Continental Contact

Things were looking grim this morning: the wind was still blowing over 50 mph and it was still sleeting so the morning excursion was delayed. Luckily, around 10:30 the winds dropped and we headed out into Neko Harbor. Braving the snow and waves, we cruised the harbor in the zodiacs, getting right up under the ice-bergs. The bergs in this harbor were very irregularly shaped, with neat little arches, pockets, and faults to examine. There was a crab-eater seal sleeping on top of one and several playing in the water around the bases of the bergs. Then we made an adventurous landing, plowing through many ice chunks, to set foot on the continent proper. We got to climb up a glacial hill, crossing the penguin highway on the way up. The sore marathoners plodding up the hill, hoods up against the snow, looked a lot like penguins waddling up to molt. On the way back to the boat, our driver Shane, made sure we got a nice icy shower. Braving the weather again, we had a festive barbeque lunch on the outside deck. We danced to country music and chowed down on grilled chicken and ribs surrounded by glacial cliffs. As we left the sky got brighter and we cruised through Paradise passage, a spectacular area with rugged mountains, glaciers with blue rifts, and icy blue ice-bergs on both sides.

The shocker of the afternoon was the race awards ceremony- Kier won FIRST for the full marathon in her age division, 0-39! YEAH, KIERSTEN!!

We're now heading back to Port Lockory, where we were unable to land yesterday afternoon. We're hoping to be able to go ashore because this is where we get our passports stamped with the Antarctica stamp!