Spirit of Shackleton - G Adventures - January 14, 2024: On a scale of 1 to 10, this was a 1
6:15 am wake up call got us out of bed headed to the buffet breakfast. The options there are endless. Fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, waffles, ice cream - absolutely amazing food. It is all open seating so I decided on day 1 to never sit in the same chair twice. I think so far I am doing ok but I also don’t really remember which ones I have sat in. Hahahaha. But usually every meal you meet new people which is a lot of fun.
After breakfast we all went to our rooms awaiting our call signal to get dressed to go on the zodiac. It was our first zodiac ride so we were all anxious and excited. We were the last group to go, so I looked out the porthole and watched some of the other zodiac rides take off. Finally it was my turn! I headed down to the mud room and there you put on your waterproof pants, jacket, boots and life jacket. Then you line up in the que to swipe out with your card to signal that you are now ashore and step through some vircon disinfectant foot bath. Then you wait at the end of the steps that lead to the ocean. The zodiacs pull up and the staff hold on to ropes so that the sway along with the ocean. Then you step on the zodiac and quickly sit down. Once it is full we zoom off getting splashed with salty sea water along the way.
Luckily for us this morning the water was pretty calm and it was a pleasant ride to cement platform where we got off.
Then it was a 35min uphill hike to get to the Rockhopper penguin and albatross colony. The problem with the hike was that 1) I am carrying two cameras which are damn heavy 2) I am wearing heavy boots that are hard to walk in, waterproof pants that feel awkward and a life jacket and 3) holy shit it was windy!!!
Every once in a while we would lift our heads and brace against the wind to look up and see that there are still red jackets ahead so best to keep going. Finally after what seemed like forever we finally made it. You could smell them first actually! Penguin poop is not pleasant. Then you can hear them - squawking away as if someone is getting murdered. Finally we made it through the tall grasses to catch our first glimpse of hundreds of penguins and albatrosses just hanging out together. We stood there in the blowing wind for over an hour before we got hustled along to get back to the ship. The sight was amazing. So worth the hike. Lucky for us we stayed so long that we got a ride back to the boat.
We were all on a high as we get to lunch and everyone was excitedly chatting about this mornings adventure - we all gave it a 10 out of 10. How could it get better than this? As we were having lunch, the boat was cruising along to our next destination for our afternoon at Saunders Island. The conditions were perfect! In 8 years they have not been able to pull right up on the beach due to bad waves and usually have to go around to the other side and have us hike in. But today, the sun was shining, the weather was (apparently) calm, and we got to beach our zodiacs right at Saunders island.
The ride to the island was great - penguins swimming in the water on either side of the zodiac. When we pull in, there are exhibition leaders in the water waist deep and they grab the zodiac, spin it around and pull it in. We then swing our legs over the edge and jump down into knee high water and quickly waddle onto the beach - and a waddle it is with all of our gear and wet weather outer layer. But the sight walking onto the beach was unremarkable. Penguins everywhere you looked! The Gentoo Penguins would come jumping out of the water onto the beach, waddle up the beach in a row, usually giving us some sketchy looks -they must wonder what specific of humans we are - clearly the red gadventure species…. The the left of the beach there were some cliffs and the Rockhopper Penguins did what they were named for - they hopped out of the water, onto the cliffs and then hopped along the rocks to get up to the colony. Watching them jump in the water it just looked like they were having the best time. Further down the beach on the right, there was a small group of King penguins. They look so official - like they are wearing formal outerwear and they always look like they are having a very important meeting, but nothing seems to come out of the meetings. Beside the King penguins was a large group of Gentoo penguins. While I was standing there a mother penguin was regurgitating food for her two babies and then after she stopped they kept pecking at her for more. She then took off waddling at high speed through the colony with the babies chasing her down. It was so amusing to watch! As I headed back towards the beach and the Rockhopper Penguins, we passed by some Magellanic Penguins hanging out with some sheep! They didn’t really do much - occasionally would walk past us in groups of 3-4.
As we spent about 2.5-3 hours on the beach, you could see the waves growing in intensity. Well this will be a fun ride back. The zodiac comes in and we do the whole procedure in reverse. One person fell out of the zodiac and landed in the water - we are wearing life jackets that have a CO2 canister in them so if they sense water they puff pop up, so she puffed up. The ride back was super bumpy, we got soaked with sea water and were clutching on for dear life. I will admit that I was super happy to be back on the big boat. Everyone met up in the lounge for some tea and snacks before our debriefing/reviewing of tomorrow. During the debriefing, someone was brave enough and asked the question we have all been thinking all day. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this afternoons zodiac ride/docking. The main exhibition leader Jonathan laughed and said oh that way mild! 1 out of 10. The room went silent - we all imagined what the other zodiac rides will look like. Gulp. Luckily tomorrow we get to get off on the boat ramp as we are docking at Stanley.
