20221228-29 Wednesday and Thursday December 28-29, 2022- The Long Journey Home; Epilogue

 20221228-29 Wednesday December 28-Thursday December 29, 2022; The Long Journey Home

We never did get a chance to get off the ship in the evening as the ship did not relocate to the city pier until the wee hours of the morning while everyone was asleep.  Everyone was pretty busy with getting everything back into suitcases which had to be out in the hallway before 11pm.  

The buffet opened for breakfast early so the full selection was available as everyone prepared to disembark.  Passengers had to be out of the staterooms by 8AM and disembarkations were staggered by luggage tag groups over several hours.  It was really the first time that the ship seemed a little crowded in the living room, although there seemed to be adequate space and seating for anyone who wanted one.  

Farewell to Viking Polaris

Transfers to the airport got a little confused because the charter flights from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires ended up inexplicably delayed by several hours.  Fortunately, we all had 6-9 hour layovers planned in Buenos Aires.  When the buses initially arrived at the airport, the staff thought they would be returning us to downtown Ushuaia to wait for the several hours delay, and then be transported back to the airport, but it was only 41˚F with rain and winds to 25mph. Nobody was particularly looking forward to being dumped on the streets of Ushuaia under those conditions for several hours.  Janet even got off the bus to fetch a warmer coat out of the carry on luggage in the coach's hold and lobbied sternly to be allowed to remain at the airport.  Eventually, the staff relented and allowed everyone to exit the bus and wait it out in the airport terminal.  

It's a good thing we did so because Viking had failed to get boarding passes for most of the passengers and the check in lines were backed up.  Also the security lines at Ushuaia airport were pretty much overwhelmed and it took close to an hour to get through to the gates.  The charter planes arrived 4 hours late.  When we got to Buenos Aires, we were still unable to check into our American Airlines flights back into the US.  The American Airlines counters would not be open for checking in until just 3 hours before boarding time.  Viking held our luggage and provided lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Buenos Aires airport.  When we sat down in the restaurant, which was filled with Viking passengers, we were immediately assaulted by mosquitos.  We couldn't imagine how there could be mosquitos in the middle of an air conditioned airport unless there was stagnant water somewhere behind the scenes where the mosquitos were breeding.  

Mosquitos in the Hard Rock Cafe in the air conditioned Buenos Aires Airport terminal!

Meat Empanadas were decent. Steak and salad not so much.

The lunch was pretty mediocre, especially after 10 days of the exquisite Viking Polaris cuisine.  There were some decent meat empanadas, but the main course of dry salad without dressing, overcooked steak and french fries left much to be desired.  There was ice cream or sorbet for dessert, and soft drinks and beer were included.  Refills on the drinks were hard to come by.  

When we were finally allowed to recover our luggage from Viking, we had to get it through the check in lines.  It wasn't bad for Ben and Janet who were flying business class, but for the kids, the line was huge, and it took an hour to get through it.  But they all managed to get their bags checked and boarding passes.  Then we had to get ourselves through customs and immigrations, which also took a very long time.  By the time we arrived at our gates, there was less than an hour before boarding began for our outbound flights out of Buenos Aires.  We were surprised that we had to undergo yet another security screening at the time of boarding right at the boarding gate where they hand screened our carry on luggage to remove any liquids over 4oz.  During the earlier screening before the gates, we were allowed to keep water bottles.  There were no water fountains or any facilities to fill water bottles with safe drinking water in the airport, so you could only purchase water or other beverages at the restaurants and vending machines.  There should be a Geneva Convention rule that mandates availability of safe and free drinking water at all international airport terminal waiting areas.  

Remarkably, everyone boarded their homebound flights without notable delays, and everyone made all their homebound connections without losing any luggage.  It is truly a sad state of affairs when this is viewed to be an exceptionally rare thing and considered a blessing when it happens.  The chaos, stress and anger caused by American Airlines and Viking Air so severely marred the beginning of this journey for everyone that it could easily dissuade many from ever considering leaving home ever again on an international flight to catch a cruise ship going anywhere.  There will certainly be some serious correspondences with the customer relations departments at American Airlines and Viking Air, as well as to the Department of Transportation seeking compensation and regulatory changes to better protect passenger rights.  

We are grateful to the one American Airlines agent who spent over 3 hours in the middle of the night in Peru working with Ciara and Tom to work out a flight that got them to Ushuaia 2 hours before the ship departed, and to Captain Maggie for promising to hold the ship for Ciara and Tom's arrival.  They ended up with a bit of celebrity as tales of their Incredible Race spanning 36 hours and 7 international airports in 3 countries spread around the ship.

