Friday Feb 9, 2024
Hi again! Happy Chinese New Year to all! What was funny last night was, most of the Chinese people didn’t even stay up until midnight. Like most Americans! Lol.
Well yesterday was quite the day. Our first expedition was a zodiac cruise around Prospect Point. It is at the headland at the west extremity of Velingrad Peninsula. It was charted by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) under Rymill from 1934-1937.
We first saw a lonely little Crabeater seal just chillin on an iceberg. They said he swims all night feeding and during the day pretty much sleeps. They are soooo cute.
We then went by an Adelie penguin colony on the side of this rock. We saw lots of little baby chicks that were still going thru their molting phase. They said in about a week or two they will leave the nest and go out swimming and fishing on their own.
In the water right next to the penguin colony was a leopard seal. They actually feed on penguin babies so he was lurking there waiting for one to jump in! But he was very playful with our zodiac boat and kept swimming all around us and under us. Wish I could post a video of what I captured of him, it was so cool.
We then came back to the ship and got lunch then headed back out for our second zodiac boat expedition. They wanted to do a landing but it was too windy and snowy and cold!! So we cruised around Duchaylard Island. It’s on the west side of Grandidier Channel and was discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition from 1903-1905.
First we saw a weddell seal all by himself on an iceberg. He layed there for awhile then hobbled into the water. We then cruised around looking at all the amazing icebergs and were ready to head back to the ship when someone shouted “WHALE”! So all the zodiac boats converged on this one large Minke whale. He was being really playful with all of the boats but it was tough to get a good picture of him.
But the highlight of our day was the POLAR PLUNGE!! Dan, Carol, Kathy and I all got ready and got our robes on and marched single file to what seemed like our death! Lol. As you may remember, I did the polar plunge in the Arctic last summer and while the water there was cold this was ULTRA COLD!!! But it was fun and very invigorating. We just better get our certificate so it’s official! Lol.
We then got HOT showers and got ready for dinner. The chef made a special menu of mostly Chinese food that was all very good. After dinner we went up to the Dome Lounge and had a countdown to the Chinese New Year. Several Asian women were dressed in traditional Chinese gowns and they all sang traditional songs and danced. It was so fun!
That’s it for what was a very fun and exciting day! I’ll post a bunch of pictures next.
The Wandering Italian 