Antarctic Cruise Day 31 / 40 - Danco Island, Antarctica - And...we have tootsies on terra firma - our last continent

Antarctic Cruise Day 31 / 40 - Danco Island, Antarctica - our last continent

Trip day: 31 / 40

Port days: 12
Sea days: 18
Countries: 5
Continents: 4
Ports/Landings: 8

And, that's it.  We've done it.  We join a minority of anyone that has ever lived that has set foot in Antarctica and an even smaller minority that has set foot on all seven of the world's continents. *whew*

But let's start in the earlier morning...

We had an SOB - Special Operations Boat - ride scheduled this morning at 9:15AM. As we waited for our turn, we looked out back on the Finse Terrace.  There was a whole group of snowy sheathbills just hanging out and enjoying Viking hospitality.

My, you're good looking

Can we grab dinner sometime in the World Cafe?

We took a look around from the Finse Terrace.

We could see folks landing way out from the ship

We also spotted this snow petrel flying by for a look.

When we came back in for our SOB ride, we got the news...canceled. We looked around while we were out there. Apparently, one SOB had some issues so a bunch of rides today were canceled.  Welcome to expedition cruising.  Nerma, our senior shorex suggested that we try to go on landing instead.  We told her we were scheduled for one at 1PM, but she said we should try now.

We went to the Zodiac launch area and asked.  It turned out a boat was going to leave soon.  It had two openings and the next group waiting had three people.  They moved us onto the boat and put the others on the next one.  So, we were off for our first Antarctica landing.

As we approached the landing area, we started spotting Gentoo penguins.  They were on the island, on ice floes, and all over in the water.

The Gentoos did a little show for our Zodiac.

The kelp gulls were not impressed

We arrived and put our feet on our final continent.

This is #7 for us - we're done!

We enjoyed watching the Gentoos and the other birds.

Another sheathbill was wandering around.  They are scavengers and clean up the snow and ice.

Kelp gulls were visiting as well.

Gentoos, a kelp gull, and a sheathbill, all in one photo

Arlona made a snow angel in Antarctica!

As we prepared to head back to the ship, the Gentoos gave us a little show – hopping up and down on the rocks.

The winds had started increasing, making our return Zodiac trip interesting, and wet.  We routinely had waves crashing over our Zodiac, soaking everyone onboard.  In the grand scheme of things, it added to our Antarctica experience.

We got back to our room and put all of our wet gear into the drying closet to dry out.  They did run a couple of additional SOB runs, but essentially, our expedition day was done early, thanks to Mother Nature.  That is the case with expedition cruising.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to land at Georges Point, but we'll see what the weather dictates.

As we sailed, the weather closed in and the snow started falling – really falling. We picked up about four inches of snow on the handrails outside the Explorers’ Bar.  Visibility was at near zero and we were sailing slowly.

We shall see what tomorrow holds.  It will all be dependent on the weather.