28 Feb

Day 5 – First Penguins!

 

We slept great, and woke up around 8:30. I could see icebergs and land in the distance!

 

We were in the South Shetland Islands. Here we are on a map:

I was staring out the window when a penguin jumped out of the water! Acccckkk!! I screamed.  Of course.

Mukta ran out in her pjs to see. Then about 5 minutes later we saw a whole group of them!!

I was soooo excited! I took a bazillion pictures.  Here are about a half bazillion of them.

At some point, I was like, when do I stop? Do I just take penguin pictures until I die?

And then the captain came on and said there was a whale breaching port side. We were starboard! I had to go!

I put on my shoes and Mukta held open the door while I literally ran out and up the stairs! That’s the kind of friend she is. She knew what was coming, no words were necessary.

He was a long way away, but I saw him!

I went back down to get my other lens, and then back up to camp out in the Dome.

I had a Coke Zero and my camera and I was watching for penguins and whales. This is my best life.

The Dome becomes a group mind kind of thing. When someone sees something they tell everyone else, and we all get our cameras and binoculars out. I realized an iceberg we were approaching had tons of penguins on it. I told everyone, and out we went! It was sooo exciting!!

I did some serious zooming/cropping here, so these are small!

Look at this little guy just shooting out of the water!

And this one going back in!

This was when I realized I probably should have taken my son’s advice and rented a bigger lens.

It was snowing, so we couldn’t make it outside long. We had multiple whale sightings. Even saw another ship!

At noon, we went downstairs to rope-drop lunch. I had chicken, rice and potatoes. That hit the spot!

We saw penguins out the window at lunch. We talked to fellow passengers for quite a while and then decided to head back up to the Dome.

I stopped in the room to get my laptop and upload some pics. Looked outside while they were uploading and saw more penguins. I truly could not believe how many penguins and whales we had seen. Just in the first morning!

Back in the Dome we just talked. They let us know that they would start calling us by groups, and when they did, they wanted us to go down to the lounge with all of our warm clothes on. We were C, so when they called B, we went to our room to get ready. Then they called us!

Woohoo! We went down to the mud room and put on our boots and parkas.

After we were all dressed, we loaded onto the zodiac. It was cold and snowing, but I was pretty warm! I took a few pictures, but I didn’t want to take too many risks with my camera on the first outing. I used my camera a few times and my phone a few times. Look! Penguins!

Here’s Audrey and Jenn by Edinburgh Hill:

We saw lots of penguins! But nothing compared to what was coming later in the trip.

We were out for about 45 minutes. Super cool! Literally!

We left our gear in the mud room in our lockers and went to the room to warm up and change. We also ordered French fries.  That’s how we roll.

We were chilling in the room when they announced there were whales. So we took off again! Then we relaxed in the Dome until our 6:30 expedition meeting.

We learned that we would land twice tomorrow!! So exciting!

But it would probably be raining for the first one. Not so exciting.

But we were looking for a penguin colony! Exciting again.

After the meeting, it was time for the Meet the Neighbors Hallway Party! This was just brilliant. They told everyone to go stand outside their rooms, and they brought drinks and canapés. All the officers came by to socialize too! It was a great little activity.

Then it was time for dinner. We sat in Hop’s section, of course.   

After dinner, we went up to the Dome to stake out a spot for trivia!

Gautam or Cisco asked why we like trivia so much.  Mukta said something admirable like, “It’s always fun and we learn new things!” 

I said, “Also we usually win…”

That’s the most fun part about it!  Ha!

Trivia was crazy. Like crazy. 20 random questions and then 15 music questions. With bonus points for dancing. It took TWO hours. But we actually laughed a ton and had fun. And… We won!!!!

Woohoo! Everyone sing it now – We are the champions, we are the champions…

Big winners with Simon, the cruise director:

How do you really feel?

Then it was basically midnight! So we went to bed! Early morning tomorrow! Here’s our schedule:

 

Antarctica At Last – January 13-24, 2024
Day 1 – On My Way 
Day 2 – Beautiful Buenos Ares 
Day 3 – To the Ship
Day 4 – Drake Lake 
Day 5 – First Penguins
Day 6 – Two Landings!
Day 7 – Penguins Again 
Day 8 – An Unintentional Polar Plunge and Camping on the Continent! 
Day 9 – To Plunge or Not to Plunge
Day 10 – The Day I Did Nothing
Day 11 – Calm Waters Again
Day 12 – Ushuaia For the Day