even bother to take off most of the gear as I began working on the penguin pics. Went down at 5:30 and by 5:50 we were headed down to board the speedy boat. We'd ridden these in July on the Great Lakes and they are super fast and fun. This time, not nearly as exhilarating as we spent most of the time cruising slowly around the waters in search of whales. We did see a penguin colony and eventually did find two whales. But they were out in the distance and only once did we get the quickest of glances of a tale - mostly just saw the blow of water into the air. Still it was great fun - chilly, but great fun.
In the hangar, READY TO GO!
And we're off, cruisin' through the arctic waters
A penguin colony from the boat (left) / Zoomed in view (right)
WHEEEEEE! This is an "E" Ticket ride (do you know what that means?) :)
Driver's view as we search for whales
And we ended the most wonderful and full day with dinner at Manfredi's. We'd had a 6pm reservation, but obviously missed that due to the special ops adventure. Still when we arrived a little over an hour late they graciously seated us at a table where we had great conversation with two other guests while enjoying wine and our dinner! WHAT a day!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment