20221221 Wednesday December 21, 2022- Paradise Bay, Brown Station

 20221221 Wednesday December 21, 2022- Paradise Bay, Brown Station

We were excited to do a submarine dive this morning, but as the ship approached Brown Station in Paradise Bay, there was apparently too much ice flow in the bay to allow safe operation of the subs.  So our submarine ride was cancelled.  They also did not think the Zodiacs could safely negotiate the ice flows, so our scheduled Zodiac landing was also cancelled.  Instead, they will do Zodiac cruises, SOB rides and the kayaks.  They did launch a second SOB today to pick up some of the slack.  They didn’t automatically substitute SOB rides for the cancelled submarines so we had to scramble to find standby slots.  Ben and Janet managed one of the first SOB rides when 2 scheduled passengers failed to show up.  

The SOB proved a very different experience from the Zodiacs.  They can go a lot faster, and with a 1” thick aluminum hull that can stop a 50 cal. bullet and water jet propulsion, it can also travel through ice flows where the Zodiacs can’t go.  The overhead cover also allowed use of cameras during light rainfall.  We got very close to Brown Station (Base Brown) and got a decent look at the Gentoo penguin colony which has overtaken part of the Base.  

There wasn’t a need to even get off the Viking Polaris to see whales because humpback whales were all around us in Paradise Bay.  Several came with a few hundred feet of the Polaris.

We were a bit surprised to see a private sailboat crossing Paradise Bay.  They must have had to timed the Drake crossing for an unusually calm period.

Later in the afternoon, the kids were all able to get onto SOB rides while Ben and Janet did a Zodaic cruise.  The Zodiac cruise was pretty much just a whale watching trip, but there were so many humpback whales around us and in such close proximity to the Zodiacs that it complemented our earlier SOB ride well.

We did have to rush through dinner after getting back from our excursions.  One thing about this cruise is things shut down early.  This isn’t the cruise for night owls.  Dinner service ends at 8:30PM.  There are a few 24 hr room service food items including an Impossible Burger, salads, steaks, pasta and desserts.  There are no movies or lectures playing in the Aula in the evenings.  There is video on demand in the staterooms and free internet, but the bandwidth may not be adequate to stream any shows and tonight, there was no internet connectivity.

Due to the weather forecast, tomorrow’s activities in Orne Harbor will start at 5:15am, so we have to hit the sack early tonight.