Morning; bring your swimsuit (Cuverville Island)
First we go for a nice walk among some penguin colonies. This time there are mostly Gentoo penguins. These little guys are great, they walk with a funny wiggly stride and clumsily fall over or slide around on their belly.
So after a great camping experience with at least three hours of sleep what better way to wake up then with a polar plunge. The water that surrounds all the islands and mainland in Antarctica is so clear and tempting that a Polar Plunge sounds awesome! Yet, the water is around 2℃ or even a bit less for salty seawater. So with proper warm clothes and a towel at the ready me and my group of Belgians and Dutchies got ready to dive in at Cuverville Island.
The water was unbelievably cold, it felt like thousands of needles stung your skin at the same time. Since only a full plunge underwater counts you’ll just have to dive in and enjoy the moment. Then run back to shore and use your towel to get dry and put on your thermo-underwear to stay warm. Your feet suffer the most while walking out of the ice-cold water and over the very cold rocks. It was a very cold but very cool experience. And I’d certainly do it again if I get the chance. I don’t think the Dutch Nieuwjaarsduik will be a challenge anymore though.
While we were on the zodiacs to return back to the ship, we were suddenly engulfed in a thick layer of fog. The feeling of racing on a zodiac through the all engulfing layers of mist with icebergs dooming up around you is an immense thrill. I was lucky to have Zed, our Swedish Kayak instructor, as captain. Completely cool he navigated us zigzagging along icebergs and even taunting another lost zodiac. We did arrive safely eventually.
Afternoon more penguins (Orne Islands)
In the afternoon we went for more penguins. This time both Chinstrap- and Gentoo-penguins at Orne Island.
Life aboard the ship
Our stay on the boat was very well organized and surprisingly luxurious. Every morning around 6:30-7:00 we were woken up by a wake-up call over the P.A. by the expedition leader Chris.
(Music was added later for dramatic effect)
Fifteen minutes later this would be followed up by an announcement that the breakfast is ready. We would enjoy our breakfast, lunch and dinners in a big U-shaped dining room where all 108 passengers could fit. For breakfast and lunch there would be a very varied buffet with different food types for diets from all over the world. You could start your day with a combination of pastries, cornflakes, yoghurt, fruit, some bacon with scrambled-eggs and a bowl of noodles if you wanted. With some nice warm milk or fruit-juice as a drink. The warm options varied by day to keep it interesting. There were friendly waiters ready to serve you some hot coffee as needed.
After breakfast, we would change our morning outfit for warm outdoor clothing to go on our morning-expedition. This was always a hectic moment where everyone was trying to get dressed in the small rooms. Then it was time to go out on the zodiacs.
When we returned it was time for lunch. So changing from the warm outdoor clothes back to a lighter inside outfit again. Then relaxing a bit in the bar until the lunch was announced over the P.A. Lunch went mostly the same as breakfast with some different food options. During the lunch we got a selection of options for dinner. Every day, we got to pick from a selection of meat, fish or vegetarian for the main dish, and two options for entrée and desert.
Then we could relax a bit more until it was time for our afternoon-expedition. Again we had to change to the outdoor outfit and get ready for the zodiacs. After the afternoon-expedition we had a bit of time to relax, freshen-up and warm up. Everyone almost naturally flocked to the bar where we had a daily recap by the expedition staff of everything we had experienced, questions that were asked, any important information and just all around fun.
Now it is time for dinner. The dinner was served out on plates and not a buffet. We ate very well and the dinners were very good. Not something you would expect on a ship in such a remote place of the world. After days like this, filled with activities, having a good meal at the end is very welcome. When the dinner was over everyone got around and had time to enjoy themselves. Whether that was sleeping, chilling or drinking and socializing in the bar.