Our Antarctic Adventure – Part VIII

Saturday, Feb 7th – At Sea Southern Atlantic

From the Bridge – Iceberg spotted six miles off our starboard quarter!!! It should be abeam in about an hour.

This was the announcement we heard just as we were finishing dinner. Naturally everyone finished their dinner and rushed back to their cabin to get their cameras, binoculars and warm clothing. We met some friends, Denise and Walter Groman, when we exited the dining room and they quickly invited us to their cabin on deck ten as they had a veranda that we could share in viewing our first part of Antarctica. Denise was so excited that she didn’t want us to waste time going to our cabin, she would provide the coats. As we watched and waited for the berg to get a little closer, we were treated to a large number of penguins that were “fishing” alongside the ship as she slipped majestically by. It was an amazing display of their swimming and diving prowess. They were so quick; we hardly knew where they would appear next. But their numbers quickly made that a mute point.

What a neat close to a fantastic daylong experience as in the early morning I watched in awe as a humpback whale crossed our bow, rising and falling beneath the water, then with a blast of air from his/her blowhole, it was gone. Kind of like having a giant elephant pass undisturbed in front of you on a jungle trail and disappear in the undergrowth out of sight – did I really see what I just saw? Then later in the day from our window we were treated to a daylong ballet of various albatrosses and petrels as they soared over the waves, sometimes skimming what looked to be just inches from the surface. And tomorrow we are promised more wonders from these southern waters.

According to the ships Navigator, in the early morning hours of Sunday February 8^th, we will approach South Georgia Island from the northwest on a southeasterly course. Cumberland Bay which is dark colored and forbidden is divided into two arms. East Cumberland and West Cumberland Bay. Grytviken is located in the West Arm (our ultimate destination). Grytviken is where we will be anchoring and is also known as South Georgia.

Barbara and I have “Expeditionary Tickets” and will depart for our “Museum, Church and Cemetery” walk. All I care about is visiting the gravesite of Sir Ernest Shackleton, and I will leave happy. JWC