Day 5: Paradise Harbour

When I woke up this morning, we were already anchored in Paradise Harbour and the zodiacs had begun running people out to the manned Chilean research station (and the penguins). As I walked to breakfast along the outside deck of the ship, I looked out across the water and saw 'flying' penguins EVERYWHERE I looked - it was incredible!

As I was eating breakfast, the entire ship lurched. Guess what? An iceberg had hit us. Seriously. But not to worry, the staff said it was "just a small ice berg" - ha! And they were right, everything was fine. Definitely an interesting way to start the day though!

Today's weather was cloudy but warmer than it's been anywhere we've visited. I only needed 4 layers today (instead of 5) and I didn't even where my gloves most of the time I was on shore. This sure made taking photos and video a lot easier!

At the Chilean base, they stamped our passports and I got a certificate stating that I had visited the Antarctic Continent. Today actually was "the day" since yesterday we landed on an island off the coast. Still Antarctica, but not the main land. Today my feet touched the main land and it was awesome.

Gentoo Penguins were everywhere! And there were lots of babies (or teenagers, rather). So cute!! Off in the distance you could here the sound of ice sheets calving into the water and the site of the Marco Polo sitting off the coast was just beautiful.

Even though yesterday's weather was a little rough, the rest of the trip it's been fantastic. The staff are saing that this has been the best cruise of the season (which only runs about 5 cruises between late December and early February - in fact, this is the last one for this year). Many people on board have commented that they have friends who came on this cruise last year and encountered weather that was so bad they weren't able to get off the ship once!! Can you imagine how disappointing that would be? So we've been very lucky and blessed.

Narrowing down the photos to choose a few to upload is nearly impossible, but I think I've selected a few of the best. I will hopefully be able to upload them later tonight (slightly tricky process...) So check this post and yesterday's posts again later because photos will be added to them as soon as I am able to do so.

Tomorrow we're off to our last stop - Half Moon Island. So one last exercise in layering up, riding in the zodiacs and visiting the Penguinos. {{sadness}}

Did I say this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip? I think I need to revise my position on that. Someday I will be back to Antarctica again...