During the night, we had a few hours of rough seas. We were speaking with a crew member this evening, who told us that in the kitchen last night, there was a disaster. Caramel fell off a shelf and spread all over the floor. What a mess! He also told us that back in December, the Drake passage was so bad that glassware and plates tumbled off of tables and shelves throughout the ship, and broke in smithereens. Fingers crossed we won’t experience that on our way home.

This morning I had some congee for breakfast. It had chicken and sliced ginger in it, and it was delicious. I first found out about congee when I was in China. I didn’t know what it was, and thought it was just a porridge like oatmeal. And so, I added some yogurt to it, much to my friend Chi’s horror. He showed me the proper way to enjoy congee – by adding some pickled delicacies. Chi, if you are reading my blog, I did you proud by not adding any dairy products to the congee and it was delicious!

D’Hainaut Island is a tiny rock island in Mikkelsen Harbor. It was first discovered around 1910. The island was used extensively for whaling, and there is also a small historic refuge there that was built originally by the Argentine Navy in the 1950s, then again in the 1970s, and most recently in 2017. However, the refuge can’t be entered except in emergencies.

There is also plenty of evidence of the whaling industry on the island. Whale bones are scattered all over and you can find the wrecks of several boats as well. There is a huge Gentoo penguin colony there, and we also saw many fur seals basking in the sun.
The snow was turning to slush with the sun, so climbing the mountain was very easy. We arrived at the rookery and saw some baby chicks with their parents standing guard. Some of the penguins have begun their molting. Penguins are very noisy and most of their bleating is to either search for their mate, or to search for their chicks.

It was an amazing excursion and we were so excited to see so much wildlife in one spot.

When we were ready to board the zodiac for the cruise back to the ship, we had to walk in the water and shuffle our feet back and forth on the rocks. Then, they took a scrub brush and scrubbed our boots to get all of the mud and penguin poop off. Once back onboard our ship, we walked thru the disinfecting solution while brushes scrubbed our boots again.

And what a day!!! Sunny, mild, and no wind. The crew keeps saying we brought the most wonderful weather with us, the likes of which has not been seen with recent voyages.

We’ve learned so much about icebergs over the past few days, and if you are interested in learning about them as well, I refer you to the website Oceanside Expeditions. It has an in-depth and very interesting discussion about Antarctic icebergs.

We have become friends with many of the crew and they know us by name and always stop to talk with us. Allan overheard one passenger say, after some crew members chatted with us, “How do those two know so many crew members??” Easy! We enjoy speaking with them and learning their background and where they come from.

We met old friends and new friends for a pre-dinner cocktail, and then we all went to dinner together. So much fun! Lots of laughs! And we were entertained by a pod of whales that swam along with our ship.