We last wrote on Thursday when we were having an expedition day. Later that afternoon the Captain had to go 12 miles offshore to dump grey water. The waves picked up dramatically, and Margo got caught off-guard. Thursday evening Margo ended up in the cabin lying in bed trying to not be totally sick. She put a patch on but that helps prevent seasickness, not make you feel better once you’re already sick. Mark had dinner with our Australian friends, fortunately one is a medical doctor and gave Margo some seasick medicine.
A couple of interesting facts we have learned in lectures. There has never been a good way to measure the age of whales. Scientists recently discovered a protein in the whales eye that is highly correlated to the whale’s age. To everyone’s surprise, they have found whales that are 200 to 250 years old. It is hard to find the really old ones because the population has been hunted too intensely. Another interesting tidbit is that Antarctica is twice as big as Australia. That little fact even surprised our Aussie friends. We were even more surprised when they showed Antarctica to be about the same size as Canada and the USA 48 states combined!
Friday the winds continued enough that the kayaking trips were cancelled, and the zodiacs did not go ashore. The Zodiacs did take passengers out for cruising around Torgersen Island but no one was able to go ashore. Torgerson Island is interesting because it is the site of a study on the impacts of tourism. The island has been divided into two areas, one open to visitors and the other closed. We were scheduled to go ashore at 2:00, but because of winds it kept getting delayed until 3:00. Margo was still feeling a bit squeamish, so we decided to stay on the ship. Those who did go on the Zodiac rides said they saw Adelie penguins but it was too bumpy to get any decent pictures. Watching penguins from a distance is a completely different experience from walking among then and seeing how they interact with one another.
Friday evening the Captain decided to give Lamaire Channel another shot. We were still unable to go through the Channel because of ice still blocking the way. But we were able to see some of the most incredible scenery imaginable and got some amazing pictures of the sunset streaming through the channel. Because the view was so spectacular, the ship cancelled their normal entertainment and said the Lamaire Channel was our evening entertainment. And boy was it! We saw a number of seals on top of icebergs and a couple of whales.
We ended up on the Observation Deck with our Australian friends, Tina and Ian, and Deb and Paul, along with are American friends, Bill and Connie. The deck was packed and everyone was having “one more drink” and going on deck to try to capture in a picture the magnificence of what we were experiencing.
We eventually drug ourselves to our rooms, and went to sleep with this beautiful view from our terrace bidding us good night.