The seas are not so totally rough today, although there are swells and a decent wind, but it is nice enough we can do our loop walking for a bit before grabbing a lite breakfast in the club lounge.

Our morning is filled with an astronomy talk with Henri, who tells us there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on earth.  No way!  We also learn that there are 1 trillion galaxies with 1 trillion stars each, meaning that there are 1 Sep-trillion stars up there.  Wow.

We join the morning wildlife and bird watch for a little bit, but honestly, we don’t have super duper cameras and we can’t identify most of the birds, and well, it’s boring. So we abscond to the lounge, then down to the main dining room for lunch.  We’ve been missing out on the Filipino food they serve down there!  Renato, the F&B manager, told us they had lumpia the other day. What? And we missed it?  Ok – we love eating outside and the grill and all, but lumpia?  Yeah, we’re not missing that again!  Today they have a version of Pancit, although not as good as we’ve had elsewhere.  But what was excellent was a sweet bun called ensaimada; a sweet roll covered in a semi-sweet pastry cream and topped with cheese.  Definitely yummy.

At 2 there is a showing of the Planet Earth episode that follows the penguins in Antarctica and the polar bears in the Polar region.  The stories and the scenes are just incredible – even more so the end where the documentarians talk about the experience and provide behind the scenes shots and commentary.  All the while though, we are getting closer to Tristan – we can see it out in the distance!

After the movie, we hit the bow of the ship for more photos of Tristan, growing larger and larger as we approach.  The terrain is rugged and rocky, and the peak of Mt. Olav, the volcano, looms over us as we approach. 

Rounding the top of the island, the little town of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas comes into view.  What an amazing place!  Considered the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, Tristan da Cunha is located approximately 1700 miles from Cape Town, 1500 miles from Saint Helena, 2400 miles from Mar del Plata in Argentina and 2500 miles from the Falklands. Tristan, the main island, is the only inhabited island, measuring 6.8 miles wide and a total of 38 square miles – and most of that is inaccessible it seems.  About 240 permanent residents live on the island, all with British Overseas Territories citizenship.  The other islands – the Gough island reserve, a small inaccessible island and the Nightingale island are uninhabited except for a weather station on Gough island staffed with S. African personnel. 

We sail closer and closer, all the while with our fingers crossed that the swells won’t be that bad and we’ll be able to land.  We wander out to the aft deck to watch the zodiacs and actually manage to get some good photos of the Petrels flying around the ship. 

Then, finally, the zodiacs take off to the pier and lo and behold, we are going to be able to land!  Yay! Land Ho! 

Obviously, we were totally delayed, and to make matters worse, our zodiac group is the last to be called.  Brandon had told everyone we would have 1 hour on the island, and the groups needed to respect the timing.  Ha.  Yeah right.  We actually ended up with only 45 minutes on the island, which totally stunk!  It is so gorgeous and so interesting, we could have spent all day there just walking and wandering and talking to the locals.  But as it is – we have to boogie.  So off we go, up the steep harborside road to the main town – which is a conglomeration of metal warehouse type buildings, shacks and shanties and rock walled homes, all mashed together in this little town area.  Oh, and the cows too of course!

We have a mission though – and that is to get to the Albatross bar, the only bar on the island.  Of course we do!  Up at the top of the town, in “the largest building in the town,” as one of the local guides tells us, we find The Albatross, a one room bar with stools, comfy seating areas and the obligatory snooker table!  This is a British territory after all.   Plopping down on one of the available bar stools, we order 2 beers (sadly they did not have any white wine, only red) and an order of their rock lobster which is reputed to be the best in the world.  Believe it or not, Wegman’s is the largest purchaser of their rock lobsters!  And let us tell you, that rock lobster was absolutely fantastic.  Best we have ever had – it definitely lived up to its legendary status.  Plus, it was super cheap!  You would think in that remote location everything would be expensive, but it wasn’t.  $2US for the beer, $4US for the lobster.  They take UK Sterling Pounds (which we had) or US dollars or Euros.  It was great.

Late afternoon snack complete, we meandered about, snapping photos as we went – the Catholic church, the little lanes that cut through the entire town, the scenery, the houses, the generators.  How else would they get power?  Just incredible. And incredible that we are here.

On our way back to the Zodiac, we hit the Post office/tourist office which had oodles of souvenirs, but we just didn’t see anything we really wanted.  They had t-shirts and stuff, but they sort of felt like a bucket list/check list kind of thing to buy them. Especially because on the back of the shirt it said “Been there, bought the t-shirt.”  Nah – pass.  Everything was still really cheap –  think the t-shirts were 10 pounds, and a hoodie was only 20 pounds.  

We took our obligatory pictures with the Tristan da Cunha sign and of course the mileage market signs.

Made a super quick stop at the only grocery store, located in a corrugated steel building near the pier, which was so cute and fully stocked and the ladies there were all especially nice.  The island is famous for their vegetable gardens and grow potatoes of which they are very proud.  The expedition staff told us to buy their local potato chips, but sadly the grocery store ran out.  Oh well.  We tried. Since we were the last zodiac group, the others probably bought them all up.  Bummer.

The other bummer, we must say, is that – as expected – no one else adhered to the 45 minute visit rule.  Of the 3 groups that went out ahead of us, most of the Chinese were still on the island wandering around, looking at things in the post office, writing post cards and buying stamps. It was really infuriating that we had our time cut so short, but by shirking the rules, they had about 2 hours on the island.  So frustrating.  We were extraordinarily glad that we were even able to be there – but still.  We would have loved to have spent even 2 hours there – like they did – but not to be.  As always, that is the problem with traveling in groups.  We are really worried about our continent and S. Georgia landings.  If they don’t adhere to the timing, it will delay the other groups because we are only able to put a maximum of 100 people ashore at any time.  If they won’t come back, we can’t go.  Time will tell….. 

So it was back to the zodiac we went, down at the pier where all the local fishing boats are stored, for a wild ride back to the ship.  We didn’t get as wet as some folks, but we still got a good wave or two!  That’s what and expedition is all about.  From here on out – we’re wearing our waterproof pants!

Quickly drying off in the cabin, we headed to the dining room where our sweet John has been reassigned to another station.  Now we are sitting with Ramil, who is equally sweet and fun.  More shrimp tonight – those things are just monstrous – and lamb chops for me.  I already had my appetizer of Rock Lobster!

Same nighttime drill – drinks with Allan, then cabin for Netflix.  Tonight is disco night.  Yep. Cabin for sure!