   

In the end, I can only say that Antarctica is a remarkably spectacular and unique destination, but it is also a very unpredictable and unforgiving place.  Going there really is an expedition.  It's not Disneyland.  Nothing is guarantied except changeability.  We were there during Antarctica's summer so the temperatures were moderate (close to freezing most of the time), but conditions frequently changed within a matter of hours.  We had a glorious landing at Damoy Point that was worth the entire trip.  The scenery and whole experience were just out of this world.  And the experience of being surrounded by so many whales at Paradise Bay will also never be forgotten.  But Antarctica is a very wild and unforgiving place. Even with 4 layers of clothes, ski goggles and heated gloves, when the wind and rain whipped us in the Special Operations Boat,  you knew the price for lack of proper preparation in a place like this can be very high.  You can see how easy it would be to die in a place like this.  

There were many disappointments caused by poor wind, wave or ice conditions that cancelled half our landings, and many of the planned submarine and kayaking excursions.  We were also disappointed that our last port of call to President's Head in the South Shetland Islands and scenic cruising around Cape Horn were both cancelled by a rapidly approaching severe storm system that would have trapped us in Antarctica for days.  Both the Viking Polaris and Octantis were instead sent on an early race back across the Drake passage ahead of the worst of the storm. 

We know all of these things are out of Viking's control, but in the marketing materials, a high expectation is set for passengers who expect to see and do what is in the itinerary.  What Viking must do is a better job of explaining that these expedition cruises into Antarctica are just that- expeditions.  Antarctica will dictate what can be seen and done on her own terms, and we can only show gratitude for what she allows us to see and do.  We should be thankful to the highly skilled crew who get us to this very wild place, and return us safely and in comfort. Just last month, one passenger died and 4 others were injured on this very same ship while crossing the Drake Passage when it was hit by a rogue wave. When passengers sign up for kayaking or submarine dive excursions, it should be made clear up front that signing up only puts passengers in a lottery for participating on these excursions if weather, sea and ice conditions allow, and that there is a less than 50% chance of any excursion actually every taking place because of Antarctica's fickle and unforgiving nature.

We did have a true Christmas miracle in being able to experience Antarctica together as a family, to have set foot on the 7th continent, seen some of her secrets up close, and to have returned safely.  For us, it probably will be a once in a lifetime experience because out of all our travels and adventures in the past, this has clearly been by far the most expensive, inconvenient and troublesome one.  But in the end, it was well worth accomplishing and the memories of the experience will certainly bond us as a family and last a lifetime.

If you are interested in a video Tour of the ship or overview of the Expedition experience, you may view them on YouTube.

20221227 Tuesday, December 27, 2022- Tierra Del Fuego National Park, Ushuaia

 20221227 Tuesday December 27, 2022- Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego National Park

The dreaded moment of the cruise has arrived.  Luggage tags and disembarkation instructions were delivered by our room stewards last night.  Also last night, we discovered that we were booked on a different tour bus than the rest of our party, despite multiple requests that all members of our family be on a single bus tour.  That got fixed in the morning.  

The Viking Octantis had tied up at the Ushuaia city pier leaving us anchored just outside Ushuaia.  Viking Polaris will have shuttle service into town via a catamaran ferry which will operate every 30-45 minutes between 8:30AM and 6:30PM.  The Viking Polaris will then reposition, docking at the city pier at 8PM.  

Ushuaia waterfront

The locals observe siesta between about noon and 4:30.  Then they party hard into the night, so if you want to do some sight seeing in town, it had better be either early or very late.  Since it’s daylight until about 10PM, that shouldn’t be much of a problem. 

We spent the morning dealing with the tour bus situation and breakfast.  Then we started the process of packing our suitcases. John’s suitcase was successfully fetched from the Ushuaia airport by Viking transfer agents and delivered to his stateroom, so he could pack his newly purchased clothes and personal care products for the trip home.

Feeding station for feral wildlife in Ushuaia

The bus tour took us to the Tierra del Fuego National Park which is just west of Ushuaia.  We had toured this the last time we were in Ushuaia with Princess Cruises, but compared to the Princess excursion, this Viking excursion was less crowded, but more rushed.  We didn’t get to see the ranger station exhibits, and spent just a few minutes at the first lake stop before being rushed off to lunch.  Lunch was at a different venue that overlooks a lake.  

