Day 116. Monday 23rd December. Day 9 on SH Vega. Antarctica.

Photos to follow

Awake at 3.05am wondering if the alarm will go off at 6.30am! No sleep till it does. I don’t think we have had a decent full night’s sleep since we boarded.

Anyway, at 6.30am the phone lit up, but no audible alarm. It seems the “don’t disturb” function was activated. What a waste of time having an alarm clock with that function. Give me an old fashion alarm clock..:)

Yes we are…kayaking.

A quick breakfast and down to the suiting-up deck for our kayaking experience. Given ‘dry suits’ that are more like straight jackets, and we are into the zodiac to rendezvous with the kayaks waiting for us 100m from the ship, tied to another zodiac. It’s snowing with visibility about 200m, cold and bleak. Gone the glorious sunshine and contrasting colours. There are 7 kayaks, one for the tour leader but all the other six with two paddlers each.

Coordinating paddle strikes with someone with their back to you, is not easy, still, we manage to make headway, with constant direction adjustment…:)

There are whales everywhere. In front of us, beside us and behind us, blowing and surfacing. At times only a few meters away. At one point we are within the bubble circle that they blow from below to entrap fish, surfacing within the perimeter of the bubbles and scooping fish or krill. Too late to retreat, will we be upturned!!! ? The danger soon passes. They are Humpback whales and it seems like there is a feeding frenzy.

Alexis has sent us a video of whales surfacing just in front of us, but I don’t know if I can load it on the site? Will investigate and update if possible.

The sea water is freezing and very syrupy looking. Icebergs of all sizes around us. There must be dozens of whales, it’s exhilarating but we are not challenged or bothered by them.

Alexis, our Kayak Leader and great guy.

I wanted to take the big Canon camera but was advised not to. I’m glad I didn’t,
as it would have been very difficult to wield in such a confined space. However, I did take the GoPro which we used often. It will be interesting to see how the footage present’s, when back in Poki.

Poor Jen, it seems that just after getting into our kayak, she had an urgent need to visit the loo. I didn’t know till afterwards, but on returning to the ship an hour later, she made a bee line for our cabin and made it, just in time! …:)

My upper thighs are sore. I’m not sure if it was from the sitting position in the kayak or the several strenuous cycling sessions lately. it can only be good..:)

I’m fighting a developing cold, the first since the start of our travels.

There are two lectures this afternoon, which are enjoyable..
We decide to forgo the afternoons zodiac cruise having seen enough of the snow and ice for the day.

What will tomorrow bring?

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