Feet down on Antarctica!!

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Today was our first time with feet on the continent and not on islands on it's shelf. Wow, just wow! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now.

The day started off with snow, rain and high winds so we were told we had to abandon our morning landing but then shortly after an announcement that we are going to Danco Island instead which is a more sheltered area. It was an incredible morning because our zodiac saw a bunch of whales when we went cruising. They were curious and came pretty close to us and gave us a show of their tails. Just absolutely amazing. Then we did our landing to explore Danco Island which had a lot of Gentoo penguins, some fur seals, and various birds that fly. I took my time wandering around and when I kneeled down to take pics of a group of penguins one broke away and waddled up to me. It literally looked me in the face and bent his head to the side to study me. And then the pecking began! For about 15 minutes I sat still and it circled me pecking my pants, boots, jacket and bag. It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. He finally waddled off towards the water when we were summoned back to the zodiak to return to the ship.

At lunch they came on the speakers to announce we were going to make our first landing on the continent. There was lots of excitement that the time was finally here!! We landed at an Argentinian research base that had closed for the season. Looking around at the primitive buildings you understand that it is not an easy life for the scientists down here. The views though, the views are incredible. We were greeted by some Gentoo penguins who were still feeding their young. Also found a couple working on a nest even though that won't be happening until the spring. The penguins are molting so you find feathers everywhere. While the molt they can't swim so they get quite hungry. It's tough times for them right now. Seeing them all fuzzy is adorable though. :-) There was a hike up to the top of the hill but the snow and ice made it very difficult so I just went partially up and then sat and enjoyed the view of Paradise Bay. After taking it all in I headed back to the zodiak for a tour of the bay and saw some nesting birds high up on the rocks. The rocks had a lot of moss and vegetation growing on them. I never expected to see any type of plant life but it was everywhere. We also saw a jelly fish which can get very big down here. Ours wasn't giant but a cool sighting. And ice! There is ice floating everywhere. Majestic and full of character, none the same. You heard a lot of rumbling in the glaciers and a few chunks fell off but I missed seeing it actually fall into the ocean.The noise is incredible, like thunder.

Tonight we are taking shelter in a cove nearby and then will be going through the Lemaire Channel which is supposed to be beautiful. We will have a morning landing and then the afternoon we go to the full-time Ukranian base that they bought from the UK for a $1. Since it's a full time base we will have the opportunity to learn about what they're doing there, see how they live and get our coveted passport stamps! We heard Port Lockroy was closed for the season which is where it normally happens so everyone was really sad about missing that stamp in our passports. But it turns out we just get it from a Ukranian base instead of a British one. We also get to send our post cards from there tomorrow. Yay!!! We are the only ship down here yet so this is exciting for us. Oh, not sure if I mentioned that we are literally the last voyage to the white continent for the summer. We're trying to go for glass half full and look at it as pure peace and having it all to ourselves. Lets forget about the part that if anything goes wrong it would take close to three days to get rescued. Our lifeboats are covered and have rations to last a week so still ok if the worst case scenario happens. A few of my new friends are in mine so all would be fine.

Now I need to go to bed with some Nyquil because I managed to catch a cold. I'm missing my tribute to my dad on his birthday up in the Polar Bar. The musician is doing some Tina Turner in memory of my dad. Hoping someone gets some video for me. I know dad is looking down chuckling at his crazy kid!

Internet is very iffy down here so HOPING to get my posts out to Robert soon!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Love, Hope

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Comments

[Carrie]

Yay! You made it!!!
Sounds like you're having an incredible trip! Can't wait to read more ;)