When I first looked out this morning the water was perfectly still and clear as glass. What a relief after the several meter high waves of a few days ago.
On our morning excursion to an Argentinian unmanned research station on the continent mainland I took my running shoes and wore them for a little walk so we have now completed the cycle together walking on all seven continents. Guess I'll have to have them bronzed. Well, maybe only one of them, when they are worn out. There are still a few subcontinents left to visit aren't there?
It was so warm on land that I had to remove my life jacket and open my outer coat and even then i was still sweating. We were told that the penguins were overheating. I think someone said that it was eight degrees in the sun and it certainly felt at least that to me. We also visited a shag (a type of bird) colony and watched a couple of them chase a skua around. On a zodiac cruise we sat for a whil ein a small cove completely surrounded by glaciers. Sadly we only heard the calving but did not see any of them. Only one very sleepy leopard seal was to be seen.
Lunch was the least tasty of the trip so far. The vegetable soup was extremely watery and almost devoid of vegetables. The beef lasagne simply was not good at all. The macaroni salad was ok.
The afternoon excursion was to a Chilean manned research station. I didn't go as my back was sore from the morning trips. I heard that those who were cruising in the zodiacs had some close, but friendly, encounters with some minke whales. The "shopping" in th estation waslimited and expensive. As one person said to me, "I paid $15 for a $5.00 hat". In lieu of the excursion I set myself a challenge. I had been trying for days to get a shot of a penguin "flying" through the air above the water but had never succeeded. I had shots of bums up and heads up but never the full bird out of water. This afternoon in less than half an hour I met and greatly exceeded the challenge. I now have shots of one and two and three and four penguins leaping out of the water! Yahoo! I am happy.
DInner menu included Moroccan lamb stew, spicy Asian chicken, poached cod in prawn sauce (my choice and very good) and potato pancakes. The cream of broccoli soup was good.
A group is heading out camping tonight and I wish them well. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......