No one seemed to speak English, not even in hotels and restaurants, and although at first we thought that might be adventurous, we soon found it was very disconcerting. We do not speak Spanish but I thought for sure when we asked for a restaurant that someone would catch on, after all their word for it is restaurante. However, the look on the lady's face when I asked had "what are you talking about?" written all over it.

I finally did get down to the lounge and decided I'd pretty much spend the day there. It was quite obvious the experienced crew were not offset by the motion of the vessel, no matter how severe. I watched in total amazement as the First Mate Alan stood with his hands in his pockets leaning at a 45 degree angle, first forward then back as the ship rolled with the waves. All around him passengers were lurching from one side of the passageway to the other, grabbing whatever they could.

We hardly got our feet on the beach before the penguins leapt from the water and came scurrying across the beach to greet us. Hey, back off guys, five metres remember? Not! We could not have been happier!

 

 

It was freezing on deck at that hour but we were in the Antarctica so were prepared. This was one of the most emotional experiences on the trip. The peace and serenity remain so memorable and we feel so lucky to have had that experience. The ship was moving very slowly and a whole new world unfolded before our eyes. There were quite a few people out with us but no one spoke - all were mesmerized by what they saw. The cold and the snow suddenly meant nothing; we were truly in a winter wonderland.

 

 

We didn't keep much distance at all - privacy be damned - we all wanted to get up close to see if anyone was aboard. As we approached, Chris, in his typically British fashion, shouted out, "Put your clothes on honey, we have visitors."

The overall scene was made more depressing by the realization that there were huge rookeries everywhere else we landed on this trip but never this virtual minefield of carcasses. Maybe you want your winters to be milder and your summers to be longer but I think you'd change your mind quickly if you saw the lonely mother and father penguins whimpering over their dead babies.

Swimming in the Antarctica was an unexpected treat - well treat might be the wrong word. Agustin had explained that you might think because it was in an active volcano the water was warm - no, it's the same temperature as the water that is not in the volcano. That temperature was 2 degrees C and the air was minus 5 degrees. The ship's doctor was there with a defibrillator and Agustin added, "If you're taking 16 pills, please don't go swimming and if you do go please wear something!"

It is ludicrous that in today's world the official US Republican stand on Global Warming in early 2016 was that they either didn't acknowledge climate change was happening or questioned human activity as being the cause. Just imagine if the current trend of polar ice cap melting continues or worse, increases, all coastal cities on all continents will be in serious jeopardy. Wake up ladies and gentlemen; if we don't increase our efforts to do something now we'll all be underwater. It's a threat of cataclysmic proportions. SAVE the ICE!!!