Feb 24,

I awoke at 7:00 to Chad doing the daily announcement this morning. It was a go for our first landing. We readied and at our turn went down to the mud room, put on our parkas, and loaded up on the Zodiac. Paulet Island here we come.

As we were landing, Sara navigated the Zodiak through numerous, small, spectacular ice “sculptures” (little icebergs). It was then I noticed the “Good Morning” message written in the snow at the front of our inflatable! That was so unexpected I forgot the rules and stood up to point it out. Sara got on to me – to sit down. I had to profusely apologize. Anyway, Chad met us at the Zodiac as we landed and briefed us – that was a bit different. We have an hour to do a triangular path that leads to a lake, then to a peaked point, and finally coming back along shore to reboard.

As we stepped on the island there was a dusting of snow that once moved revealed an orange-colored underlayment of….guano. It was smelly and slippery! We both grabbed a pole. The penguins really blended in with the snow and the dark rocks. About halfway to the lake, we all stop and Natalia addresses us. There were remnants of a hut. It seems this was where Nordenskjold’s 1903 Swedish Antarctic Expedition survived after their ship was crushed by ice. There was also a burial mound of one expedition member who died. We trekked on – taking more pics along the way of those photogenic penguins – to the lake and took a couple of selfies. This island was a volcano, and is situated off the NE tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Weddell Sea. The Penguin colony here was the very cute Adelie Penguins and it was a large colony of them! There were a few scattered on this side of the small lake. From here we trekked on to the second point of our triangle and came to an uprise of a peak with a corner to it. This corner was basically covered to the top with the only cormorants in the Antarctic. They are called Antarctic Shags. They are black an white with blue eyes like the Adelie Penguins and that is what we thought we were looking at until we saw the flapping of wings for flying! While we were standing here looking at the various birds, someone spotted a humpback whale quite a ways off shore. We were all rewarded with a couple more blow spouts before it took a final breath with a big surface flip of its tail or fluke. I liked to think it was maybe saying goodbye! We next saw one or two Leopard Seals in the shallow waters, lying in wait for a meal. As we walk the last leg of the triangle trail set for us, we have to navigate the Adelie Penguins, who once again don’t recognize the “people highway.” A few adult Fur Seals were lying about the bank and a Weddell Seal lounged all by itself on a small iceberg as if overseeing every critter. We also saw a couple of Snowy Sheathbills up close to complete a previous sighting of them. Wow! I loved Paulet Island! We arrived where we started and boarded the next Zodiak back. I won’t forget Paulet!!

We were back on board our World Voyager Yacht, by 0905. Because we’d just missed breakfast, we changed clothes and got some bits and bobs from Paula’s Pantry. Then we went to the Dome. Once everyone was on board the yacht set off through the calmest waters we have seen on our trip! You could water ski… it was like glass!!! We passed many ice bergs and watched distant water spouts of a few whales. What a gorgeous passage this was.
It was around then that we found out about two sets of Chinese couples who were married on board last night or the previous night. That’s so cool. They displayed their banners on deck as all took pics of them. Then we went to lunch having bits of stuffed chicken breast, red fish in a mustard sauce, and marinated flank steak. As always so good- to good, we over eat! But the cruising passage was the winner. It was so still, special, and darkcast but so calm. At 1345, we arrived again at Brown Bluff – to much better weather conditions! As we pulled in we saw another ship leaving. This spot is going to be our landing on Antarctica!!!!! We were excited, to say – in the least, and ready to be out there. But we were in the second section, so we had almost two hours of “chomping the bit” waiting.

Finally it was time. We were called, went to the mudroom, donned our parkas & boots, and boarded a Zodiak. Jan met us at the landing and briefed us. We had one hour to walk and enjoy fledgling, curious Gentoo Penguins. Then we stepped off onto Brown Bluff, a dramatic volcanic headland on the northern Antarctic Peninsula! Our seventh continent!! As we did this momentous occasion for us, a still downy fledgling Gentoo came over to some gear brought by the expedition team and pecked at it, trying to figure out what’s invading my home…”Is there food?” maybe what it’s thinking. What a surreal moment for Jeff and I. The ANTARCTIC! … at last… I was kind of numb just taking it in. We walked a bit watching these creatures, again taking it all in. Then Natalia approached us with an Antarctic Flag and offered to take our picture with it. A bit further along, Maria pulled us aside with another couple and explained the formation of Brown Bluff. Then we just walked and watched the various behaviors of the many penguins – for example, one group was situated around a flat stone – like a table, and they were bellied up so to speak ready for their meals! Something else we witnessed – a baby “bullying” its parent for more food. The parent and the pup were the same size. The parent was trying to get away and back into the water, but the pup was chasing then tackling the parent. It was crazy!

After about 40 minutes we started back, continuing to absorb the scenery before us! This is the last wild place on earth! The last frontier!! …and we are here! Absolutely amazing, just astounding and hard to describe our emotions! But as always so blessed to see God’s Creation!

We went back on our yacht and had a celebratory bottle of champagne that had been in our room’s fridge this whole time.

Then all on board went out on deck for a group picture. Next we had a Briefing & Recap. Then lastly we had supper- Starters: Bluefin Tuna Sashimi, Salad, Porotos Granados Soup(Corn, Pinto Beans in Sweet Paprika sauce), and Beef Empanada (best we’ve had for spiciness); Mains: Beef Bourguignon with mashed potatoes and Morel mushrooms, and Herb Crusted Lamb Loin with Bordelaise sauce and mashed potatoes.

What an amazing, awesome DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!