Dave's Antarctica Expedition
Page 2- Zodiac 1
Sunday December 30thSunrise 2:59am, sunset 11:55pm "Today we will visit Deception island, cruising around its natural volcanic amphitheatre, one of the only places on earth, where you can cruise directly into the center of an active volcano. Nestled in the South Shetland islands, this locale is home to over 100,000 Chinstrap penguins."
More info
"7am- MV Marco Polo approaches Deception Island where the ship will cruise around the flooded caldera for approximately one hour."
10am lecture- "Geology of Antarctica"11am- mandatory landing and zodiac briefing Several of us had been actively debating the seven continents- which they were and why for instance. Are there size requirements- as for instance Australia is a continent, but why not Jamaica then? How are Europe and Asia two seperate continents when they are one land mass?
At some point a woman turned to us and told us that all continents started and ended in the same letter. Having always thought that the world should revolve around me anyway, I immediately declared myself- David- the eigth continent. Wikipedia should reflect this shortly.
Also of note is research and lectures described Antarctica as the coldest, windiest, and driest continent on earth. Yes, although having locked up much
of the planet's fresh water, technically a desert as judged by the level of rainfall. Well, coldest and windiest I believe. But for most of the time
there all it did was rain or snow on us. So not convinced about the "dry" part.
You see my chinstrap sightings below. Pretty cool.
Closest thing I got to a whale sighting : ( Next two pics from EMF
Evelyn being the center of attention
Me being the center of attention
Still not sure exactly how this happened, but a few of the guys had come up with the concept of starting our own country, which we discussed over lunch. Here you see me being crowned King of this new land, and we each were assigned new roles. 2pm lecture- "The Penguins of Antarctica"
So we all know some words to "Yankee Doodle", but like many songs have you ever thought WTF to the lyrics, like "stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni"?
Thanks to this lecture, I now know it refers to a fashion from 18th century England, which in turn helped name the macaroni penguin.
Which then begat the song the "Macarana." Just kidding about this last one...I think.
Also of note the song was orginally British officers making fun of American ones. But it always ties back to the penguins my friends...
"You'll see a former whaling station here. Next, we head to
Cuverville island, where we will see
Gentoo
Penguins with their distinct reddish-orange bills and wide, white markings on their heads. This dark, rocky island
is home to one of the largest colonies of these amazing penguins, anywhere in
Antarctica and is surround by a landscape
of brilliant floating icebergs and glaciers, calving off ice mountains and crashing into the water below, creating an
amazing spectacle in front of your eyes."
"3:15pm- MV Marco Polo is expected to anchor off Cuverville Island and zodiac cruises will commence. MV Marco Polo sails for Le Maire Channel
and Port Lockroy when the last group of guests are back on board."6:40pm launch
This was a great hat- which I found in South Florida, funny enough, right before heading out.
Also made me feel like a "Fat Albert" character.
I love the smell of guano in the morning...penguins shit pink.
The weather conditions for this launch can accurately be described as cold and wet. The three of us threw caution to the wind and were snapping away with all sorts of electronic equipment. Unfortunately moisture would get into Evelyn's Rebel's LCD screen.
"After returning to our ship, the balance of the afternoon and evening is at leisure. Join us on the sky deck for our Jacuzzi social, or, simply relax and enjoy the shipboard amenities. After dinner, nightly entertainment and dancing are available. (B,L,D)"
"The ship's clocks will be set forward one hourduring the night due to the change in time zones."
