Feb 11 At Sea

February 11 At Sea
Our position at 2:26 pm whatever time zone we are in.
62° 27.15S 56° 20.40W
Seas 4 - 7.5 feet
Air temp 35.6° F Relative humidity 100%
Wind 5 knots from the east across the deck
Day 41 of our journey. 10,731 miles traveled since Ft. Lauderdale
871 Miles traveled from South Georgia
1,222 Miles to go to our next port Ushuaia ( no one agrees on the pronunciation but most say You shy ah) It’s the southernmost city in the world. Anyone need a stamp?
Next sunset 8:25 pm
Next sunrise 4:58 am
Ship’s heading 220.1
Ship’s speed 13.3 knots
Our daily program is headed OUR ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCE BEGINS. What it doesn’t mention is that we are surrounded by thick fog with little chance of seeing anything until it lifts.
I’ll just have to fill the time with telling you about Antarctica, the southernmost continent. It is 5.4 million square miles, making it the fifth largest continent. 98% of Antarctica is covered with ice and it is the coldest, driest, windiest continent on Earth. It has the highest average elevation of all the continents and the interior because of it’s lack of precipitation is the largest desert on earth. There are no permanent residents. However, more than 4,000 scientist from all our the world are currently conducting research experiments on Antarctica.
No one owns Antarctica although many nations have claimed it. The 1959 Ataractic Treaty prohibiting military activity and mineral mining has been signed by 45 countries.
I just realized that we will be in Ushuaia on a Sunday. I wonder if the post office is open. Our shore excursion takes us there.
It is now 5:45 and we’ve had much going on since I started writing earlier this afternoon.
I was sitting in the cabin writing this blog when an announcement came over the pa system. "Iceberg on the port side."
I hadn't realized the heavy fog had lifted but it had so I quickly put on a jacket, socks, sneakers, hat, and gloves, grabbed the camera and rain up the stairs to deck 7. As I came panting around the corner from the stern.....there it was
A very large flat topped iceberg right beside the ship. Everyone was taking pictures, some people had even run outside without putting on jackets. IT WAS COLD. AND WINDY. WITH SNOW FLURRIES. I took plenty of pictures and went back to the cabin to get rid of the outside clothes and get a cup of tea to warm up the icy hands.
Fortunately, I kept the camera with me because a second announcement came through about our next iceberg. The fellow making the announcements said the captain would turn the ship so both sides would have a view. (I guess some of the passengers can’t or don’t want to walk to the other side of the ship.)
We were told this the second iceberg had a brown area on it….a sign of penguins.
Sure enough, as it came closer we could see many, many little spots develop into many, many big penguins.
Now, as I write this, icebergs of all size are floating by the cabin window. No announcements. Just one that the officers on the bridge were busy watching for growlers, the pieces of ice that break off the larger iceberg. I suspect that by dinner tonight, no one will even look out the windows, let alone take pictures.
The captain will take the ship as far into the waters of the Antarctic Peninsular as he feels is safe, then turn around and head toward Yankee Harbor and Half Moon Island.
Later: I was wrong. At dinner we all spent the evening swiveling ours head to look out all the windows at the icebergs silently floating past
The evening entertainment was the movie Happy Feet. It meant so much more now we have seen the glaciers and icebergs and could identify the penguin types, the seal and birds.