Iceberg!

Another uneventful day at sea. Very calm seas with little to no wind. As the day wore on, the skies became cloudier and the air became downright cold. We had all entered a contest to see when we would spot the first iceberg, both in latitude and time. I had guessed 61.44 lat and 1845 time wise. As it turned out, we saw the first major iceberg around 62.10 but still around 1800.

The other highlights were that because we made such good time, we spotted land – King George Island by around 700 p.m. also. During the day, I had made the first spotting of a pair of fur seals frolicking in the cold seas and we also saw the first spouts of a distant whale.

It was decided to drop off Thom (Gilligan), the tour director and marathon responsible. He and some others went ashore in a Zodiac that evening to set up the course for Saturday, including taking an ATV in the boat. Otherwise a pretty calm day where most of us relaxed or took a nap or two. We also had two mandatory lectures on Zodiac safety along with a presentation on keeping the Antarctic pristine. This included directions on how close we could or should get to the animals and the fact that there were no toilets on Antarctica and that we should go before we get in the Zodiacs and have to hold it for some hours

By the end of the day, most of use were becoming increasing anxious, worried, yet excited about the run on Saturday, so much so that it became normal at the dinner table to say that some did not even want to talk about it.

I also caught up with some reading in the library on Scott and Amundson and their adventures in the Antarctic along with early adventurers.

We set sail later that evening for a following day shore excursion on Deception Island, an old whaling station from the early part of the last century, with a 7:00 a.m. passage through a narrow opening into a flooded volcano cauldron.