Penguin poo gets everywhere, and it absolutely stinks. Wellington boots have to be thoroughly hosed when we get back on the ship, but from the excited chatter amongst the passengers no body seems to notice or care about the stench anymore! We’ve all just had our first day on Antarctic soil and it surpassed everyone’s expectations.

As Captain Skog (or Skoggy, my new nickname for him) promised we left the angry Drake’s Passage and finally arrived in the calm, if not icy cold waters of Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands. At 7pm there was a welcome cocktail in the dining room and everyone was pleased to be able to walk around the ship rather than stagger to left and right, although after a few cocktails the staggering would begin again. It was nice to have a beer actually after 2 days of feeling pretty crap and no knowing when or if you’d hurl in the next few minutes. After dinner we had a couple of glasses of wine and then decided to turn in early at about 11pm ready for the early morning start. I think I mentioned that there’s only 4 hours of darkness down here, and last night it was still light at midnight. I’ll try and get a photo tonight to prove it!

Dolly and I rose early before the captains wake up call, and headed to Breakfast at 7.30am, the food aboard is absolutely fantastic and the choice for breakfast is as follows: cornflakes, muesli, coco pops, 5 types of fresh fruit, 3 flavors of yogurt, bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, jam, marmalade, pancakes, fruit juice, tea and coffee. Every day for 10 days, I really don’t know where they keep it all. Not to mention 4 posh courses for both lunch and dinner.

We boarded the Zodiac’s promptly at 9am as instructed and we were very soon stepping on our final continent. Today’s the day when we’ve both visited all seven continents in the world. There were a few penguins ready to great our landing at Roberts Point, both Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins and as we walked around the island we bumped into lots of Elephant Seals, mainly female, but as we stood on the shoreline a huge male came out of the water, he must have been about one ton in weight, although we were told that these guys fully grown can be up to 4 tons! We spent two hours on the island before heading back to the ship for a spot of lunch.

Our second zodiac trip of the day commenced at 2pm, and we were lucky enough to spend 3 hours at Aitcho Island where there were many more penguins than the morning, many of them nesting and protecting their eggs. The weather had cleared up a bit this afternoon as well, so the scenery was much more beautiful, the morning had seem some fog and a few light snow showers, but now we were getting occasional blue sky we makes the photos look so much better. There were quite a large number of Skewers and Giant Petrels on the island as well, looking menacing not for from the penguins, and ready to pounce on an unprotected egg.

We left Aitcho Island at 5pm and headed to the ship for some welcoming hot chocolate, a nice hot shower and a summary of the days events of dinner. We’re on the move further south now and tomorrow we’ll be landing on the peninsula it’s self, clothes pegs firmly attached to our noses. Click here for Day 5

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