SATURDAY – GETTING OFF THE BOAT

As you may have gathered, we have been in an internet blind spot but we are now able to access the internet again so it's time to play catch up.

This morning we anchored in absolutely pristine conditions in Neko Harbour. The sun was shining. There wasn't a breath of wind. The tour director described the conditions as being as good as they get.

Using their very well organized system, one half of the guests went ashore for 90 minutes while the other half went zodiac cruising and we then swapped over.

The feature of this morning were the Gentoo Penguins where we went ashore. They completely ignored us while they went about the business of looking after their recently hatched chicks. The rule was that we were not allowed to go within 5 metres of them but they didn't know that rule and would happily come much closer to us. How many photos of penguins would you like to see? There was a lonely and very large Weddell seal sunning himself on the snow but he had no interest in us.

The zodiac cruise was an exercise in looking at spectacular ice formations and looking for wildlife.

This afternoon's activity was an exploration in zodiacs in Paradise Bay. Our skipper was a bit whale focussed so we went much further afield than the other zodiacs and were successful in finding some humpback whales. How many photos of humpback whales would you like to see?

One of the really novel aspects of this cruise is that you will be sitting in the dining room having lunch or dinner when an iceberg will float by with penguins or seals on it or around it. It is fairly distracting.

And we have to do much the same tomorrow!