Zodiac Surfing in Cierva Cove

Today we had a wake-up call at 7am, and after breakfast, headed straight to the zodiacs to cruise Cierva Cove. We had attempted to do zodiac cruising here a few days ago (I've lost track of when), but the seas were too rough. That was not the case this morning – it was glassy out there this morning! We were so excited, because we've been hearing so much about this place since we have been approaching Antarctica.

There are two keys to a good zodiac experience – having a good driver, and having good passengers. Luckily, we had both. Our driver was Hugh Rose, who is so knowledgeable and also a professional photographer, so he can help with photography questions along the way. The other participants this morning were some people we know (like Skip & Gail and James) and others we don't know, but all displayed proper zodiac etiquette. This includes kneeling quickly when there is something to see on your side of the zodiac (the people on the other side then stand up), or kneeling down if you're in the front and the animal or scenery you're looking at is in front of you. It was a cohesive group. We've had other zodiac experiences where some of the participants were unwilling or unable to get down in front. This makes for a far less enjoyable experience.

On the cruising this morning, we saw lots of fantastic ice, plus a couple of leopard seals and some porpoising penguins and a couple of cormorants at the end. But the highlight was the ice – lots of brash ice that we had to sort of power our way through, plus big and small icebergs. We found one that was very old and very, very clear. You could see individual ice crystals it was so clear. It was dimpled kind of like a golf ball but with bigger dimples. It's also interesting to see the submerged portion of the icebergs (or at least part of the submerged parts). The water above the submerged portion is usually a lighter blue – almost aqua in color – that is so pretty.

The weather was perfect for cruising this morning – very calm, so that we also saw reflections of some of the icebergs, and it was pretty warm as well, probably 36 degrees or more. That also makes for a more enjoyable experience. As we were heading into the ship around noon, for lunch at 12:30, we were talking to Hugh about what the plan was for the afternoon. Several of us thought the morning had been so great that we should just stay and go out again that afternoon – and that's exactly what we wound up doing.

We had a quick lunch or delicious lasagna bolognese, and then geared up for the afternoon. Zodiacs launched around 2, if not before, and we had the option to be out as late as 7pm as dinner was at 7:30. We tried to hook up with a group of other people, all of whom wanted to see the chinstrap penguins in the water near the colony on a nearby island. But things got a bit messed up in the line waiting for the zodiacs, bud that was okay. We ended up in a boat with Hugh again (yay!) and a group of 7 other people initially. It was another good group, although I had a hard time seeing over some of them initially.

We started the cruising with some whale sightings – there are usually a number of whales in Cierva Cove, including minkes and humpbacks, and we hadn't seen any in the morning. But the afternoon started off with a bang. The humpbacks were playing with us, and very nearby the zodiacs. For perspective, the zodiacs are probably 15 feet long, 6 feet wide, and ride less than 3 feet above the ocean surface. A humpback whale is much, much bigger! But they were swimming nearby, and at various times came up to all of the 8 zodiacs in the area. One of them would surface several times near our zodiac or another one nearby, and at one point it even swam under our zodiac! They are so close, it's hard to get a good photo of them (since our lenses are set up to be taking pictures of smaller things farther away). But it was a fantastic experience, and quite a way to start the afternoon.

After hanging out with the whales for probably an hour or so, we left in search of other animals. We visited the island where the chinstrap colony is, and saw some jumping into and out of the water. Here again, the penguins are nesting on pretty rocky ground, and the waves sometime wash them in or out of the water – they don't necessarily choose their fate! But I'm sure they're all fine, and it sure is funny to watch.

After the penguins, we headed back into the ice in search of seals. Two of the Australians on board, Matt and Laura, hadn't seen any crabeater seals (a misnomer for sure – they only eat krill), and neither had we, so we went off in search of one we had heard was a ways away. Along the way, we hooked up with a couple of other zodiacs, including one driven by Rod. It turned out that Brigitte (of Nico and Brigitte of Switzerland) wanted to return to the ship to use the restroom. But after some discussion, we determined that Rod would leave his zodiac to Nico's control, and everyone but Nico and Brigitte would get onto our zodiac to give them some privacy. So the rest of the zodiacs (by then there were three) motored to the opposite side of the iceberg we were at for a few minutes. We finally returned after the "restroom break." We were careful to be on the side of the iceberg opposite the Argentine station called Primavera, because we knew people were there. It was really pretty hilarious.

By then, it was nearing 4pm, which is typically time for cookies on board the ship. We heard that Ted Cheeseman was out in a zodiac picking up people who wanted to return to the ship, and delivering cookies and hot chocolate (spiked with Tia Maria or virgin). This is a level of customer service which is hard to imagine, let alone duplicate! We waited for Ted so that we could enjoy some cookies, and two of our passengers got into his zodiac to return to the ship. Then we picked up two more from another zodiac where people wanted to return to the ship and went off in search of the seals.

We found two – first, a crabeater seal who was very active. She was moving around quite a lot in an attempt to scratch herself we believe. She also opened her mouth for us, so we got some good footage of that. That we visited another iceberg with a leopard seal, who also obliged us with a few great yawns. Soon enough, it was time to return to the ship for dinner and the conclusion of our zodiac cruising. We headed back along with two other zodiacs driven by Rod and Marlene Planck through waters that had gotten a bit rougher in the afternoon winds. It became our zodiac surfing adventure. Greg got some good footage with the GoPro video camera that we'll definitely post once we get home. It's hard to appreciate even in the video, if not for our repeated screams and laughter as we negotiated the bigger waves. Greg and I were in the front, and by now it had started snowing as well. So we had to kind of shield our faces with our hands as we watched the zodiac rise and fall over the waves on our return to the ship. It was a great ride – kind of like a roller coaster in the ocean.

Dinner was at 7:30 followd by a talk by Joan Booth on Deception Island, our scheduled landing for tomorrow, the last day here in Antarctica before our return across the Drake Passage. Each day seems more incredible than the last so we're hoping for one last day of good weather karma to see us through.