Last night we had the opportunity to stay overnight in one of two glass igloos. It was so cool….for about an hour. The sun was brutal and the winds were howling so loudly that even with sleep masks we couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t very cold but between the sun and the winds, we called it quits at 11:30pm and decided our cabin was a better idea.
Yesterday we entered into the Ross Sea and tipped into the Bay of Whales sailing as far south as ships can go. We got to 78 degrees and 43 minutes south latitude.
Today we woke up to sunshine, calm winds, and Mt. Erebus outside. The call was made after breakfast that killer whales were around the ship so we dashed to the upper decks or the bridge. I usually choose the bridge because it’s a lot warmer and I can bounce between inside and outside quickly. I did a horrible job at photographing the whales but I think that was because I got totally distracted by the porpoising penguins.
We set out on zodiacs after breakfast and cruised around the ice with thousands of Adelie penguins porpoising around it. I got some great photos that I posted below.
As soon as we got back to the ship it was time to get ourselves psyched up for the POLAR PLUNG! So stoked that we got to do the polar plunge in the Ross Sea! The water was -1 Celsius which is about 30 Fahrenheit so not as cold as it could have been. Yes, that is still below freezing for ‘regular’ water but salt water freezes at about 28.1 Fahrenheit. Still cold, super cold! They had one of the NatGeo photographers set up to take our pictures so as soon as I get mine, you can check out the excitement….I mean fear on my face.
Because the weather is so good, we got to go out on a second zodiac cruise around the bay. We are next to Ross Island and there is a colony of 300,000 nesting pairs of Adelie penguins. We were delighted with more penguins, 2 Waddell seals and a Leopard seal. The ice was also fantastic!
Add comment
Comments