During the Princess tour, we did walk through the exhibits in this building, but ate elsewhere.  The dining room is like a large cafeteria but for groups, they do provide table service.  There was a small group from a Ponant cruise that had their tables setup with what looked like 4 stemmed glasses of various sizes at each place setting.  We only had one stemmed glass and one tumbler.  The food was supposed to be all you can eat, but they apparently ran out of roasted lamb.  The lamb had been served on what looked like a small hibachi style griddle.  What was on it was various bits of lamb that had been cooked over a flame BBQ style, but hacked into odd bits.  There seemed to be a lot of back bone and neck, which were similar to ox tail, but it wasn’t really up to our expectations.  They served a flan for dessert.  It was probably the only meal during this entire cruise where we didn’t overeat.  

We visited a bay where the world’s southernmost post office is situated in a shack on a pier over the water.  It had just closed its doors for Siesta when our bus arrived.  There are trails into the woods and along the rocky shoreline.  The rocky shoreline reminded us of home, although our Douglas fir trees have been swapped for beech trees in Tierra Del Fuego.  Two interesting features of these trees are galls that are associated with “Darwin’s Fungus” or Indian Bread mushrooms, which are edible and supposedly slightly sweet if harvested before the spores are released.  They look a bit like popped pop corn kernels.  There are also hanging parasitic plants that look like mistletoe. These are called Chinese Lanterns.  

Southernmost post office in the World

Chinese Lantern (Misodendrum Punctulatum) on Antarctic Beech. A hemiparasitic mistletoe

Darwin’s Fungus, Indian Bread mushroom

Supposedly delicious if harvested before the spores are released.

The last stop in our bus tour was at a Bahia Lapataia, literally the end of the road which runs from Ushuaia all the way to Alaska 17,848 km (11,090 miles).  We have seen a couple monster overlander RV’s in Ushuaia that are probably planning on making that epic road trip.  

Upland Goose male with chicks

Upland Goose female

Chimango Caracara

Rufous Collared Sparrow

The weather was not very cooperative for our tour.  It was cold, windy and frequently wet.  The bus windows fogged up terribly, and when we asked them to turn on the AC, they said in Ushuaia they don’t have AC.  But then the driver did turn on the fan and the windows cleared up within a few minutes.  But then he turned it off and never turned it on again, even though the coach windows were completely obscured by fog.  If given the opportunity to rate this excursion, it will get a failing grade.  But the kids got to see the beautiful geography, flora and fauna of Tierra del Fuego.  We would rather have made one more landing in Antarctica, but the weather and wind gods just weren’t going to let that happen.  

The Viking Polaris was anchored in Ushuaia harbor and used a commercial catamaran to shuttle passengers to shore, but there was not adequate capacity to avoid a huge back up when it came time for the tours to return to the ship.  People ended up standing out in the wind and rain for quite some time before we all ended up back on the Polaris.  The ship will be moved to the dock sometime in the night so we should be able to disembark down the normal gangway in the morning and our luggage should make it to the airport ahead of us.  

Ben and Janet took advantage of on board booking promotions to book our next Viking cruise.  This will be to the Mekong River with Hanoi and Bangkok extensions pre and post cruise in February 2024. The river cruise ship for the Mekong is unique to the fleet, so it will be interesting to see how that smallest class of their ships stacks up to the rest of the fleet.

Nobody is looking forward to dealing with airlines and connections tomorrow.  

20221226 Monday, December 26, 2022- Drake Passage to Ushuaia

 20221226 Monday, December 26, 2022- Drake Passage to Ushuaia

The ship rocked quite a bit until we got into the shadow of Cape Horn.  The ship did not attempt to do a scenic cruise around Cape Horn, most likely because of wind conditions, instead making a beeline for the Beagle Channel.  We have been shadowing the Viking Octantis the whole way.  

Black Browed Albatross

The room stewards had collected our waterproof pants and excursion boots yesterday, so it would not be possible to do some random Zodiac landings in Tierra del Fuego.  The expedition staff did a bird trivia in the morning and a science trivia in the afternoon, both of which were low key (grade your own, no prize for the bird trivia, mimosas for the Science trivia).  This was mostly a day to sort through pictures, add captions and begin thinking about how everything was going to have to be repacked into luggage tomorrow for our return flights.  

