Day 34 - 11/09/23 - Antarctica Experience - Day 3

 Overnight we slowly cruised at 5-8 knots up the Gerlache Channel in a northeasterly direction to just off Deception Island.  For the past two nights there's been the frequent banging of ice chunks against the Zaandam's hull.  That noise and early light skies has kept me awake since 4:30am. I started my Pocket Earth track for today and awaited a PA announcement about today's plan, all in a prone position under the covers.

While lying here I wrote a little poem responding to a FB challenge to compose a poem about penguins:

There's nothing so sanguine

Concerning poems about a penguin

Black and white they are

And into the distance do we stare

Searching for their cuteness

Found in the harshness 

Of a very cold and wintry day

We gaze and find them at play

How they survive I do not know 

But daily in search of them I go.

A little later in the morning I wrote a poem about albatrosses.

High above the sky they fly

Often far from the naked eye

In them there is no dross

For they are the mighty albatross

Scan their view far and wide

Searching for something in which to imbibe

In food taste they are not choosy

And in watching their flight can make one woosy

But returning to reality, we had a couple of outstanding lectures this morning.  Dr. Neil Gilbert started off with "A Perfunctory Perusal of Antarctic Penguins" which was a good introduction to Antarctic penguins.  Iain Miller then followed it up with what it is taking to build a replacement research base for New Zealand at McMurdo.  His presentation shows the extreme planning measures needed to build a new base while keeping the existing facility fully operational.

During the day I worked on plans for our Falkland Islands group to get an early tender off the ship to go visit the King Penguin colony at Volunteer Point.  In the evening, Florin, our Hotel General Manager, confirmed to me that they would be able to accommodate us, but the meeting point wouldn't be known until Saturday morning.  I have scheduled a brief meeting for 3pm on Saturday afternoon at 3pm in the Ocean Bar.  But the weather forecast isn't looking promising, and I'm no prophet when it comes to weather forecasting.

There were also some iceberg sightings during the day.

After lunch Angela participated in the Antarctic Plunge in the main LIDO pool.  To symbolize being in Antarctic waters, chests of ice were dumped in the pool to represent the icebergs.  

It was also the time that we finished our sailing down the Bransfield Strait and into Admiralty Bay on King George Island.  The bay is huge and the site of a large year round Polish Research Station and a small Uruguayan station only occupied in the summer. We didn't spot any penguins, but several humpback whales were spotted.  As we approached the center of the bay, we passed by a Brazilian research ship and suddenly encountered high axiomatic winds which flow off of the island,  The Captain made the hard decision to immediately turn the Zaandam around and head back out of the bay into open water where the wind substantially subsided.  However, it still remained windy outside and some decks were closed off.  

Because of our short visit to Admiralty Bay, the Expedition Team Q&A session was cancelled, so I took a short nap before dinner.  Dinner in the LIDO was amazing tonight featuring seafood and especially shrimp, ceviches, sashimi fish, and seafood chowder.  

Our evening entertainment was a very good illusionist, Gaston Quieto.  Afterwards we watched a movie, Encounters at the End of the World, where the filmmaker, Werner Herzog, investigates the characters who choose to live in Antarctica.  There's some beautiful scenery as well as perceptive questions asked.

We're about twelve miles out to sea and it's very windy and there's much more motion to the ocean.  Tomorrow our day is expected to begin with a stop at Elephant Island which is our last stop before we leave Antarctica.  Stay tuned.