Nov 22

Nov 22 Day 04 - Cuverville Island

Silver Endeavour arrived at Cuverville Island this morning and, when the announcement came over the ship’s PA system, we learned that weather and sea conditions would not allow safe access to the island. Large iceberg chunks were blocking entrance to the Zodiac landing site. Therefore, Marieke decided against a Zodiac landing this morning and instead opted to offer guests a Zodiac cruise around the island.

We got all geared up and boarded the Zodiac at around 9:15am and soon we were sailing around Cuverville Island where a colony of Gentoo penguins could easily be seen from the Zodiac. Occasionally we would see penguins swimming around us, popping up from time to time as they came up for air. They are fast swimmers!

A Gentoo Penguin Colony on cuverville Island

After viewing the penguin colony, we sailed around some of the more interesting “bergie bits”, large chunks of ice that have broken off of icebergs and are floating on their own. The wind and the water create some really interesting shapes.

Our Zodiac tour lasted about 90 minutes before it was time to return to Silver Endeavour for lunch.

Once again, we chose to have lunch at The Grill. You just cannot beat the views available from the aft of the ship. You can easily walk outdoors to take photos if you see something worth capturing.

This afternoon, we decided to stay onboard Silver Endeavour and get caught up on some blogging and other work. Nevertheless, there is a lot you can see from the ship itself!

At 6:45, it is time for the daily briefing at Explorer Lounge. Waiters offer small bites to enjoy with cocktails, a Silversea trademark.

Marieke takes the stage once again to inform us of what we can expect tomorrow when we arrive at Petermann Island.

Her presentation goes into current and projected weather conditions and how she expects the day to go. Sailing in Antarctica requires a lot of last-minute planning to account for constantly changing weather or ice conditions.