Day 6 of 13: Three Excursions and Nice Weather (Friday, January 28)

Today (Friday, January 28) we were selected for three excursions: 8:30-11:00 kayaking; 11:30-1:00 pm zodiac tour of Hidden Bay; and 3:30-5:00 pm scenic sailing by special operations boat, in the Lemaire Channel.

The captain nestled the Octantis into the steep-sided, glacier-surrounded Hidden Bay in the early morning hours for today's activities. Hidden Bay is 3 miles long, stretching between Cape Renard and Aguda Point on the coast of Kyiv Peninsula (red dot on map below). The nearby Lemaire Channel is nicknamed the "Kodak Channel" because it is so photogenic. 

Today and tomorrow's destinations circled:

The weather was as promised -- calm winds, mid-30s temperatures and fog/cloud cover giving way to brilliant sunshine during the day. 

For the kayaking, a zodiac boat took us out into Hidden Bay, where we climbed over the side of the zodiac, lowering ourselves into our Hobie pedal-driven kayaks. Sounds crazy to do that in the open waters of Antarctica, but the process is controlled and smooth, and we were wearing dry suits. Keith and I shared one kayak and immediately saw some glacier calving, penguin dolphining and beautiful scenery all around. I didn't take many photos but will show the scenery in later photos taken during the zodiac tour. Five kayaks followed our guide for a tour around the bay, where we saw Crabeater seals lounging on icebergs. 

Upon return from kayaking, we found that we had inadvertently tested the integrity of Viking COVID protocol, by forgetting to submit our daily PCR spit test before embarking on the kayak trip. They take inventory at 9:00 am, so when we scanned back into the Octantis, we were ushered to medical with a friendly reminder (and were prevented from attending any more activities until the test was submitted). Nice to know the process works.

After submitting the test, we changed into the full cold-weather gear and returned to the hangar for our 1-hour zodiac tour of Hidden Bay. We saw the Crabeater seals again, plus Weddell seals. This was a special tour, as we were the only guests on the zodiac, with three crew, including the resident glacial biologist. We got a closer look at the surrounding glaciers and learned a great deal about the science of glaciers.

Our zodiac crew leader commented that Keith looked like a puffin with his face mask:

A notable area landmark here is Una Peaks, formerly known as Cape Renard Towers, named after a secretary in the governor's office in the Falkland Islands. These two towers of basalt are topped by a cap of ice, guarding the northern entrance to the Lemaire Channel on the Antarctic Peninsula, with the highest summit at nearly 2,500 feet. We had a rare clear day to view the landmark:

Upon return to the Octantis again, we had big lunch and prepared for our afternoon scenic sailing in the Lemaire Channel by special operations boat. Since we were the last group out, the Octantis departed Hidden Bay (an uneasy feeling being left behind), moving to a new position where we would meet them at the end of our tour. 

Octantis leaving without us 😮:

We saw Antarctic Minke whales, about 20-25 feet in length. But they are not very social, so no photos. We viewed the steep cliffs covering the opposite side of Una peaks, with an abundance of icebergs through the nearby channel. 

The special operations boats are quite amazing, named after the Norwegian Special Operations military boats -- fast, maneuverable, and able to slip through a variety of ice with ease. I took several photos of the process of entering/exiting the ship's hangar, an engineering marvel.

I attended the daily briefing, where they showed baited remote underwater videos (BRUVs) that scientists onboard are using to identify and catalog underwater sea life on the floor of Hidden Bay. It was hard to focus on the briefing with the amazing scenery of the auditorium backdrop:

Then they announced that we would head north to Cuverville Island for tomorrow's landing, where we will visit the largest Gentoo penguin colony on the Antarctic peninsula, plus other bird life on the island. We both had sushi for dinner, with a variety of desserts, and called it a night. 

But first, the captain announced that he was stopping for close look at a lone Emperor penguin perched on an iceberg next to the ship. The route we are now taking won't likely include any more Emperor penguins, the largest penguin, which can stand nearly four feet tall. Many of the crew commented that they have never seen an Emperor penguin, who nest during the winter, so they are rarely seen in summer. The penguin is standing near the top of this iceberg; in the distance is a sailing yacht, one of the few signs of other people we have seen since Ushuaia.

This Emperor penguin seemed to like the attention of a shipload full of people lining the outside decks taking photos.

Here's a view of his iceberg after we passed by. You'll see underwater that these two seemingly separate icebergs share the same foot, so it's really one iceberg.

#Antarctica

#VikingOctantis

#AntarcticExplorer

#MyVikingStory