Greetings, fellow adventurers! I know it's been a while, and I left my Antarctica daily blogs half finished (I'll try not to do anything half way anymore.), but here is the rest of my time in the Antarctic. I'll make sure I catch up with my excursions both grand and small that have happened between Antarctica and Australia & New Zealand. Here is where I left off.
Day 8: Monday, January 6th, 2014
Steps taken: 7,359
Initially I slept well, however after an hour or two I grew increasingly cold and uncomfortable. After twisting and turning in my sleeping bag, I awoke at 3:30 and needed to move around. I hastily put on my wolf cap and boots, and hurried to 'the loo with a view' behind the cabin at the campsite.
Much to my dismay, the flags were crossed indicating that someone was already using the loo. I was ready to urinate there on the spot, but Aussie Darryl came out of the cabin and said that he forgot to uncross the flags. I went to the portable bathroom to do my business, uncrossed the flags, and went into the cabin to spend the time until we had to leave with Darryl. More and more people trickled their way in as it got closer to the 6 am wake up call for everyone. It was nice talking to Darryl and the others about assorted things while we waited.
6 am arrives and most people are up and breaking down their tents to get on the zodiacs for the return to the ship. Melvin was not up, but once I talked to Jessi and Lisa next door, he started to stir. I was already packed up so once he got his stuff together we broke down the tent. Of course this was easier than constructing the tent. Ahh! Thus is the way of most things in life.
We were on one of the last zodiacs back, but that's all right since there was some hot chocolate waiting for us when we arrived. After getting situated again it was time for breakfast. It was nice to be warm and full again. Despite the lack of sleep, camping was very cool
The next activity was sightseeing from the boat on the Lemaire Channel. I was so exhausted after breakfast that I feel asleep while reading and didn't wake up until lunch time. I didn't really want to miss anything, but that can't be helped sometimes.
After lunch, we got ready for the afternoon excursion on Booth Island and in Pleneau Bay. My group went to Booth Island first. This is where we saw all three types of penguins of the area all together although Guintoo dominated. We saw a few Dehlis and Chinstraps. There was a rock formation with an 'F' (for Ferrara of course) carved into it that Heidi had a telescope set up for, but I was not able to spot it very well. It was really faint and I had limited view through the telescope because of my glasses. I wandered around for an hour or so and then headed back for a zodiac to cruise around Pleneau Bay.
Pleneau Bay was fantastic. The best way to describe it is an ice menagerie or an ice sculpture garden. All of the glaciers were extremely distinct. We saw glaciers shaped like animals, places, and things from popular culture. Of course this was all subjective. One glacier looked like the U.S.S. Federation from one angle, the Millenium Falcon from another, and a giant manta ray from a third. Pablo was driving the zodiac with Bismark in the nearby area, so we would race each other through the sea's ice garden. We stopped a few times (one time for a leopard seal, and another for a colony of crabeaters), but most of the time it was a fierce and close race. We slowed down to drive through a glacier that was cleaved down the middle, but almost symmetrical on both sides.
When we reached the other side of that glacier/non-glacier, Pablo accidentally pulled (engaged) the kill switch on the engine, and we came to a halt. We frantically tried to get started again while Bismark sped past pointing and saying "Har-Har! Har-Har! Har-Har!" Nelson Muntz style at us. We got our engines revving again, and the chase was on! We managed to bridge the gap, but we were almost at the ship. As Bismark's group was about to win, our zodiac cut on the inside into the stair tower back onto the ship. WE WON! BITE MY ICE!
When we all started congregating on the ship there were heavy talks of a polar bear plunge. I was interested in doing a plunge, but on the conditions that I had a normal pair of pants to change into afterwards. After the first excursion I had only one clean pair of pants left. I wore white cargo pants for the first excursion for the illusion of not having legs. Sliding down the mountain twice left me with only a pair of dress pants. I had sent my laundry out immediately the first day, and was told I would get them back in a day or so. I was hoping to get my clean clothes back for a polar plunge, but unfortunately I did not. Since I have never seen a polar plunge done in person I was okay with not doing it yet.
Forty people including Dan did the polar plunge. The rest of us watched from the top decks. The way it was set up was that one or two people at a time were harnessed to the mudroom scaffolding and would jump. The sounds people made were hysterical. Some people were timid, others eager. Most people stayed in the water for a few seconds. One hot dog stayed in for at least twenty seconds. After watching this I really wanted to do the local polar plunge and I swear when I go to the Arctic that I will do one there.
Dinner that night was really special and a good way to build off an event like the plunge. They had a BBQ on the polar bear bar deck, which was phenomenal. It was a warm enough day, Some really good food from basic stuff such as hamburgers, and hot dogs to more advanced stuff such as ribs, chicken wings, and rice with mussels and crawfish. There was an ice cream bar(buffet bar not singular ice cream bars) and apple cobbler for dessert. This may have been some of the world's best BBQ! Or at least the best BBQ I've been to on principle.
After a BBQ coma I went back to the room to read and went to bed by 10:30. Another productive and eventful day.
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