Alexander Island

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

6:15am we were awakened to the sound of our ship crunching into the fast ice.  We are not an icebreaker but we have an ice strengthened hull allowing us to crunch through year old ice.  Some of the seals on the flows squirmed out of our way, others just didn’t care and casually looked up at us as we passed by, and then there was this one feisty younger male that decided to completely cussed us out as we passed.  He was barking up a storm at us and giving us the stink eye.  It was so funny hearing his protests to us waking him up from his nap.  Unfortunately I didn’t capture his antics.

The fog was thick in the mid morning and early afternoon so our landing was scrapped.  Late afternoon saw the fog finally lift and were got out onto the zodiacs for an early evening harbor cruise. Zipping in and out between the ice flows was super cool.  We saw several seals and a few Adelie penguins.  We were filming this one seal when two Adelie penguins jumped up and started strutting their stuff saying that they were Antarctica’s next top models and we needed to photograph them instead.

Dinner, we were invited to the chef’s table and had a 7 course tasting menu that was just spectacular!  The picture is of the desert and the menu showing the rest of the meal.

After today, we will be spending 4 days at sea as we traverse the Bellingshausen Sea.  We will have several daily educational talks and plenty of time to socialize with our fellow guests.  My next post in a few days will answer the questions I’ve gotten and talk about the workings of the ship and logistics of the journey.  For now, enjoy a few photos.