It has been an easy day. Originally we were aiming to make a landing at Portal Point, but because of the wind gust and snow, we pushed further into Charlotte Bay, and made a landing at Meusnier Point instead. This is our second continental landing. Because of the snow and cold temperature, we only spent 30-45 mins there to walk around and let the Antarctica sceneries all sinked in. As we got back to the cruise ship, I was lying in bed blogging, and the PR system just announced again that we were going to head back on shore immediately, because an emperor penguin had been spotted. It was an unusual scene even for the expedition team, since the emperor penguins usually are living further south. Today we see one lone emperor penguin where we landed. In this trip, so far we have seen 4 out of the 5 types of penguins. Be honest, I cannot really tell the difference. I thought the emperor penguins were bigger in size. But this guy we saw today was not the biggest penguin I have seen. Maybe he is a young'un.
Back to the cruise ship once again, and we continued with a late lunch. Before long, by 4pm, we had to put on our gear to get on with the 2nd expedition of the day, the sun was out and there were not a whole lot of clouds. The sun reflecting on the white snow mountains and icebergs really blinded my eyes. We were cruising along the Graham Passage with our zodiac, where we spotted about 15-20 humpback feeding just around us, they kept coming up and down, sometimes in a strikingly close distance. That was quite an exciting experience.
After we got back, we were taking group photos, and just sinking up in the sun. The daily briefing was cancelled because of the weather being so nice out. Dinner was good, so far, all the meals here were so so, boring buffet stuff. Last dinner, we had a veal shank which was surprisingly good. And the restaurant staff also gave our table something off the menu, adobe pork, it was supposed to be food for the cruise staff, many of them Flippinos. That adobe pork could have been the best dishes I have had on this cruise.
Otherwise, we have one more full day at sea, and will return on shore the day after. I think it will take me a day or two to shake off these wavy feelings.
Day 9 Photo: Here
