We woke up this morning to see our first icebergs in the distance … very exciting, we did not know this would be our view for the next several days! Around noon we left the Drake Passage after a fairly calm crossing, and they announced that there would be an exclusion later this afternoon.
I am still sick, and went to see the doctor again this afternoon, as coughing is worse. Time for some heavy artillery, good old Prednisone. I hope this will help, as I am still isolating and taking meals in our room. Barney is out and about having fun, and he went on the zodiac this afternoon, where they saw a whale, some penguins, and some seals. From our balcony I saw a seal slip into the water from a “bergy bit” the name for small icebergs. Then the ship started crashing through floating ice, with the ship shuddering with every impact … it was awesome. I was out on our balcony and could see the bow of the ship hit the bergy bit. At one point we came upon a bergy bit with an Emperor Penguin on it, the ship stopped so we could watch, he seemed to stop, then start, then stop and start again for almost 30 minutes. Eventually he floated away from us and the ship restarted our journey.
I may be able to go on an excursion tomorrow with my mask on, we’ll see how I feel. What a drag to have the Nelson-Smits Family Vacation Illness Curse rear its ugly head. I am so grateful that there is a doctor on board, she has been super helpful. I did not even think of bringing antibiotics on board. Barney had dinner with a pharmacist who said we could call him for anything we needed, he had all kinds of prescription medications with him. Going out in the cold helped, shrinking the tracheal passage, just like when Madeleine had croup and we sat out with her all night on the porch where it was cold, to help reduce the inflammation. The cold is definitely helping me.
Meanwhile, Barney went on the afternoon excursion, which was a Zodiac trip but no landing. They saw quite a few of the Adeline penguins, named by a French explorer after his wife Adelie. They also saw a fur seal and maybe a leopard seal. Later on, they saw some humpback whales as they were reboarding the ship.
In the afternoon there was a presentation about ice in its many forms, and the hierarchy from phytoplankton to whales, which Barney attended and I watched online. Barney had dinner with some new friends and then hung out upstairs. I had dinner in the room, watched a Smithsonian video, and finished my Louise Penney book, luckily I have another for later in the trip.
The excursion is at 8:30am so we’re going to bed early so we can get up at 6:30am.
No comments:
Post a Comment