Feb 9 and 10

February 9 and 10 At Sea

The laughs just keep coming. Yesterday, the Captain came on the loud speakers for his mid-day address. He started off with his usual, “Hello, it me again. Our noon position was” We then had about a minute of dead air with everyone smiling and laughing until “ah, here it is…..the position is--------“followed by whatever it was. If you’re not smiling, I guess you had to be there.
My morning started off with a bang. Or a blast. Alan was off to breakfast and I had just gotten out of the shower and dressed when the fire alarm whistles went off. I’m pretty proud of myself. I changed out of sandals into socks and sneakers, got the life jackets down from the closet shelf and opened the door to hear the announcement. While I was wondering if Alan would come back to the cabin for a jacket and hat, and whether I had time to get the safe open and get out my little bit of good jewelry, the Cruise Director came on and announced, “This is a drill for the crews. This is not a real emergency.”
It appears that there was an earlier announcement to that effect but I didn’t hear it in the shower. I had to wonder how many late sleepers were jolted out of bed by the alarms.
About 3 pm an announcement came from the bridge that whales were spotted on the starboard side. About a dozen people went out to look. Me included. No whales. Fifteen minutes later…..“whales ahead, dolphins on both sides, seals on the port.” I grabbed my jacket, the binoculars, and a camera and went to the bow area. After 15 minutes, two sightings of whales blowing, I went inside with a new respect for the whalers who stood for hours in the crow’s nest. Off I went to tea and while sitting with my scone and tea cup what went by the window than more seals than I could count.
Tuesday, Feb. 10

Today is very foggy. Very, very foggy. We’re traveling at a slower rate of speed, looking out for ice bergs, I guess. Everyone is hoping it will be clear by early tomorrow morning as we want to see Elephant Island in the distance.
Here’s a little about penguins.
Early Antarctic explorers thought penguins were fish and classified them as such. We now know they are birds, superbly designed for flying underwater. The breastbone makes an excellent keel and with massive paddle muscles they can swim at speeds up to 25 miles an hour. Their heads are a perfect hydrodynamic shape. When swimming, penguins can leap out of the water every few feet. This action, porpoising, enables them to breath and helps them escape from predators. Sometimes.
There are 17 species of penguins. Only four breed in Antarctica: the Adelie, the Emperor, the Chinstrap and the Gentoo. Some species spend as much as 75% of their lives at sea yet they all breed on land or sea ice. Some species can reach depths of 1000 feet or more and stay submerged for up to 25 minutes.
Believe me, it’s hard to follow them when they dive as they come up every where but where you’re looking.
It is estimated that on South Georgia there are over 450,000 pairs of King Penguins, 12,000 pairs of Chinstrap Penguins, 22 million Antarctic Prions, 77,500 Wandering albatrosses, 10 yellow billed teals, and 3.8 million common diving petrels. There are a few reindeer, ancestors of the herds introduced from Norway for food and hunting.
End of lesson.