More expedition -ing this morning. First a 9 AM tour of this harbor in one of Viking’s two Special Operations Boats (SOB) followed by a 10:30 AM zodiac landing.

The wind here today is light, partly because of our position. We’re positioned on the lee side – the eastern side – of Astrolabe and the Antarctic peninsula and hence sheltered from the westerlies typical of Antarctica. Temperature is hovering around 32 F. Cloudy skis.

The SOB was designed to give the military fast and rugged water transport. They say it can be dropped from a helicopter. Our version seats 10 passengers, a driver and tour guide. We motored along the shore and around ice bergs, seeing penguins almost everywhere. The ride was quite comfortable and the scenery really something to write home about.

The second trip was at 10:30. Since it requires the same clothing mix as we wore for the SOB (all three layers as yesterday), we didn’t have to undress and redress.

The zodiac ride was as smooth as riding in your father’s Buick Electra. Not a single face full of water. Again we traveled in close to see penguins and seals. Next we landed on the island and got out to observe the chinstrap penguins. Waddell seals occupied one side of the beach and fur seals the other. The penguins, and if there was one there was a zillion., were perched on the side of a mountain slope.

Why up the side of a mountain? Beats me. Someone suggested they we’re nesting but that’s supposed to be something done in the spring – November-ish. Hatchlings wouldn’t have time to develop wintertime feathers. Maybe they’re afraid of the seals down on the beach.

One things for sure, they’re easy to spot. If the incessant squawking doesn’t lead you in the right direction the stink will.

Penguins are fun to watch as they waddle from one place to another. How such an ungracefully creature can scale a mountain is a mystery for me.

The beach where we landed was made up of smallish rocks, 2 to 4 inches in diameter and polished by eons of wave action, I presume. The rocks made exiting and entering the zodiacs something of a challenge.

We made it back to our cabin for the undressing ritual, which takes half an hour going and coming. Judy wrestled together two loads of laundry. That gave us 40 minutes to grab a burger before it was dryer time.

Speaking of layered clothing, I think we’re overdoing it a bit. Putting on all those layers makes us old fogies feel like real expeditioners, like Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton. Hey, it’s just 32 out. Most of us have probably shoveled snow in this kind of weather with just jeans and a mid weight jacket. Carter and Griffin would do it in shorts. But hey, playing dress up is fun at any age.

We’re goofing off in our room until the Daily Briefing to find out where we’re going tomorrow. Right now we don’t have a clue. The decision will be driven by weather, I’ll bet. More later.

At the daily briefing we learned that tomorrow’s destination is Recess Cove where we are scheduled to make a landing on the true continent of Antarctica, not some hangers-on island. We paid good money for bragging rights, after all.

Dinner was in the Dining Room. The evening lecture was on Cataceans of the southern Ocean – whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Sorry for the multitude of pictures. One of our guides said, “People come to Antarctica for the penguins. They return for the ice.” The ice, both on land in the form of glaciers and the ice bergs floating everywhere are stunning works of art. I can’t resist!