We will supposedly have a 6 hour bus excursion to Tierra del Fuego National Park tomorrow morning.  The ship arrived at anchorage at Ushuaia at 7PM tonight.  Passengers will not be getting off the ship tonight.  We will be transferred by catamaran to Ushuaia for our bus tours in the morning.  The ship will then be moved to the dock by the time we return from our excursions.  Passenger services told John they would try to get his luggage from Ushuaia airport and deliver it to him in his stateroom so that he can pack up the clothes and supplies he had to buy in Ushuaia at the start of the trip.  

The ship’s crew had a sort of farewell presentation in the Aula in place of the Daily briefing.  Our Captain Maggie is the first female captain in Viking’s fleet.  The kids and Ben took advantage of the fitness center and spa facilities, and we also watched some of the lectures on video that we had missed earlier in the cruise.  

We hope that everyone’s return flights will be a whole lot less traumatic than our flights inbound for the cruise.

20221225 Sunday, December 25, 2022- Christmas crossing the Drake Passage

 20221225 Sunday, December 25, 2022. Christmas in the Drake Passage

The weather report has brought us bad news.  While initially it looked unfavorable for a landing at President’s Head, and the Captain began scouting out other possibilities such as the Aicho Islands, or a scenic cruise around Deception Island, which is a prominent caldera at the south end of the South Shetland Islands, the forecast developed a worrisome pattern that would have brought severe winds and sea conditions to the Drake Passage that would have essentially closed it for several days.  So the Captain decided to make a run for Ushuaia before the storm closed in.  We knew something was up when the ship began rolling and pitching more than it had at any other time during this journey in the middle of the night.  The news was trickled out early in the morning by the Passenger Services and Expedition central staff.  The Captain made an official announcement around 11am.  We will be arriving in Ushuaia around 5pm tomorrow, December 26, 2022, which will bring us into Usuhuaia nearly 1-1/2 days early.  

Viking will be arranging some sort of ground tour of Tierra del Fuego for us and we will end up spending a night at the dock on the ship before our flights out on December 28, 2022.  We hope Viking transfer agents will be able to get John’s luggage from the Ushuaia airport to the ship so that he can pack his newly purchased clothes into his suitcases.  

Today turned out to be relaxing day to sort through photos enjoy the spa, although all the pools have been drained except for the one hot tub that is open to the outside.  There were no specialty restaurant reservations available for Christmas Day, so we dined in the buffet.  They had fillet mignon, lobster tails, duck, turkey, Ham, scallops, sole and salmon, as well as a vast array of desserts.  In addition to wines, beer and sake, there have been coctails of the day that have also been complimentary.  Todays were bloody Mary’s and Belenis.  

By 11PM, we were about halfway across the Drake Passage.  Waves were over 18’, so the windows in the Hide were not infrequently deluged with bright blue water.  Ben went down around 9:30PM to watch for a bit.  Shortly after shooting some video on his GoPro, Torstein Hagen and his friends came in and had a seat behind Ben in the Hide.  This is Torstein’s favorite place to watch the sea during Drake Passage crossings.  He seems a real salt of the earth sort of fella who really believes in the vision he has created for his cruise lines.  Not one shred of crazy that seems to afflict most of our American billionaire CEO’s.

20221224 Saturday December 24, 2022- Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands, Chinstrap Penguin Colony, Sea Elephants and Blue Eyed Shags

 20221224 Saturday December 24, 2022- Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands, Chinstrap Penguin colony, Sea Elephants and Blue Eyed Shag

We had to set another very early alarm to be ready for a 5:45AM Zodiac landing at Half Moon Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.  There are the splintered remains of an ancient whale boat on the beach, along with Chinstrap penguins.  There are also Gentoo penguins in the water and on the beach, but the penguin colonies above are populated with Chinstrap penguins.  The beach and island are quite rocky, forcing the penguins to do a lot of hopping from rock to rock.  This looks quite different from the usual waddling penguin gait.  

There is a lot more exposed rock in the South Shetland Islands, which are much further north than Anvers Island.  There is also noticeably more moss on the ground.  There were kelp gulls and terns on the rocks nearby, as well as blue eyed (Imperial) Antarctic Shags, which are a species of cormorant.  

There is an abandoned Argentinian research station close to the landing beach.  This landing was mostly walking on the rocky bare earth, although there were patches of ice and scattered patches of crusty snow.  The landing at Damoy Point felt more like a polar expeditionary adventure.  

