Antarctica - Dec 6th

Antarctica – Wednesday, December 6

We arrived at Chiriguano Bay late last night, right before sunset, which is around 11:30 PM.  This morning we awakened to an interesting sight.  Off our port beam was a land mass.  You could see two glaciers and the closest edge of the land mass.  The remainder of the land was covered in snow and then shrouded in low hanging clouds.


Today was a double excursion day.  Our first excursion was on the Special Operations Boat.  This boat seats ten people plus the pilot.  It boasts twin engines, is ratted at 880 horse power, and can run at 44 knots, or roughly 50 miles per hour.  The seats were mounted on shock absorbers and had grip handles so the passengers could hold on tightly.  It was a fun ride.


While we were out we came across an iceberg where Bob, a Gentoo penguin, was relaxing, sunning himself.  As we circled the iceberg, Bob, who had been lying down, stood up.  We figured he was posing for the camera and managed to get at least one good photo.  As we were leaving Bob dove off the iceberg.  About five seconds later we heard a loud CRACK as the iceberg split in half.  One half of the iceberg rolled over in the frigid water.  The other half split in half again and both of these halves rolled over.  Now we know why Bob stood up and dove off.  He knew something we didn’t know.


Our tour did manage to find at least one iceberg with a hole or tunnel.  After seeing Bob’s iceberg split and roll over unexpectedly we figured that driving a boat through an iceberg tunnel would be a bad idea.  It was pretty cool to see though.


As we finished the tour around the bay we spotted a lone rock at the top of one of the surrounding mountains.  We named it ‘The Sentinel Penguin’ in honor of Bob the Penguin.


Our second excursion was a zodiac tour of the bay.  We went to some of the same sights.  The difference on this trip was that now the water was really choppy.  We got very wet.  But since we were wearing our waterproof pangs and jackets the water rolled off of us pretty well.


After our excursions we decided to simply chill for the remainder of the day.  Later in the evening we are going to take a soak in the warm pool, take in a movie, and call it a day.

Tomorrow will be another adventure.

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