South America and Antarctica

Today we were up early for breakfast and prepared for a helicopter flight over Spert Island. However, the weather did not cooperate and the flights were all cancelled. While waiting for the helicopter we missed our chance to cruise around Spert Island in a Zodiac but, given the weather, we didn’t mind too much.

Our next activity for the day was to be sea kayaking but that was also cancelled due to the rough weather. So, we headed off for a leisurely lunch in one of the cafes on the ship and then returned to our room where we relaxed for a little while before heading out on a Zodiac to land on D’Hainaut Island in Mikkelson Harbour.

The snow was blowing horizontally and the ride to the island was pretty wild.

It was probably -10C on the island and the wind was howling so we didn’t stay too long on the island. But we did walk around and look at the small Argentinian research station, the nesting penguins, whale bones, and the remains of an old whaling boat.

When back on the boat we got out of our wet weather gear and had our butler bring us hot tomato soup and chips to warm us up! We didn’t want to fill up too much because we had dinner booked at Lumiere, the French fine dining restaurant. We got to the restaurant just after 7pm and had a beautiful dinner. We ended up chatting until late to a nice couple from Sydney and didn’t leave the restaurant until nearly 11pm.

We are now back in our room and heading off to bed. Overnight we are sailing to Deception Island, which we hope to explore tomorrow morning. From there, we’ll be heading to Livingston Island in the afternoon.