As we were waiting to board our return Zodiac, we heard the loud CRACK, followed by a thundering roar.  We though that must be a glacier calving somewhere, but to our amazement, we saw a small shard of a small house sized iceberg in the bay near us shear off the iceberg and slide into the water. Then the entire iceberg flipped over, exposing a jagged and very blue underside.  It made a surprising amount of noise as it rolled over.  The kayak guide wasn’t kidding when they said ice bergs can be unpredictable.

Ciara and Tom did finally get to do a submarine dive and were fortunate to see an octopus as well as star fish, sea suns, sea pens, a nudibranch and they also saw a penguin swim by as the sub was ascending.  

The SOB rides were still wet and cold even though it wasn’t raining.  We were able to spot some seals on the beaches, but we were far enough away that you could really only see details by binoculars or through a telephoto lens.  

There were also some female sea elephants on a beach on the backside of the island where the Chinstrap penguin colony was, but again, you needed binoculars or a telephoto lens to be sure.  The ship does provide nice waterproof 8x36 binoculars with a floating strap for use during the cruise.  

The day started with calm at 5:45 so the first kayak excursions got off, but by the third session, the winds had picked up so all the later kayak sessions were cancelled.  All the excursions were done before noon, so we had a leisurely afternoon visiting the fitness center and spa. 

The ship launched a NOAA weather balloon which transmits data up to 18 miles in altitude as part of a network of weather balloon stations around the planet.  The crew turned that event into a deck party complete with dance music, hot Irish Coffee and Cocoa drinks and desserts.  

We even got to have our picture take with Torstein Hagen, the owner of Viking Cruises.  That’s the first and probably last time we’ll have an opportunity to stand that close to a Billionaire.

The captain did take the ship on a scenic cruise between Greenwich and Robert Islands where there are a number of stark rocky pinnacles with prominent basalt columns.  One stood in isolation like an Easter Island Moa.  The weather was poor for photography with moderately heavy rain and windy conditions and a very low cloud layer.  We then cruised down the southeast coast of Livingston Island toward Deception Island.  There are some very impressive and massive glaciers that line that coastline.  

During the daily briefing, we got the bad news that a weather system had moved in, and conditions at our next port of call, President Head, were expected to make it impossible to do a landing and perhaps even difficult or uncomfortable to even do scenic cruising in the area.  Winds could be in excess of 40kts and the channel between Livingston Island and Snow Island, where President head is located, is subject to constant ocean swells from the Drake Passage which make landings difficult in even calm wind conditions.  So basically, our last day in Antarctica is going to be a washout.  

So we took advantage of the free launderettes to wash all our clothes, including our expedition excursion wear, which we will not be needing any longer, unless the weather forecast turns out to be drastically wrong and we are surprised to find calm conditions at President’s Head in the morning.  The expedition leaders have preemptively cancelled all morning excursions, but our calendars still show a noon excursion, just in case.  But in all likelihood, that too will get cancelled in the morning.  

It looks like we will spend a quiet Christmas Day on the ship.  Hopefully, the eggnog will be flowing freely.

20221223 Friday December 23, 2022. Damoy Point Research Hut, Gentoo Penguins, Lone Adelie Penguin and Submarine Ride

 20221223 Friday December 23, 2022 Damoy Point Research Hut, Gentoo Penguins, lone Adélie penguin and Submarine Ride

The ship had arrived at Damoy Point overnight and activities were scheduled early.  However, from our stateroom, we could see white caps.  We had been booked on the submarine for today, but this conflicted with a Kayak excursion and Zodiac landing.  We went down to the excursion embarkation station and learned that the kayak excursions were cancelled due to wind, but that the sub drivers had taken out one of the submarines and were testing the conditions.  Ultimately, the submarines were give the go ahead, along with the Zodiac landings and SOB.  

John and Price got booked on the same submarine as us, while Ciara and Tom didn’t get on a submarine today.  We had all been booked on the kayak excursion.  Ciara and Tom did a SOB instead and did two Zodiac landings.  

We were thrilled to actually get to experience the sub activity.  Transferring from the Zodiac to and from the sub was a bit tricky, but safely managed.  The hardest part was maneuvering around in the very tight space in the sub to get into your assigned seat.  The seats are assigned based on weight balance so the sub will maintain a neutral position in the water.  

The technology in the submarine was pretty amazing.  They had all manner of monitors for O2 concentration, cabin pressure, depth and a pair of side scanning sonars.  They also had some sort of link with the dive support vessel on the surface that could transmit voice messages.  Radio won’t work under water, so it must be some sort of acoustic link.  

