Day 10 - Deception Island
Today, Silver Endeavour is planning to sail to Deception Island, an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula. The harbor is large and usually “safe”, but is occasionally troubled by the underlying active volcano. Deception Island is the caldera of an active volcano.
As we approach Deception Island, I can see a large, unusually shaped rock, no doubt part of the caldera we are entering. I get up from my seat at Arts Cafe and rush outside to shoot a photo.
Like many other days, the weather conditions will not permit a landing of the Zodiacs at Deception Island. Instead, guests are invited to enjoy a Zodiac cruise of the area. This morning, Rickee and I decided to try breakfast at The Grill.
I ordered Eggs Benedict and when they arrived, they had hardly any Hollandaise sauce, so when I told the waiter, he took them back to the galley. However, when he returned with my dish, the sauce was very runny and looked more like melted butter. I don’t think The Grill has perfected Eggs Benedict yet. This is the type of mis-step you do not normally see on Silversea and is probably a symptom of being a maiden voyage where the crew simply have not perfected their service.
Eggs Benedict Served At The Grill
After breakfast, we spend much of the morning packing in anticipation of disembarking tomorrow on King George Island.
For lunch today, we chose to try The Restaurant. This was our first time to have lunch at The Restaurant. As you can see from the menu, there are not as many choices on Silver Endeavour as you will find at The Restaurant or Atlantide on larger Silversea ships. However, we found the service in The Restaurant to be the most polished on the ship.
Lunch Menu At The Restaurant
The wine steward remembered that we enjoyed Dr. Loosen Riesling from our previous visits and brought the wine to our table to pour us a glass for lunch. We told him that we tried Dr. Loosen last night at The Grill and found it to be quite dry (we prefer a sweet Riesling). We told him that we even asked the waiter at the Grill to open a new bottle for us to try, thinking perhaps the bottle he poured from had “turned”. We watched him open a new bottle, but it still tasted dry. When we told this story to the wine steward at The Restaurant, he informed us that there are actually three different Dr. Loosen Rieslings onboard! We had no idea. So, without question, they had poured the dry Riesling the night before at The Grill.
There are actually Three Different Dr. Loosen Riesling Wines!
I ordered the Aromatic Beef Salad as my starter which was sort of an Asian glass noodle salad and was very good.
Aromatic Beef Salad
We both ordered the Creamy Potato soup, which was also good.
Potato Cream Soup
For my main course, I ordered the Chicken Korma, which was good, but lacked any real heat. I forgot to tell the waiter that I wanted spicy, so that was on me. The flavors were good, just not spicy.
Chicken Korma
Rickee ordered the Fish and Chips, which came as a larger portion than what she has been getting at The Grill at lunch. I also asked for some Malt Vinegar since I wanted to try a piece of her fish.
Fish and Chips
The “malt vinegar” they brought was actually more like a red wine vinegar. We had a similar issue at The Grill when I ordered malt vinegar and received what I think was apple cider vinegar. So, either they don’t have malt vinegar, or they are not sure there is a difference. Once again, I chalk this up to this being a maiden voyage.
“Malt” Vinegar Was Actually Red Wine Vinegar
This afternoon, we attended a lecture by Filip, one of the expedition team members, on the definition of ice class vessels and exactly what the Polar Class 6 rating of Silver Endeavour means.
The explanation of Polar Class and Ice Class was very interesting and informative, as all of the lectures on board have been.
Early this evening, guests gathered in the Explorer Lounge for a Disembarkation Briefing.
At the briefing, Marieke explained the current weather conditions and what the forecast was for tomorrow’s planned disembarkation.
Marieke Gives The Disembarkation Briefing
Weather maps showing the wind and cloud conditions were explained. DAP Antarctica Airways expects the cloud cover and fog to lift by early afternoon and, if all goes well, we should be able to disembark Silver Endeavour by 1:30pm tomorrow afternoon.
Weather forecasts are looking favorable for the planes to be able to land on King George Island in the afternoon. Our cruise was extended by one day because of fog. Guests who booked their air with Silversea had their travel arrangements automatically adjusted.
