12 February 2022 – Saturday – Mikkelsen Harbor on Trinity Island & Lindblad-National Cove in Charcot Bay

As usual our plans for the day changed so that our initial stop was supposed to be Spert Island. Instead we went on to Mikkelsen island where we saw more than penguins.

It was a gorgeous sunny warm day. We took a RIB ride to the island and landed on a sandy beach. There was an old hull of a whaling boat surrounded by a disconnected whale skeleton. We had an easy hike around to see a very large leopard seal and several fur seals lounging on the ice. It is easy to mistake a sleeping seal for a large rock. Our guides made sure that we didn’t get too close since these animals can bite. Of course there were many molting penguins too. Although the leopard seals eat penguins, they are too slow on land to catch them. So they coexist easily.

Once back on the ship, we were told that we might be able to kayak in the evening after dinner. I had not signed up to kayak because I am always soaked at the end of my trip. This water is way too cold to risk that. But…when a man we had met at dinner asked if I would go and be just a passenger, I said why not. We were stopped in Linblad cove which had some large ice bergs and sea ice. We took off in the beautiful twilight and eventually I decided to do my best to help paddle a bit. So we visited a few big ice bergs just enjoying the view and the calm evening. We did notice an iceberg that seemed to be breaking apart but it was across the bay. We returned to the ship in time for a nightcap at the fire pit on the aft deck.

When Mark, Bev and Nancy joined us after their RIB tour of the harbor, we found out that they had had a very close encounter with the iceberg that had rolled over and broken up. They said it was quite a spectacular experience.

As we sat around the fire pit, the ship doctor who I had told on day 1 that if she needed help with an IV , I had lots of experience, and she asked if I could help. I followed her to a guest room —she said house calls were typical—and I found a very dehydrated patient in need of an IV. So…,I looked carefully, and was able to get a 22G IV on the first shot. (My doctor friends will understand that this is a small IV but anything goes). Back to the fire to celebrate! Another day of adventure…

We thought that was going to make our night but there was more! We continued our tour of the cove and spotted a leopard seal relaxing on a big piece of ice. The leopard seal is near the top of the food chain here. They eat primarily small krill, but they also enjoy penguins. They can get as big as 1,200 lbs. This one must have been close to that. The seal did not seem bothered at all by us getting pretty close to him in the Zodiac. He just watched us with his big, dark black eyes. The light from the setting sun was perfect so we could also see the whole underwater portion of the ice chunk which made a dramatic picture.