My apologies for taking so long to post part 3. Internet on the ship was very limited and the journey home took us 23 hours.
I begin the meat of the post, I want to acknowledge our ships crew, especially the captain, Andriy Domanin. Captain Domanin is from Ukraine. I can only imagine his, and the other Ukrainian crew's feelings and concern for family, friends, and country when the ship received the news of the Russian invasion. Our hearts were with them all.
Our four days going up and down the Western Side of the Antarctic Peninsula consisted of two zodiac trips a day. On the first and last days one of the trips was just touring up and down the coast and around the islands. All the other trips involved landings.
The first trip was pretty miserable. It was a zodiac tour around some islands in Cierva Cove. Everyone was pretty miserable. It rained, snowed, and sleeted the whole trip as we navigated through 5 foot swells. My waterproof gloves were not waterproof enough and my rain pants, that I'd had since Alaska, were so old they shredded. Thankfully, I was able to get some duct tape to hold them together until the ship could find me an alternate pair! Thankfully, my long underwear and wool socks from my Anchorage days were great.
That afternoon we arrived at Mikkelson Harbour, the home of an Argentinean research station. The sun was out, the seas were calm and the seals and penguins were everywhere as we first step foot on the seventh continent. Our faith in the decision to take this trip had been restored!
Rather than try and describe the beauty of the trip, here are the list of other stops we made and the rest of the post will be photos and videos: Lion Sound, Useful Island, Neko Harbour, Cuverville Island, Davis Island, and Hydruga Rock.
And now the videos and pictures!
