Kayaking, Polar Plunge, Palaver Point

Our expedition company, Polar Latitudes, offered kayaking as an option. We chose to do it for one day at a place called Charlotte Bay. The water was calm and there were icebergs in the water. We spent a couple hours paddling around and saw a Humpback whale in the distance a few times.

We enjoyed it but we would never have done the full immersive kayaking program. Those people went out about a dozen times and that meant the time you're in a kayak is time you are not on land walking around getting close to the wildlife. To each their own.

Afterwards everyone had the opportunity to do a Polar Plunge off the side of the ship. We thought what the heck? I'd say about only a third of the passengers did it. While it was cold, they greeted us with towels and drink and there is a sauna onboard.

The sun sets really late this far south, after 10:00 p.m. That gave us time to do an excursion to Palaver Point on Two Hummock Island after dinner. It was more penguins, more ice, and more beauty. We can't get enough.

There was a Chinstrap Penguin colony at the point. We got to see them playing and move on the snow. Sometimes they'd push themselves on their stomach and sometimes they'd walk awkwardly across it.

There is a threat of avian bird flu here so we have to stay 5 m away from wildlife and clean our gear before and after every excursion - a small price to pay for keeping the wildlife safe

More photos and videos are here.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pib13VEnTV51KE3Z8

And this is the highlight of the trip: a Southern Right Whale sighting on January 10th. It's so rare for one of them to hang out next to a Zodiac, I'm posting it in every footprint.

https://findpenguins.com/0x7ax2pvwii8d/footprin…Read more