It is amazing how the daylight hours are getting longer. Yes, it’s called summer in Antarctica. Today, the sun rose at 4:59 AM this morning and this evening the sun will set at 10:00 PM.
This morning we woke up early so that we could view and enjoy the scenery all around us. After breakfast in the Lido Café we went to the Fitness Center to work out for about an hour. Afterwards, we changed our clothes and put on warm weather clothing including our jackets, hats and gloves. Most people did likewise, but believe it or not we saw one man out on deck wearing shorts. Did he really think that going south to Antarctica meant warmer temperatures similar to going south to Florida? Ugh!!!!
We are so very fortunate to be viewing Antarctica on such a clear and sunny day. There was no fog and the sun came out often. As one would expect the temperatures were quite cool with some wind, but the scenery has been spectacular. We have sailed to Alaska on multiple cruises, and we have sailed by the Norwegian and the Chilean Fjords but we have never seen scenery as breathtaking as what we have observed today. There are very few cruise lines with ships the size of Crystal whose itinerary includes several sea days of sailing near Antarctica. For those of you who are avid cruisers but have not had the opportunity to sail these waters we highly recommend it. The areas that we have seen over the past few days are quite unique, very pristine, and are not heavily traveled. We sailed so close to mainland Antarctica that one felt that they could touch the coastline.
The destination lecturers on board the ship frequently described the scenery all around us and we tried to view the scenery from a variety of areas on the ship. It was such an exciting day on the ship as we along with our fellow passenger’s were in awe of all of the wonderful scenery that we saw throughout the day. Words cannot adequately describe all that we have seen today.
At noon we took a break to have lunch in the main dining room. We sat at a two-person table next to the window so that we wouldn’t miss a minute of the breathtaking scenery. We each had a wonderful salad. During the afternoon we continued to view all of the breathtaking scenery from the ship. Later in the day we went to a special Antarctica presentation titled “The History of Port Lcokroy.” The presentation was given by Rick Atkinson from the Palmer Station research facility and included a slide show with wonderful pictures from this location.
This evening we dined with six other passengers’ who participate on the Cruise Critic Board. Keith had recommended that we get together for dinner one evening and we firmed up the date and time while on board this segment of the World Cruise. We all dined at Silk Road, the Japanese Specialty restaurant. We saw the headwaiter earlier this morning and asked to be seated at large round table all of us which worked out very well. It made the dinner conversation that much easier for everyone. We ordered sushi; mushroom salad and Anne Marie had a wonderful Lobster Entrée while Keith had the Cod, which was also wonderful. Following the entrée we each had a fruit plate. We also firmed up our dinner location in the main restaurant for the third segment of the World Cruise with the Maitre d’ Leo. He has been very helpful to us throughout the cruise. For the third segment we will once again have a six person table and this time it will include Sandra and Bill from Canada and Joe and Marlene from Florida. All three couples were part of this evenings get together. Leo helped us secure what appears to be a table in a quiet area of the main restaurant. He highly recommended the senior waiter and coincidentally another couple that we know mentioned how much they enjoyed that particular waiter when they spoke with us today, not knowing that the Maitre d’ had also recommended this waiter to us. The heads waiter (similar to an assistant Maitre d’) that we have had for the past two segments of the cruise is on vacation at the end of this segment. We have been very pleased with his enthusiasm and professionalism. The good news is that we are also familiar with the headwaiter at the new table location as we had him on a previous segment on board this ship in 2005.
This evening while we were eating a very large iceberg passed just a few feet from the port (left) side of the ship. We had never experienced anything like that.
Today has been very special and a day that we will remember for the rest of our lives. To see Antarctica through our own eyes was wonderful.
Keith & Anne Marie
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