Yet again, there are icebergs outside my window. Both big and small. Life is good.

Yay! Our first zodiac cruise is about to happen.

We could not get near to our proposed landing site due to the ice field, so we are going to do a zodiac cruise instead. No need for hiking poles today. No risk of penguin poop. The water was like glass so for once it was easy to get into the zodiac without it bouncing up and down. Roger, our guide, introduced himself, and off we sped to marvel at the icebergs and glaciers, and maybe see some wildlife.

I thought that this was a bit like an African safari. Your guide will certainly show you the impalas and elephants, but will you be lucky enough to see a leopard or a cheetah?

Well there were no whales or seals, but there were lots of swimming gentoo penguins,

and the ice bergs and glaciers were spectacular so all in all it was a wonderful excursion. The water remained very calm, and there was no wind, so it wasn’t cold at all. It was overcast, so the photos make everything look rather monochromatic, but it was still stunningly beautiful.

There is an Argentinian outpost there

After we returned to the ship, we changed and went up to the Observation lounge and saw the crew returning and washing down the zodiacs, to make them ready for the afternoon’s adventure.

I really didn’t think that anything could beat our morning outing, but I was wrong. The icebergs were even more spectacular, and I became obsessed with a pair of icebergs that were actually one iceberg with an underwater connection, known as a dry dock iceberg.

The glaciers were pretty amazing as well

I was mesmerized by our surroundings, but then  we heard that familiar noise in the distance, so we went to investigate, Indeed, it was a humpback whale, Initially we had the sighting all to ourselves, but just like on safari, we let the other guides know, and soon the fleet of zodiacs were enjoying the sight.

You have to keep a certain distance from the whale, but what can you do if the whale decided to come over and investigate what this large black thing is? That’s exactly what our whale decided to do with the zodiac next to ours. We got a good view of the whale, but they would certainly have needed a wide-angle lens to capture the sight they saw!

We watched the whale far ages, it was really magical. However the time came to return to the ship. The good news is that on our way we passed by Schalk’s zodiac, and were surprised with a glass of champagne. Now this is my kind of zodiac ride, it comes with sundowners. There was no biltong however.

Virgil, our guide, decided to show us how to push small icebergs out of the way using a zodiac. A skill I never thought I needed to know, but now I do.

Then it was time to go back to the ship.

We were late getting back on board, but that didn’t matter, we had had the most amazing day, forever wonderful memories.

The after-dinner entertainment was Disco Night in the Panorama lounge. Well, I like disco as much as the next person, so I was happy to participate. There is bad disco music and worse disco music. I was hoping it would just be bad, but no it was the worst kind. One brave couple did get up and dance for one song, but that was it. The rest of us sat drinking, and no one else ventured on to the dance floor again. I am sure it would have been different if they had done Abba night. I must recommend that to Jonathan the Entertainment Host.