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Antarctica swim. It was snowing!

Southern most post office and an expedition sailing ship the size of the Endurance.

Good Morning!Maps that have been posted are useful for tracking our progress 😊 If you have photos of penguins or whales from where we were yesterday or will be today, please post. Videos seem to slow down the ability to access CC while in Antartica. We are currently traveling through brash ice. What a unique sound. A humpback has just been spotted in the channel. Time to get out on the bow.🐳

I am only using my cell phone to take pictures so they do not compare with the other traordinary pictures of the previous Oosterdam live threads. I shot a lot of video of the whales; when I get home I will edit it to take out individual photos. I tried to post a 5 second video of a whale breaching but it will not upload. I will leave you this evening with a picture of the sun setting at 9:30.

I am currently on a 22 day cruise in South America and paid $35. I paid $35 on my 15 TA in October too. Contents of my bag: 3 jeans 2 yoga pants 2 shorts 1 dress 1 dress shirt 3 t shirt 6 underclothes 6 sox

Words cannot describes our day in Charlotte Bay, cruising the Lemarie Channel culminating at Cuverville Island. So many whales, now at the gentoo penguin colony and we are still seeing whales. If there is anyway possible for you to go on this cruise, do it! It has been exceeded my wildest dreams. In the words of my new British friend, “I am gobsmacked”

We are slowly moving into Charlotte Bay. I have the bow camera on and can hear the commentary. Whales have been spotted. Time to suit up and go on deck. I’m glad I packed a bag of winter gear. Silk base layer, fleece sweatshirt, waterproof pack coat, scarf, hat, mittens, boots. You need all these layers if you are going to stay outside for any length of time in 34F degrees with a 20 knot wind.

Yesterday afternoon, Tim Nash presented Key Moments in the Scientific Discovery of Antarctica:Unlocking the Secrets of the Ice House. Very interesting lecture about boring into the ice and discovering the historical climate conditions. A cautious tale of global warming I was able to view the lecture I missed on my cabin TV last night. Georgia Sanson’s Structures in the Snow: A Historical Perspective on Antarctica Architecture I am very happy they have been recorded for later viewing in the cabin.

Thank you @SeaMeKnot for sharing this wonderful picture of the Adélie penguins swimming yesterday. A picture of our ship taken by a friend on the Seaborne Quest. Look at all the people outside!

Thank you for the maps! The Argentina village I mentioned is the Esperanza Base. Internet is sporadic.

Argentina village. There are Adele penguins on this iceberg. Captain’s talk this morning to prepare us for the next 2 days. I love all the information he presentsVery good in informative lecture in preparation for Brown Bluff this afternoon and the next two days in Antarctica. We look forward to seeing the whales🐳🐳🐳

Good morning for Charlotte Bay, Antarctica! I have been reading every day but only posting on my Live thread. As I watch the icebergs float by and wait for the lecture on whales, I looked to see what photos I had on my phone from our visit to St Thomas on the Rotterdam last February. Many were the same but one stood out. We used our HIA credit to take a snorkeling trip on the Castaway Girl. It was an excellent excursion. St John is my favorite Caribbean Island. We have rented a house there four times but our time in port was to short to journey there this day.

Sailing into Hope Bay. Seas are like glass.

Just some quick comments about the food. We are enjoying our dinners in the MDR, table for two by the window. We usually have an appetizer and entree in under an hour. Wonderful servers knows our likes and dislikes and are very accommodating. Happy to see many server assistants are female including ours. She is delightful. Can’t remember ever seeing a female head server in the MDR It was so rough yesterday morning we decided to eat breakfast in the MDR. Seated at a table for two by the window. Juice and a pot of coffee were brought immediately, order was taken, hot food arrived quickly. As dishes crashed around us from the serving stations, we were glad we weren’t trying to maneuver in the Lido. When it was lunch time we walked through the Lido buffet looking for a table, none available. Around the Lido pool area, none available. Why? Because people had staked out seats for viewing the glaciers in the morning and Deception Island in the afternoon and weren’t giving them up so people could eat lunch. What to do? Try the MDR? We made the right decision. It is open every sea day with a different menu from the “fixed” one I have seen on previous ships. Seated immediately, nice variety, served quickly, hot food. What more could you want. As an example, here is today’s MDR lunch menu

@cccoleThe captain and crew are wonderful! He was able to get us close enough to Deception Island that you could see the chinstraps with your naked eye. Seas were much calmer last night.

We are in the icebergs now. Bit calmer. Arriving at Deception island soon. Just announced bow will open in 15 minutes.

It has just been announced that all Antarctic presentations will be available on stateroom TVs🎉🥳👏 This was an incredibly interesting presentation.

The waves are 30 feet; the winds are70+ knots. The captain is turning the ship to try to find shelter behind Deception Island. We have been advised to remain seated for the next 30 minutes. I’m at the the Main stage waiting for the 10 am lecture.

In case you don’t hear from me as frequently…

The main stage is busy all day. 9 Learn to speak Spanish 10 Captains talk 11 1st lecture 1 2nd lecture 2 Cooking demonstration 3 Movie It really needs to be live streamed into the rooms for the people who can’t or shouldn’t leave their rooms

I agree. I have sent two messages to “let us know “ on the app stating the same info.

Another cooking demonstration. The Pinnacle Grill crab cakes and crème brûlée. The chef is a wonderful presenter. Unfortunately, the crab cakes are not to my taste. As a MDer, my crab cakes contain blue crab, something to bind the crab meat together and Old Bay. These crab cakes had celery, onion, red pepper, thyme, chives and garlic. How could you even taste the crab meat? Recipe cards are distributing but you can no longer taste the prepared food.

At another lecture by Mr Sanson on Shakleton. Although I read several books about the Endurance prior to the cruise, it was interesting. BTW, no lectures are broadcast into the cabins. A question was asked about why during the Captain’s presentation. Ed the cruise director answered, we were told they needed us out of our rooms so they could be serviced.🤔 I will definitely be mentioning this on my post cruise survey. Many people are having difficulty moving around the ship. Some suffering from mal de mer are missing out because they remain in their cabin.

I just listened to a very interesting lecture: Key Moments in the Scientific Discovery of Antarctica- When There Were Trees. He was an excellent speaker.

I just came from the Captains Antarctica talk. We are heading toward Deception Island. It will be a bit rough. We will enter the Arctic region at about 11pm. Looking forward to seeing icebergs and whales. We will next head to Hope Bay with a colony of 200,000 chin strap penguins.