Antarctica - day 1

Wow, blue skies - you couldn’t ask for a better day. We were slightly delayed in reaching our first scenic cruising location, the approach to Palmer Station, but when we arrived a little after noon it was bright and sunny. About a dozen people from the American base came out to the ship in zodiacs to give presentations and have a meal and nice hot showers. Holland America has an agreement with them and it works well for both parties. It was fun seeing the zodiacs approach the ship and really helped put what we were seeing into size perspective. After seeing the zodiacs up close it really showed how special the Polar Cirkel boats we had on MS Fram were - ours were semi-rigid sided and had actual seats and a rail down the center to hold on to and a rail at the front of the boat that really helped when you were getting in and out. Most people were along the side rails on Deck 4 or on one of the exposed front decks… I’m a wimp, I parked myself on the back deck outside the lido. It was much warmer as I was pretty much out of the wind and much of the time I was in the sun. I really didn’t care that I saw where we have been rather than where we were going. The guy in the hot tub was on the deck below and if I weren’t such a camera nut, I’d have probably been there too… great way to see the Antarctic! After the sun went down at about 9:30 it got really cold really quick so we gave up and went back to the cabin… and missed the golden light. Watching out the window the light was so beautiful on two icebergs that Jim ran upstairs to get it, but pretty much missed it.

This morning we are sitting in the very back of the lido watching out the aft windows and running out to the back deck when there are shots… it’s gray and cold. The sun does break through every once in a while and make some marvelous shots. We are in Deception Bay and just passed Almirante Brown Base where we landed before. There was an Expedition ship anchored there and we could see the people up on the hill that Jim climbed and slid down on the snow.

We’ve seen a number of penguins in the water along with several kinds of seals and a number of different birds. The picture at the bottom shows penguins (tiny black dots) on the land taken with my 400 zoom so I am really glad we had the chance to see them up close on Fram!!!