128 Days Around the World

January 30, 2020

Antarctic Experience – Day 1

Today we spent cruising through Bransfield Strait, Admiralty Bay and Deception Island. The narration began at 8 am (no, I was not up but that was the time listed in the “When and Where”. I was up before 9 but could not find the commentary on the TV.

Explorations Café was offering hot chocolate or various kinds of coffee in an insulated mug delivered to your cabin (price varied as to what you ordered). You had to be in your cabin between 10 and 10:30 to accept it. Mine came just before 10 and I did not want to have to carry the mug with me so I drank it before venturing outside.

I walked up to deck three and out along the promenade deck for about thirty minutes before trying to find any of my knitting friends. Eventually I sat by the windows in the Piano Bar and two of them found me.

There was only one trivia today, the morning one. Only Marilyn, Rodney, Sherita, and I played. We had 9 out of 15 and three teams tied with 12 correct answers.

1.Why was beef salted to take on a ship?

2.Why did pirates wear an eye patch (other than missing an eye)?

3.In which book were Piggy and Ralph stranded on an island?

4.In tennis, what name is given to a serve that the opponent has no chance of returning?

5.Maxwell House Coffee is named after what?

6.What country makes more feature length movies than any other?

7.What mathematical constant was determined by the Babylonians in 2000 BC?

8.What was the first electronic computer called?

Worked on my Linus blanket before lunch in the Lido. In Arts & Crafts we made chain mail earrings.

The commentary picked up again at 4 pm when we arrived at Deception Island. This is an active volcanic island with the last eruption in 1970. It is shaped like a horseshoe and was the first part of Antarctica to be correctly surveyed back in 1829. It has huge colonies of chinstrap penguins. The Bailey Head colony was the one we saw and it has about 50,000 pairs of penguins. I was out on the deck for a little over an hour and my hands were starting to feel numb even with my gloves on – outside temperature was 34F with a force 5 wind. (It had been warmer this morning at 37F and a slight wind.

The usual four were present for dinner. I went to the show which was Peter Cutler who is a singer. The show was pretty good but I wish the artists would perform more and talk less.

I arrived back to my cabin at 10:20 and it was just getting dark.

Trivia

1.to preserve it

2.so they can see in the dark

3. Lord of the Flies

4. ace

5.a hotel

6.India

7.pi

8.ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

I have been trying to get online for three hours and it is now 1:30 am. Since my pictures usually take about an hour to load, I am going to leave you with one for now and (hopefully) add the others tomorrow.

As I was trying to load this picture, the connection was lost again. I will keep trying through the day (now just after 9 am).

An Ecuadorian emergency station

A Zodiac crossing behind the ice

Deception Island

Penguin sighting

A waterfall on Deception Island

I have a point and shoot camera with a 40x optical zoom so my pictures aren't the best but you can tell these are penguins (which you could not do with the naked eye)