At the surface, being inside one of the two acrylic spheres with the surface waves splashing over the top of the sub was like being inside a Maytag washing machine.  We were surrounded by a brilliant pale blue light.  Visibility was limited to about 40’ due to turbidity of the water.  

As the sub began to dive, it was very quiet, except for the sounds of an occasional ballast pump that sounded like the electric marine head on our SeaSport boat.  As we descended, the color of our Viking Red Parkas morphed into purple, then violet, and then grey as we dropped to the bottom, which was at about 300’.  The sub is capable of going to 1200’.  As we descended, we could see some zooplankton in the sub’s light beams.  When we got to the bottom, we could see star fish, sea pens, sea anemones, sponges and sea pens.  The largest animals were Sea Suns, which look like brittle stars with numerous very long legs radiating out from their bodies.  Some of these legs would reach up into the water, and one Sea Sun was poised on the top of a rock with half it’s arms reaching out into the surrounding water.  We saw some sea lice swimming about, but no fish.  At the end of the dive, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of a Gentoo penguin as he swam very rapidly around us at that 300’ depth, and then disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.  Our sub driver said this was the first time he had personally seen a penguin during one of his submarine dives.  The driver had to be careful with maneuvering the sub to avoid hitting the bottom and stirring up sediments that obscured vision, and he said we were mostly at the mercy of any prevailing currents. The trip back to the surface only took a few minutes.  In some ways the sub excursion was like a visit to an aquarium with a tunnel where you can walk along at the bottom of some enormous tank.  But were were thrilled to have been able to do this as part of our cruise experience without having to pay extra.  I saw on SilverSea cruises, which operate similar subs, that those excursions are an extra $900-1200 each.  

While the sub ride was one of the most highly anticipated activities, the highlight of the day was the Zodiac landing at Damoy Point and the walk on land to see the British Antarctic Expedition research hut museum and the nearby colonies of Gentoo Penguins.  As a bonus, there was a solitary Adélie penguin visitor checking out his Gentoo Penguin neighbors.  

Landing on the beach, there was a small rocky beach with several penguins nest building near by.  Steps were cut into the compacted snow and ice that lead up to the hut and main penguin colonies.  There was a couple hundred feet of elevation gain, and probably a mile of trudging through the compacted snow and ice.  You had to be careful to stay in tracks laid by prior guests lest your foot and leg break through the crust and sink you to knee deep in the snow bank.  Viking provides trekking poles for all of these excursions, which is a big help.  

It’s hard to imagine having to spend months in one of these research huts, which were no bigger than a 30’ RV but accommodated 6 researchers.  They were mostly plywood and 2x4’s.  Most of the equipment dated to the 1960’s and relied mostly on kerosine.  Fortunately, they were generally only used during the Antarctic summers.  

There was nest building and egg laying going on in the Gentoo penguin colonies.  Unfortunately for the penguins, we saw numerous penguin eggs in the snow that had been snatched by Skua birds, dropped in the snow and eaten.  The Skuas are the closest thing to a raptor in the Antarctic.  They can carry penguin eggs in their beaks and feed primarily on penguin eggs and chicks.  There were a couple of Skuas hanging around the Gentoo penguin colonies.  You can smell the penguin colonies when you are downwind from them, and it isn’t exactly pleasant.  But it’s not nearly as bad as being downwind from a pig farm.  Amongst all the Gentoo penguins was one Adélie penguins who apparently took a wrong turn somewhere on his commute.

The weather turned out glorious for us today.  The scenery of mountains covered by glaciers reaching all the way to the water is so unique it is hardly believable when you look at it with your own eyes.  It is entirely unlike anything else we have seen anywhere else in the world including Alaska.  

After returning to the ship, we eagerly grabbed lunch and naps followed by wandering the ship, workouts, and the daily briefing in the Aula.  

We had dinner in the buffet, which featured venison loins and Arctic char in addition to the usual vast variety of foods.  Late in the afternoon, Ciara and Tom received notification of their being scheduled for a sub dive tomorrow.  That should alleviate a mounting sense of disappointment on Ciara’s part since she was particularly disappointed that their dive had been canceled earlier due to a weight balance issue.  

Tonight the ship will be moving from the Anvers Island area to the South Shetland Islands as the ship begins its northbound return to Ushuaia.  This will take us back into open waters.  We could certainly feel the ocean swells as the ship left the shelter of Anvers and Brabant Islands.  We have an early start tomorrow at Half Moon Island with a 6AM Zodiac landing and 9:45AM SOB cruise.