Antarctica Cruise Day 7

With our longer sailing carrying over from last night into this morning, breakfast was later. After breakfast we had some time to chill and spotted some humpback whales out of our bedroom window as well as some swimming penguins. Around 1030 we arrived in some sheltered water for the polar plunge. We watched from our window as people jumped in and shocked faces tried to swim back out. Then our mudroom group was called. Allan made his way down and I went up to the deck to take a video. Once it was his turn he looked up at me and then did a sideways flip into the Antarctic water. When he came back up, post whiskey shot and sauna, we had a short wait before lunch.

After lunch we went to the Yalour Islands. These islands also have some adelie penguins, but no hike, so we decided to kayak. The kayaking was much colder than the previous time, but we did get to maneuver into shallower waters allowing us to see some things other groups couldn't see on land or in the zodiacs. The penguins were all situated on the top of little rock outcroppings. We also saw a weddell seal and a few crab eater seals. It started to snow while we were kayaking, and the wind and current picked up towards the end of the session, so we frigidly made our way back to the ship. The current was pushing against us which made it harder, but we made it back and we're luckily in the front of the line to get back onto the ship.

We had a little bit of time before the briefing and recap, so Allan went to the sauna and I read. I finished the Tattooist of Auschwitz, and started Verity. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the second book I've finished while onboard. After the briefing we went up to dinner, asian buffet night. It was delicious and there were so many options!

The end of dinner was hastened by our impending sail through the Lemaire Channel. We quickly finished eating, layered up, and went to the top deck. It was pretty windy up there, but the views as we passed through the narrow channel were spectacular with icebergs all around in the water and tall cliffs to either side of us. There were not too many big icebergs, so we made it through the channel in about half an hour and continued our way north. We stayed outside a little bit longer admiring the views and searching for humpback whales, which we have seen a fair amount of today while we've been sailing.

Back inside, we thawed out and continued looking out the window for humpback whales. We spotted a few more before Allan went up to the gym for a walk, and I got caught up on some admin, while also looking out the window and finding more humpback whales and porpoising penguins. While catching up on the blog, I happened to look out the window to see several orcas too!Leggi altro