Antarctica Cruise Day 3

After breakfast we had our International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) briefing. By sailing with an IAATO vessel, we are choosing responsible tourism to Antarctica, one of the most pristine places left on earth. It is also the largest wilderness area on earth. Some of the rules were common sense like don't litter, no food or drink, and be careful with belongings. All antarctic species are protected, so of course we have to keep our distance and leave them alone. The penguins might be tricky to keep our distance from, so we just need to move out of their way and we also should not step near or on the penguin highway. We also have to be mindful of where we step, so that we don't crush any plant life because some of the plants are the oldest on earth and grow incredibly slowly.

After the briefing, biosecurity (not nearly as intense as I thought it would be), and boot assignment, we had some lunch. After lunch was a kayak safety briefing because our days at sea are going to be lessening and we will be able to go ashore or kayak. It'll be really interesting to kayak in cold water because we've only ever done it in warm water. After our kayak briefing we had some downtime to read and have a nap.

In the afternoon we went to a lecture on penguins. Like other birds, there are many different types and classifications. He talked us through some of the main types of penguins and showed us where in Antarctica and the south they can be found. Crested penguins are all over the south around New Zealand, Patagonia, and the Indian Ocean, and Falklands. We might see these kinds of penguins on the way back. Macaroni penguins are a bit funny because they lay two eggs, one fertile and one infertile. Scientists still aren't sure why. Regal penguins we unfortunately won't get to see, but they are huge! You can find them in South Georgia. They need access to the ocean all year round. We have some slight potential to see emperor penguins. They can dive under water up to 500 meters. The male emperor looks after the egg over winter (all winter, for 9 weeks in -80C). Brushtail penguins are the ones we are most likely to see on the trip. They have a nest of stones and lay two eggs (both fertile). A lot of them can be found around the peninsula. He told us all about adelie penguins because we are most likely to see them.

Directly after the lecture we went straight into our recap and briefing for the day. Tomorrow we will get to go on land! Straight from the recap we all made our way upstairs to the dining room for Christmas dinner (my hypothesis is that we might camp tomorrow night, so Christmas dinner is tonight instead). Christmas dinner was nice! I got the meat with Yorkshire pudding and Allan had lobster. We had chocolate yule log for dessert and even got some complimentary wine poured during dinner too.

After dinner we went down to the lounge where there were Christmas carols being sang and they even had one of the guides dress up as Santa to hand out small gifts of chocolates. The chocolate box has little caramel filled penguins and reindeers (Allan though the reindeer was a Christmas hippopotamus 🤦‍♀️😂). We also listened to some live music in the Polar Bear Bar briefly before we went outside.

Wen we got to the front of the ship, we could see land in the far distance. We didn't originally plan on staying out very long, but ended up spending time on the bridge with the crew, and popping up to the deck above the bridge. The continent was getting closer and closer. While on the top deck we spotted some penguins swimming in and out of the water and we also saw two whales! It was pretty magical.

Although, the most magical thing to happen, was being on the bridge with the captain of the ship while we crossed into the Antarctic Circle exactly at midnight on Christmas Eve night. With all of the favorable weather and smooth Drake's Passage, the captain was able to time the crossing over the circle line exactly. Certainly not anything we will ever do again in our lifetimes. We stayed up a little bit longer having a cup of tea in our room and watching the icebergs and the mountains go by. Begrudgingly, we know it's an earlier wake up call tomorrow, so we had to close the curtains and try and settle down for bed. (It's currently past 1am as I write this and I'm still so wired from the excitement of reaching the Circle and knowing what's just outside my window).Baca lagi