Antarctica Day #4 (Admiralty Bay)

Wednesday, February 13

Trying to convey what Antarctica is like in words and photos is so hard. Here is a link to a video I put together that does a little better job. It also lets you see how much the whales were showing off!!  😉 

Video of Our Days in Antarctica

Our first view out of our window was a large tabular iceberg. I'm sorry that we didn't have a balcony for this cruise, but very grateful that we at least had the window. Holland America classifies the balcony cabins on the Zaandam as suites and there was a huge jump in price to upgrade from the ocean view cabin...more than we were willing to spend.

I turned on the TV and could see we were approaching Admiralty Bay at King George Island as planned. The captain had announced last night that there were two separate weather systems coming through between us and the Falkland Islands and he wanted to get an earlier start to get between the two. Even so, he said we might be experiencing wave heights of up to 6 meters in the Drake Passage.

I woke Bob and handed him the bottle of meclazine so he could get the medication into his system BEFORE he needed it. While he dressed I ran up and got a cup of coffee and a pastry.

At 7:15 we bundled up and headed to the bow just as the expedition team began their commentary. When the ship cruised into Admiralty Bay, we saw several different research stations. Even with the brightly colored buildings, the stations looked barren and bleak. I don't recall which station belonged to which country, but each was a different color...red, yellow, green, etc.

Laurel stepping out onto the bow. It is obvious from this doorway that the bow was not meant to be a public space.

King George Island

Wind turbines

This Brazilian station was being rebuilt after a fire destroyed it in 2012.

Bryan, the expedition guide, pointed out several volcano plugs that looked like mini volcanoes. There were a couple of expedition ships in the bay and we could see zodiacs transporting people to shore.

The beach next to one station was covered with gentoo penguins. Even with binoculars they looked like tiny dots. Only one whale was spotted and didn't give us much of a show.

Lots of penguins!

When the ship turned to sail out of the bay, the wind was so strong that it made standing up nearly impossible on the bow. We retreated to the lower promenade deck for a little more protection.

Polar explorer Mary!

The info screen near guest services was showing the route we had taken during our few days in Antarctica.

After peeling off all of our outer layers we (and most of the other passengers) went to breakfast at the buffet. It was 10 am by then and Laurel and I went to the Windows photo editing workshop. For being a sea day there was very little on the schedule for ship activities so as we waited the line for the workshop grew longer and longer. Only half of those waiting got seated at a computer and the rest of the group was standing or sitting alongside the windows.

Bob and Kent had gone to work out in the gym and we all ended up back at the cabin at the same time. It was around 12:30 when we went to lunch so there were very few lines at the food stations but finding a table was a challenge. It hadn't been that long since breakfast but I had a small cup of soup and a slice of pizza. Bob got his usual...a dish from the daily offerings at the Asian station. Today's feature was Thai food.

A nap and then while Bob and Kent went to play ping pong, I walked around the ship with my GoPro camera. There are good video tours of the Zaandam on YouTube already, but I just wanted to get more comfortable using the camera. I like the "voice control" where I can just say "GoPro start recording" and don't have to push buttons! Tea time was happening in the dining room and as luck would have it the only waiters I saw were Bambang and Zulfrin...our waiters!

Headwaiter Bambang 

Assistant waiter Zulfin

The seas continued to get rougher throughout the day and when I stepped out by the aft pool, steam was pouring off of the water. It almost looked like a fog machine! No sunbathers outside today! The mid ship pool was being used and looked like fun with the extreme wave action!

I went back to the cabin and got a bag of laundry ready to send out. For $20 you could stuff as much as you wanted into a bag to have laundered. The bag isn't large, but I managed to stuff it so full that it was heavy to lift! I called and within a few minutes someone came by and picked up the bag.

At times it felt like we were inside of a washing machine!

While I had the time, I took a few photos of our room. Very similar to our cabin when we were on the Zaandam last April, but but a mirror image and larger. This cabin had more floor space and one extra closet compared to the previous one. Here is the link to the post with photos from the cabin we had on Deck 3:  https://mysouvenirmemories.blogspot.com/2018/05/zaandam-ship-photos.html

Cabin 1824. We chose to have the beds separated to gain floor space and be able to see out the window.

One extra closet compared to our previous cabin.

This bathroom had not been refurbished as the one we had on Deck 3. Instead of the large glass shower, this bathroom still had the older small bathtub.

There was a full size couch in Kent & Laurel's room (1816) instead of the love seat like in ours.
The couch would become a bed since cabin would accomodate four people.
The fourth person would sleep on a bunk that dropped down form the ceiling.

The drop-down bunk in Kent & Laurel's room (1816)

Notice the two small dots on the end table? Those are the eyes that our room steward used on the towel animals each night.

Laurel and I met up with the guys at the Wajang Theater to watch the afternoon movie..."Eight Below." It was a film about sled dogs that got left behind at a research station when the crew had to be evacuated quickly at the end of the season. A true story. The dogs (or at least most of them) survived the long, cold Antarctic winter running free and fending for themselves.

Before watching the movie I got a large iced mocha from the coffee shop. Bad decision. Bob and Kent had gotten seats in the very center of a middle row in the theater and about 3/4 of the way through the movie I HAD to go to the bathroom...waiting till the movie ended was not an option. I squeezed out but stepped on everyone's toes in the process. I wasn't about to go back to my seat when I returned so I watched the last half hour of the movie sitting on the floor on the side of the theater. The movie was quite good and even more interesting having just experienced Antarctica.

The movie didn't finish until 6:30 pm...too late to make it to the dining room so we went to the buffet. It was curry night on the port side serving stations and the line was very long. The "regular" food was on the starboard side with little wait.

Tonight's entertainment was Frozen Planet in Concert. It featured movie clips from the BBC Earth series with live accompaniment by the ship's musicians. To get seats, we went 30 minutes early and I passed the time updating my blog notes and playing word games on my phone. This was our third time seeing the production but it was even more enjoyable when you see it IN Antarctica!

The evening ended with tea and hot chocolate at the Lido buffet and then it was back to the cabin to rock and roll throughout the night.