Pasley Bay & Bellot Strait

Thursday 21st - a quiet morning. Dead calm seas, no wind and sunshine. Must admit I sometimes wonder if we will encounter any vaguely rough weather!! Today’s main activity was another nature landing at Pasley Bay. There were even more people opting out of this landing, especially when Pasley Bay came into view. Yet again an extended hike was offered. It was requested that those who went last time hold back to allow others to sign up as there was limited places. Idiot guest “why can’t you take everyone?” Yet again they had to explain the rules regarding numbers allowed at any one time plus the time restrictions placed on passenger vessels at each landing site. As you can see, the vista was a little different in that there are mountains in the background. We left Pasley Bay by 6 pm and sailed north and back into ice pack territory, although not very dense. I had dinner in the Fredheim restaurant with Joyce to try their South American menu. Unfortunately, Joyce has issues with her gallbladder so red meat is off the menu so she had the vegan alternative. The meat dish was delicious.
At our after dinner briefing the expedition team took us through today’s programme- a sailing day but going through the Bellot Strait. It was interesting to hear about the exact timing required today. We had to enter the strait at 10am exactly so as to get the high tide and reduced currents so we could get through. If we missed the entry time, we would have to wait 12 hours for the next high tide. Finished the evening with Karaoke. The first guy up was so bad, it encouraged others to give it a try so in the end, we had quite a hilarious evening.
Friday 22nd - we arrived at the Bellot Strait by 9.30am and waited until 10am before entering it. Most of us were in deck as there was the suggestion that we would see wildlife as we went through. First sighting - polar Bear high up and retreating. I very excitedly got the camera out and took pictures of …….rocks! However, was more successful with the local gulls and even managed the nose of a passing seal. The landscape was very glacial with patches of snow. It was certainly chilly outside but stayed on deck for 1.5 hours. Back inside now listening to Nicky (resident singer) doing her afternoon set. We are in clear waters again with patchy ice heading north towards Somerset Island.
There are a number of Aussies on board and a lot of us are watching the football scores with great interest and a good deal of banter. Not sure the other guests quite understand the language or topic. We did try to explain to Margery (from Seattle) at lunchtime- she was a good sport about the whole thing.Leggi altro