Today is the last full day in Antarctica. There is a huge Bransfield Strait to cross before getting back to the South Shetland Islands. The airport is on King George Island, our flight is scheduled for tomorrow morning, as the next Antarctica tour guide arrives.
In the morning, after breakfast, we did one last zodiac expedition to Palaver Point, the two zodiac groups (Penguin, Seal) got to land first to see a Chinstrap penguin colony, by the way, we are named after the animals in Antarctica. I belong to the Petrel zodiac group. Our group along with the Whale group would just do a zodiac expedition along the coastline before landing. The sea was pretty rough and it was snowing slightly. We saw some ice walls and cravasses.
We finally landed after about 45 mins in the water and we had about 1 hour 15 mins to spend on land. The penguin colonies may look good on picture, but they stink! We hiked up the hill and had a panoramic view of the area, and this Chinstrap penguin has a distinct black line under its chin. I took a video of them zipping up and down the penguin highways, often tripping themselves. They are indeed very cute to look at.
Said goodbye to the penguin one last time, we were back on the cruise, and we started the long journey back to the South Shetland Islands area, the Bransfield Strait is really choppy.The boat is rocking left and right. I am trying to hold it all in. We don't have another expedition today, so just snacking away and watching things flying around because of the rocking ship. And we also have to settle the bills, ok there was a mix up with the internet connection. One place said prepaid, but I got the bill including a US$75 internet charge. Also the tips for the hotel crew and the expedition team. I am a big spender today for sure.
We have had a quick briefing, and it seems the weather for flying is not promising in the morning tomorrow, so it looks like we may be flying back to Chile later in the afternoon when the weather may give a break. I hope we make it before tomorrow evening even though it may be late. I have to take a bus to Puerto Natales, my final destination, on Thursday the 22th. I will have a few more days in Patagonia to see Torres del Paine before heading back to the states. I met 4 Singaporean women who have the exact same plan to go to Torres del Paine after Antarctica, who knows, our paths may cross each other again.
After dinner, the captain of our cruise decided to sway by Deception Island which is an active volcano. With the rains, it looked extra spooky and there were streams coming off the ground. It looked like a haunted island, some Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones might pop out any second. Since it was the last night, Dimas and I returned back to the lounge area to hang out with other passengers, a total of 12 of us started playing the game called Taboo at a corner. That was so much fun, it was my first time playing that game and I was not good at it with my limited vocabulary. But still I thoroughly enjoyed this evening.
Day 10 Photos: Here
