More Rough Seas

November 6 was a bad weather day. We cruised the Antarctic Sound, though a huge field of icebergs. They were amazing! Phil tried to get us into some zodiacs, but conditions deteriorated quickly. They got two zodiacs loaded, but had to unload them almost immediately. They called it a “sporting” unloading. So we cruised around to look at different things. We cruised into Hope Bay, where an Argentinean research post, Esperanza, sits. This research post is different than most. Entire families come down, and they even have a school. There are currently approximately 15 families there, including children. It is the location of the first Antarctic birth in 1978. There have been 20 births since then. Some families stay up to two years. There is a school from kindergarten through high school. One of my group members and I came to the conclusion that to be a kid growing up there would be a temporary awesome experience, but after a few months would probably be pretty difficult. This is also the location of the highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica, which was 67 degrees Fahrenheit in 2020. The penguins are a megacolony, which has been monitored for over 20 years, the longest monitoring period. As we cruised by, the researchers came out and welcomed us, waiving and hoisting their flag. There were penguins everywhere! The birders (Rock Jumpers) with their high-powered scopes let us know that the colonies in the bay were mostly adelie.

We then cruised by Brown's Point, where we had originally planned to do some things, but – weather.

Later an announcement came over that an Antarctic Petril was circling the boat.  Not being a birder myself, I didn't recognize the significance of it until Phil also announced that it, too, is a rarely sighted species.  So, off I went to the observation decks to try to get a photo.  Those birders are great people.  They pointed out what made this bird different and helped me track it to get my shots.  As I was taking my picture, a group of Antarctic cormorants took off in flight.  It was a beautiful sight!  And I think I'm getting the hang of shooting birds in flight!

We spent the rest of the day in impromptu lectures.  Because COVID is also growing on board (3 cases now), I watched most of the lectures on the TV in my cabin and worked on pictures.  By nightfall, the seas were getting really rough again, to the point that I had to latch my balcony door again because it opened and closed on its own a couple of times.  Overnight, we'll be heading to Elephant Island, hoping to do some zodiac cruising or maybe even a landing.

It's a good thing we didn't get our hopes up for getting off the ship because the seas would only allow the ship to drive by.  Our captain was able to get us closer to Elephant Island than to Esmeralda, and from my binoculars, I could see that the penguins were chinstraps mostly.

Our last day on the Antarctic peninsula, the seas were too rough for taking the zodiacs out, so we did a drive-by of Elephant Island.  Phil gave us a running commentary about the history of Point Wild and pointed out the statue bust of Captain Pardo that is kept there among the colonies of chinstrap penguins.

Elephant Island is the place where Sir Earnest Shackleton and his crew finally took refuge after being trapped in the packed sea ice in the semi-failed Antarctic expedition in the early 1900s on the ship, Endurance.  He left his second-in-command, Frank Wild, in charge while he took a lifeboat to South Georgia in hopes of getting rescue from one of the whaling stations there.   He was successful in obtaining a rescue from Puento Arenas, Chile.  The ship's cat for Endurance was a male tabby named Mrs. Chippy.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Chippy did not make it to Elephant Island.

We spent as much time as we could cruising around the bay until Captain Jeremy said we were drifting too close to the rocks, so he turned us around and we headed toward South Georgia via the Scotia Sea.

The Scotia Sea is supposed to be the roughest section of the Drake Passage.  I think I believe it.  Early in our entry into the Scotia Sea, we actually had a wave break against the window in the dining room, which is on deck 5.  The mud room is on deck 4, and we step down to probably Deck 3 to board the zodiacs.  That size swell was not the norm, though, and with the gyro stabilizers, the latest in nautical stabilization technology, that swell really didn't feel any worse than most.  Just like somebody gently rocking a cradle to its limits, but not having the speed and jerking sensations you would expect.

We saw some whale spouts off the starboard aft, but they never got close enough to guess at the type, and a few people (not me) saw a leopard seal.  (I didn't even see the spouts.  My cabin is starboard, and the spouts should be visible on the video, but they aren't!)  Since we are still getting new positive COVID cases, I'm pretty much staying in my cabin, watching from my balcony.  Phil is announcing spottings, and I'll mask up and go out on deck.  I'll also go out on deck on the other side of the ship just for a change of scenery.  But, I'm declining to go into the lecture room, instead watching the lectures on the live stream TV in my cabin.  Today, we had a few historical lectures and a lecture on seals.  One thing of note on the historical lectures, whenever Jeff gives a lecture of a historical expedition, he always makes note of the ship's cat or cats.  I never even knew ships' cats were a thing!

After two days at sea, we plan to land at Grytviken, South Georgia, and expect to spend much of the day ashore.  So,we repeated all biosecurity measures to ensure we don't carry anything from the Antarctic peninsula to South Georgia.  We also had lectures about human and animal behavior on the islands.  Primarily, do not get between a seal and the water and if a seal starts acting aggressive toward you, do not turn your back on him.  Just extend your arms out to make yourself big and back away.  If you turn and retreat, especially if you run, you trigger their predatory behavior to chase.

Since there were no new COVID cases yesterday, I went down for the first lecture to try to attend in person.  There was so much coughing and sniffling, with some idiots taking their masks of to cough, that I left and went back upstairs to watch the lectures on the TV in my cabin.  I did go down for lunch, where we were sitting in a little section of the dining room that is separate from the main room.  I did walk past a lady standing by the reception desk telling someone else that she had tested 3 times and was negative.  She was coughing and hacking and sniffling, so there is, indeed, something other than COVID going around.  To tell the truth, I don't want whatever that is, either.  I just simply don't want to be sick while going to places that are so isolated that this will likely be the only opportunity I will have to visit.  After this cruise is over, if I catch a cold and need to take some time, I can do that without missing anything.  That's not the case while on the boat.

Most of our group has been pretty good about masking and being careful, and it seems most of the sickness is in another group, so I've been trying to be careful not to mingle with that group in particular.  We decided to reserve tables in an isolated area for our group for dinner, which makes me much more comfortable coming down for dinner a la carte, with the whole ship dining at the same time.  I'm still not coming down for lectures in that small lounge with everybody packed into it, but it will be nice having dinner with the rest of the group instead of upstairs by myself, though my stateroom attendant has been wonderful in making sure I had what I wanted.  The crew does seem to be getting serious about enforcing COVID precautions. I'm not the only one concerned.  Another couple has locked themselves into their room, refusing to even allow the stateroom attendant in because they have another excursion after this which requires a negative PCR test.  They are only coming out for excursions.