Portal Point and a Snow Shower

 This morning we found ourselves on Portal Point.   We opened our shade and were agog.  The shapes and colors never cease to amaze 

David went off to do a continental landing:

And on our way to shore a pod of 6 whales showed up. 

This clip is one of our favorite whales. He apparently lost half his tail fin which made him readily identifiable. 

But we made landfall and hiked up on the ridge. Scenes were amazing in no mater what direction one looked. 

By the time we left the wind had started to pick up. 

And I was ready to get back. In fact shortly thereafter the cancelled my submarine dive and then all of boat activities.  

Getting on and off the ship for a landing is a big deal. 

They (being the Antarctica association ) are very serious about not introducing new species. So when we leave  the ship to go on land we need to walk through bacterialcide.  When we get back on the ship our boots, are sprayed so any particles are removed . Then we walk again through the anti-bacteria brush system. 

. Also, before we got off the ship, if we had any outerwear from home like the hat I was wearing that my mom made, they had to vacuum it to make sure there were not any stray seeds or anything that would be introduced into Antarctica. One issue they’re really concerned about is avian flu which has been reported in some areas.  Besides the seabirds and the penguins, seals are also at risk. 

Just for fun I visited the sick bay. It was incredibly impressive. The exam room was better than most emergency rooms I visited. Then they showed me the ICU room. Incredible. The health care team consists of 2 nurses and a very tall doctor. 

David was supposed to get his submarine ride today but it was cancelled due rising winds. So instead he had a lesson in SWAG : Scientific Wild Ass Guessing. Apparently there is a fair amount of that done in the field😵‍💫

There was an additional whale show that went on for hours. I think I caught some of their calls but as I am editing this on my phone not sure what you’ll get. 

After lunch we spent some time in the warm pool/jacuzzi and explored some of the other amenities. David is in the snow room. You go in and snow drops on your head. My question is why?

Tonight there were lectures on geology, plate tectonics and on why tying 3 beers to a buoy seemed a good idea when doing shark research. 

And dinner of course was fine. Why my Caprese Salad never looks like theirs, I’ll never know.