Nov 27

Nov 27 Day 09 - Neko Harbor and Wilhelmina Bay

This morning, the skies clear a bit for a visit to Neko Harbor, one of the most picturesque landing spots in Antarctica. I remember visiting here 10 years ago on another cruise and recall it to be one of my favorite places.

The morning begins with a Zodiac cruise through the brash ice that lies between Silver Endeavour and the landing spot the expedition team has prepared. The first two Zodiac groups start their morning with a landing and a hike, while the last two (one of which I am a part) start with the Zodiac cruise followed by a landing and a hike.

We spot a couple of Weddell seals resting atop large chunks of floating ice.

The little bit of sunlight that periodically peeks through the clouds gives an entirely different palette of colors to the ice. The older, deep blue ice, really shows up in the sunlight.

When the sun goes behind the clouds, the entire landscape takes on a monochromatic look. Yes, that is a color photo below.

After about 45 minutes of cruising, it is our turn to land on the beach where we can walk along the paths that the expedition team has prepared for us and marked with red flags to avoid crevasses.

The Gentoo penguins come down from their colony to greet us, as they have on many of our landings. It is hard to get bored watching these curious little creatures. They are completely unphased by our presence.

We are not supposed to get closer than 5 meters to the penguins, so when they decide to cross one of our paths, we simply stop and wait for them to pass.

An opportunity presented itself this morning to get a photo of some Gentoo penguins, some brash ice and Silver Endeavour in the background. What a great scene!

I hiked along the paths for about 45 minutes before it was time to board the Zodiac once again for the short cruise back to the ship. Even though I was only out for about 90 minutes total, my face got really sunburned by the reflection from the snow and ice. This is the one day I forgot to put on sunscreen!

I was back on board in time for lunch again at the The Grill.

Today’s “warming dish” was meatballs with pasta. I asked for an order of meatballs without the pasta (for my low-carb reasons) and the waiter happily complied, as they always do on Silversea.

This afternoon, the Captain took Silver Endeavour through a massive and dense ice field as we sailed toward Wilhelmina Bay. Silver Endeavour is a PC6-rated Polar Class vessel capable of easily navigating through young ice plates such as this. It was fascinating to see, even from our balcony.

Along the way to Wilhelmina Bay, we passed some massive ice bergs.

At about 4:00pm, an announcement was made for any guest wishing to participate in the Polar Plunge. Believe it or not, at least 60 people engaged in the act of diving into the zero degree waters of the Antarctic, just to say they had done so. Each guest was fitted with a safety harness so that crew members could pull them back to the Zodiac, just in case. But everyone survived the activity and seemed to have no regrets. And, in case you are wondering, NO, we did not do the Polar Plunge!

Guests Jump Into The Icy Cold Antarctic Waters For A Polar Plunge

At this evening’s briefing, Marieke confirms that weather conditions forecast for King George Island will prevent our scheduled disembarkation tomorrow, but assures us that they are hopeful and confident that fog and clouds will lift by the following day to allow the planes to land. So, we will, in fact, have an extra day aboard Silver Endeavour!

As the cruise draws to an end, Marieke gathered the entire expedition team in Explorer Lounge this evening so that we could all show them our appreciation. There are 20 expedition team members on Silver Endeavour and we were extremely impressed with their professionalism and skill throughout this journey.

We also had an opportunity to hear from Captain Niklas Peterstam this evening before the entire crew came on stage to take a bow.

To raise money for the crew welfare fund, Alex conducted a live auction for the inaugural Silversea flag that flew on the bow of the ship during this maiden voyage. The bidding got heated but, in the end, the winner paid $1,500 for the flag and the crew welfare fund is the beneficiary.

Tonight, we went back to the Grill for dinner where I once again ordered the grilled veal chop. This is one of my favorite dishes on a Silversea ship. Sometimes they offer this in La Terrazza (or Il Terrazino on Silver Endeavour), but it is on the menu every night at The Grill.