Day 22 - Photos by the hundreds

Antarctica - Jougle Point and Paradise Bay

Another 7.15am wake up call over the loudspeaker in our cabin - we've given up on ever being able to sleep in on this cruise!

We were ready to go onshore to Damoy Point, and we were ready and waiting at the gangway to get going, but the landing was suspended due to high winds and choppy seas. After going back to our cabins and removing all the clothing, about two minutes later they announced that a more sheltered location had been found .... figures! We rugged up again and headed to Jougla Point, which was close to the British base at Port Lockroy. There is normally a small shop there, but the staff had left just a few days ago for winter.

This guy doesn't mind the weather here

The bay had a whaling history and someone had gathered up many bones and fashioned a whale together. It was a cold and windy visit but we are in Antarctica after all!

After lunch we travelled on to the gloriously named Paradise Bay, by this time the weather had improved, and we were out on the front of the ship with the sun coming through and lighting up the most beautiful bay. By the time it was our turn to climb into the zodiac for our cruise the sun and sky were brilliant - Antarctica at its best! Everything was bright, sparkling and clear - the staff were telling us we were truly spoilt by the weather we were enjoying. After a cruise around the bay went on to the continental landing just by the closed Argentinian Base Brown, enjoying the breathtaking scenery and warmth.

Soaking up the sun

The adventurous ones (not us!) finished off the afternoon with the Polar Plunge, stripping to their bathers and running into the -1 degree icy waters - we cheered and took photos, while they subjected themselves to self induced hypothermia.

Almost everyone was a little late to dinner, as no-one could tear themselves away from the amazing sunset as we headed out of Paradise Bay. We had a lot of laughs over dinner as everyone compared the numbers of photos they had taken and we pretended to suggest that we would share them with each other, and categorise them as well (small icebergs, medium icebergs, large icebergs, etc.). None of us though managed the 3000 photos per hour that one of our guides told us a previous passenger had achieved! After dinner we went outside to take more photos of the amazing moon hung in the sky like out of a nursery rhyme.

Just one more photo ....