Twilight zodiac expedition and adventure - 27 December

Well believe it or not. I have now completed a zodiac to zodiac transfer in both Arctic and Antarctic waters. 

I will get to the reasons for that as we go.

After an early dinner, Sam prepared for her snorkel expedition, and I suited up for the extended zodiac tour of Curtis Bay. I went down to the mudroom at around 830 to put on boots and lifevest, and the final touches before heading off. More Francisco (our cabin attendant) interactions to add to our story at some other point.

it seemed to be a longer wait than normal in the mudroom once we were all kitted up, and we were all melting by the time we got in the zodiacs. Mine was the last zodiac to leave with the very enthusiastic Russell as our tour guide. He advised we would do an extended zodiac tour and then a very small landing spot with a steep snowy climb for great views.  (When we did eventually view the landing sight and slope, we saw a line of people climbing and at the very top, one lone penguin.  I laughed to myself imagining the penguin thinking 'where do I have to go to get away from these people?').

The evening light was simply stunning, and of course I took a million photos. There was quite a lot of ice on the water which made for noisy, crunchy and slow going at times. I’ll attach a video when we can.

Video

Taking quality photos was somewhat challenging as we were always moving, swaying, dodging rocks and ice and being jolted frequently as smaller ice chunks hit the boat and propeller. Plus Russell was a bit unpredictable 😆  Got some magic shots though.

Just look at the very very different bergs here. 

Intrepid leader, Russell

By the time we made it to the landing site, it was almost 10:30 pm and we were asked to retun in 10 minutes to allow the previous zodiac to clear the area. We went for a slow motor through some brilliant blue bergs and water, and I got my favourite shot of the trip so far.  I love the snowy little dream bubble above his head.

Pretty sweet shot from a moving zodiac.  And this is where the seal was sleeping. 

I am very happy with the zoom on my new iPhone, although I still would dearly love to have bought my other camera.

By this time, the tops of my legs and my bum were freezing, and it was obvious it would be at at least another hour for my fellow travellers to land and climb, and we returned to the ship. So the next time Russell asked, how’s everyone doing, I said I’m cold and I won’t be doing the landing. So Russell floored it and cut off a departing zodiac, much to that drivers surprise, and asked if I could join their Zodiac. So the ever popular zodiac transfer was arranged. Place zodiac side-by-side, swing legs over to the other zodiac and shuffle over. When I last did this in Iceberg Alley, Scorsby Sund in 2017, I did in fact swing my own legs over. However this time Russell did most of the work for me. I didn’t mind how ungainly it was, I was glad to get the early ride back to the ship.

It was a brilliant night. 

There are many more photos to share, but I’ll make a separate just-photos post for these. 

We are back in open seas for three days now, headed for South Georgia Island. So provided we have some Wi-Fi, Sam and I should be able to catch up on photos and posts. 

xxx