Friday fun Day!

We flew to Ross Island today and hiked to the glacier.  We were the first flight of the day.  I sat in the front with the pilot on the way out… that was definitely an “E-ticket” ride.  The hike was interesting; the ground was very soft dirt (volcanic ash) The glacier was huge. 

As we got back on the ship after the hike it started to snow so they had to stop flying guests to the island, instead they had to focus on getting everyone back on the ship.  Today we flew in the smaller helicopter – what a hoot landing back on the ship!  We learned that after our flight they had to stop flying the smaller helicopter because there was something wrong with it.  Yikes we were its last passengers! 

All passengers and crew made it back on the ship.  The crew was prepared and put tents up just in case the wait on the island was a long one.  Several passengers were not able to fly today.  This trip we are definitely at the mercy of the weather. 

So far the only Penguins we have seen are the Emperors (the big guys) and Adelie (the smallest with the most character) Several seals laying around on icebergs. (Weddell & Crabeater) 

We started heading North to attempt a Continental landing, the ship was “parked” in the ice and as we started moving we could hear it breaking through the ice… this is one tough ship!  Unfortunately, we will have no other opportunities to see Emperors, but we can consider ourselves among the lucky… we saw them and have some decent photos. 

One more landing after dinner at Devil Island – we had an exciting start to our landing – part of our group was in the zodiac and all of a sudden the crew started running up gang plank… icebergs were headed directly at the zodiac & plank… zodiac driver got us the hell out of there and some people got stuck on the boat, we went back to get the other passengers once all the icebergs passed.  Before we landed on Island we did a zodiac tour through beautiful icebergs.  Nothing cuter than a penguin sitting on an iceberg!  Once on Devil Island there were two Adelie colony’s, it was absolutely precious watching them bring little pebbles back to the nest.  Most of the pairs were sitting on eggs or still mating.  These little guys are so stinking cute! 

Fun facts:

• Blue ice is older than white ice and has less oxygen (and is incredibly beautiful)

Casualty Report:

• I definitely caught a head cold, got meds from the ship doctor – hoping to prevent a sinus infection.
• We killed the smaller helicopter
• Nearly taken out by rogue icebergs
• iPhones still accounted for and in working condition