The wind and/or the seas changed during the night and I felt as if I was on the rack. My bed was oriented perpendicular to the wave action so one minute my head was up and the next minute it was my feet. Sure didn't do my back any good. Definitely not a soothing restful night as our cheerleader tour director would like us to believe! The weather remained crappy with fog moving in and out constantly and periodic drizzling rain all day. At least it wasn't too windy, though there were good swells on the sea regardless. Temperature range all day was between 0.0 and 0.6. My room is quite cool and I often wear a sweater or even my jacket but when I was sitting outside this morning a guy came charging out saying he was so hot he just had to get cooled off. His room was 29 C all night apparently. Somewhere between his deck and mine there is probably a happy and comfortable medium.
The only activity this morning was a briefing on seals of the Antarctic. This afternoon was our first off ship excursion. It was supposed to be a landing but there was an iceberg grounded at the landing site so it turned into a cruise. Once I got all of my gear on (3 pairs of socks, sweat pants and jeans, t-shirt, longsleeved shirt, fleecy, rain gear (jacket and pants) and a life jacket I felt like a cross between a sumo wrestler and a penguin. Walking was next to impossible and I was drenched in sweat before I even got outside. Defintiely not a pleasant state of affairs.
They had to cancel the kayaking because two of the zodiacs wouldn't start so all of the remaining ones were needed for the cruise. Watching people pile into the zodiacs (almost literally) was quite funny as there doesn't seem to be a way to do it gracefully when the swells are high. We eventually got everyone on board and headed out to look at some icebergs (lots around now) and an Adele penguin rookery. Some people got a bonus and saw some fur seals (unusual this far south) while other saw a humpback whale (my zodiac). Unless the whale breaches I don't find it particularly exciting but for sure I seem to be in the minority as everyone else goes crazy. It was a disappointing excursion as far a si was concerned. The rain and fog made photo conditions difficult as did the waves and the fact that our driver never stopped the zodiac for us to take pictures. Then there were the continual heads in the way.... My back got very stiff and sore sitting on the gunwhales of the boat with no support for more than two hours.
Lunch was "build your own sub sandwhich" and home made mushroom soup. Dinner had choises of chicken, cod, vegetable shepherd's pie and something else. I had a spoon of wild rice salad and two small bowls of pumpkin/ginger soup and chocolate mousse for dessert (the first dessert I've had). Overall the soups have been excellent and I am getting closer and closer to eating only soup and salad.
A landing is planned again for tomorrow. Whether I go or not will depend on how much walking is required, the weather abd landing conditions.......