Antarctica Day 10: Neko Harbor

Woke up to lovely Cheli's wake up call at 7 am over the loudspeaker. then slept until 730 before heading to breakfast and beginning our day. We were to Zodiak cruise Neko harbor first, and then head ashore for a hike up the ridge overlooking the beautiful harbor. Zodiac cruising with Dave, we saw some penguins swimming,t hey are rather abundant around here. especially the gentoo penguins. And we also saw some icebergs that looked pretty cool, were hoping for whales but no luck. Then after spending time in a line waiting to dock, we finally docked, and stepped foot on the antarctic mainland, officially having stepped foot on 7 continents. we took our picture with the antarctic flag, and then started up the penguin colony. there were actual pebbles at this location, and the penguins were quicky making their nests. it was rather entertaining to watch them, some penguins would try and steal other penguins pebbles and they would get in a fight about it. the pebbles are important for the nests because the nests need to be elevated and kept dry in order for the penguin egg and chick to survive.

After about 10 minutes watching them fight and succeed, we hiked up along the ridge for a fantastic view of the harbor, and the actively calving glacier. there were only a few rumbles while we were there, although large chunks look like they could go at any time. there also was a snow slide / avalanche on the nearby mountain that caused some loud rumbles. The view was absolutely amazing. after being stopped by the penguins fighting over pebbles we headed back to the ship, had lunch, napped and then proceeded to a harbor for a zodiac cruise. Disebarked and rode around the harbor looking for whales, seals and other things. Saw a snow petrol, and a bunch of icebergs before retreating back to the ship cold, waiting to hear if we would go camping.

A lot of deliberation went into deciding if we were going to go camping. The original places we were going to go had 40 plus knot winds, and the low tide and npredictability of the weather made it a touch decision, but Cheli and the team decided a middle of the night evacuation would be very challenging, enough that they canceled camping. Campers were allowed to camp on the deck if they'd like. It was bitter sweet decision, yes we would like to have been able to camp overnight on the antarctic, but sleeping in our bed also sounded nice. We stayed up playing cribbage and shooting the wind with others before calling it a night. Tomorrow we head to whilemina bay and Dako Island for a hike to the summit.

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