DRAFT: Channel, Peterman, Engine Room

bud woke the ship up at 6 am after the late night of the crew talent show
I got the most bitter coffee and ended up throwing it out for a latte instead
while on the 6th-floor observation deck I saw a humpback tale as it dove
It was really hard to get up but we figured if bud says so it’s worth it and it’s our last full day so we should power through
we got sooo cold being outside for an hour in 0.4C weather
I was happy that we were in the second group for the excursion so that we had time to warm up
this area really felt like Antarctica with the ice-capped islands and stunning mountains
it was cool being able to spot the penguin colonies and see their trails along the snow between the rock outcroppings

we went on a zodiac tour before the island
it was nice to have some time to rest and not be the first group
on the zodiac tour we saw “rafts” of penguins
bonnie found a cool-looking iceberg that was like the Loch Ness Monster
in the distance, we saw 3 humpbacks
the penguins were on the beach so we had to do another sketchy landing where they ram the zodiac up onto a rock and hope it sticks with the waves
I watched a Gentoo(?) penguin fight off a skuwa
there was a Weddell seal chilling and scratching itself on the ice
I wanted to get a photo of the boat framed with the seal scratching itself in a U shape but no such luck/patience
we got some cool photos of penguin tracks in the watermelon snow it was incredibly impressive to see the penguins traverse the steep rock and to see how far they commute from their nests to the sea and back
there were also a ton of penguins that would walk a little and then fall (sometimes intentionally sometimes not) and then slide down on their belly. it was the cutest thing ever

the morning was foggy but this time it was very clear
we headed up to the bridge to watch and were torn between watching from the bow or heading to

there are 4 generators 2 in one room and 2 in another
the ship is built with every system being redundant
the ship is capable of being given a GPS coordinate and then staying in that exact location
there is a water treatment plant on board for all the sewage, food waste and greywater
- it is dumped overseas in the drake passage
the generator that was running was incredibly load and we had to wear earplugs
all the wiring and tubing was sprayed with a white fire-resistant coating
we learned that the ship is stabilized with two wings that stick out on each side
- the stabilizers don’t work in the ice fields because the ice could easily destroy them
we invited the sugarmen’s to join us

the excursion was sold to us as a 10 minute stop
just enough time to snap a picture
we landed the zodiacs snapped our pictures with the true south flag and they got obsessed with the wildlife
we saw elephant seals, Weddell seals and ?? penguins
as I was walking along the beach one of the penguins popped out of the water. It seemed like it appeared out of nowhere
we landed across a small inlet from the Arenginian brown base
some of the researchers came out to the porch to watch us
others climbed to the top of the closest mountain and waved

we put our name in for the lottery to stay the night on deck in the igloo
we didn’t get picked for the lottery
they built the igloos on this ship due to the high number of guests who wanted to sleep on deck
this evening after touching the mainland we wanted to watch the scenery on our way out of paradise
we sat on the bed trying our best to be present
although the mountains, icebergs and whale sightings brought us back to our camera again and again