13 February 2022 – Sunday –

We passed through an area of huge icebergs (Iceberg Alley in Antarctic sound) in the early morning. Photographs don’t begin to show the scale of these giant flat topped “tabular” bergs. Our last landing in Antarctica was Paulet island in the northwestern Weddell sea. This island is home to about 100,000 pairs of Adélie penguins. It also has numerous fur seals and leopard seals in the area. There is an historic site that is a stone hut built by a Swedish expedition that got trapped in the ice and crushed. The group spent the winter of 1903 on Paulet island.

We started with a water tour in a RIB. We watched a leopard seal catch a young Adélie penguin. The penguin tried to escape but the seal just kept catching it. It reminded me of how cats play with mice they catch. Eventually it ate what it could and left the rest for the scavenger Skua which are birds that feed on leftover pieces of prey. It was a dramatic natural event.

We also watched penguins March down the beach trying to decide when and where they might enter the water. They seem to wait until one goes and then the others follow in quick succession. Our guide told us that they were young penguins practicing swimming. They need to prepare for the winter life in the water.

Our island landing was in rough surf. So we approached the beach by traveling in reverse. Apparently we will have many similar landings coming up. It is important to time stepping off the boat into the water so that you don’t get soaked. Nancy had a boot full of water from her landing. Luckily the boat has boot dryers.

The island was filled with molting penguins all getting ready for the life at sea with new feathers that are well oiled. The penguins can’t swim during their molting so they just stand around looking miserable. This island had no snow or ice hence it is ideal for penguin nests since they nest only on rocks.

Our return trip to the ship was another opportunity to climb in the RIB with wave action. We will be experts by the end of the trip. When we return to the ship, we are served hot cocoa with a choice of Bailey’s, Tia Maria or Amaretto. Some days we get hot apple cider with a choice of scotch or Jameson’s Irish Whiskey. Nice touch.

We moved on to an area called Danger Islands, so named because they are hard to see from the ocean and before good charts were available they could be a surprise. We took a very chilly 1 1/2 hr ride in a RIB to watch penguins jump from the water onto icebergs. They are amazing. Then we got close to one island that reportedly has over a million penguins. It was a busy spot for hunting seals too.
As we continued our journey around the island, we spotted several whales close to us. We have seen many whales from the ship, but this was much closer. We followed them for a while until we needed to return to the ship. It was certainly a big day of nature and sightings.

Our evening included a special dinner at Cook’s Nook. It is a table for 10 by invitation. We had an 8 course tasting menus based on Captain Cook’s writings with major modernization. We had a champagne toast followed by Chilean wines paired with dinner.

The boat patched through the Super Bowl into the lounge and guest rooms for those who wanted to watch. We went back to our room to find a plate of chocolates as a late night treat from the chef.
What a perfect day!