Wednesday 5 January 2011

And You Thought You Were Here To Relax. HA!!!


Here was our day in a couple of sentences:  Our 07:30 breakfast was followed by bridge tours starting at 09:00 for groups 1, 2, and 3 where we met the Captain and learned about some of the technical aspects of navigating Fram after which we all felt we were ready to pilot the ship ourselves but first we had to vacuum our clothes as a preventative measure to introducing alien species to Antarctica but our very busy  morning was not over as we were compelled to attend IAATO briefings on how to comport ourselves in Antarctica which was followed by lunch.  Phew...


In the afternoon we attended a photography workshop and then finally, after having been fully prepared for Antarctica by attending yesterday's lectures on wildlife, history and geology and today's briefings and workshop we landed at 15:00 at Half Moon Island where the scenery was scintillating, the Weddell Seals were wonderful and the penguins were predominantly pygoscelids as we saw all three species of brush tails; Chinstraps, Gentoos and Adelies and one magnificent Macaroni but even though it was hard to tear ourselves away from Half Moon Island we were back on board Fram by 18:35 which was just in time for a bountiful buffet replete with sumptuous sushi which we ate while marvelling at the lovely landscapes slipping by the dining room windows as we plied our way to Deception Island and once we got to Deception we navigated right inside the caldera which is geothermally active and the only thing hotter than the caldera was the evening's entertainment put on by the ship's crew in the Observation Lounge at 22:00. 
Whoa!  And you thought you were on a beautiful ship to relax.  HA!