Cierva Cove & Mikkelson Harbour

I didn't have a particularly good night's rest and it didn't help that Paul's snoring kept me awake.

This morning I was too tired to go on the Cierva Cove zodiac cruise so I stayed in bed. It was overcast so I felt better about not going out at 7:30 this morning!

This afternoon Paul and I went ashore on the tiny island within Mikkelson Harbour - D'Hainaut Island. We could already smell penguin guano from the ship and it got stronger once ashore.

We walked past whale bones and the remains of a whaling boat on a pebbly beach. We walked partly through melting snow, through mud and guano. Some areas were stoney where the snow had melted. We followed a circular route to see the pengin rookeries. Some penguins had 2 chicks nestled beneath them. It was sweet.

By the time we got back to the zodiacs on the beach, our ski trousers were covered in guano and mud, to above our knees and near enough our inner thighs! How it got there, we don't know. One guest saw us and decided to stay near the beach rather than traipse through the muck.

Paul grabbed some scrubbing brushes and we scrubbed each other's trousers with sea water to get as much muck off as we could. I think we did a good job of doing so.

Back on the ship Paul and I had some Gluhwein and then had a dip in one of the hot tubs. It was pleasant enough but at 42C, we didn't last too long!Read more