Another sea day morning!  Breakfast, shower, then up to the lounge where Javi is giving a presentation on his year on S. Georgia.  While waiting for the presentation to start, I run down to guest relations for my free Wi-Fi account – that’s one thing Swan Hellenic has done for everyone aboard – we all get the Gold package for free for the rest of the voyage.  This means we can get emails and do some other things online.  Anyone who has already purchased the Gold package will get a refund from today to the end of the cruise.  A very nice gesture – a necessary one as communications will be through email – but still nice.

Online now, sweet Robinson sets me up quickly, I’m back upstairs with plenty of time to blog and read before the adorable Javi.  His presentation is wonderful – explaining how he got the job on S. Georgia in 2005 (knew someone who worked there and recommended him), what he did (Post Officer, website newsletter editor and Museum assistant) and just how it was for 8 months there.  There were only 14 people at Grytviken the entire season – that must have been amazing!  He gives us some history on the settlement, opened in 1925, etc., but also about how he was the first Argentinean to be hired on the island since the 1982 conflict (same conflict as when Argentina took over the Falklands).  He had no problem with that, he is just so in love with nature and exploring, he doesn’t care about politics.  When they weren’t handling the cruise tourists, they just hiked and explored the island, climbing up the huge peaks, taking overflights of the island in a helicopter, sailing around the island on the new HMS Endurance. He also got to visit the Stromness and Husvik whaling stations that are closed to the public due to asbestos.  It sounds crazily idyllic.  What a great experience.

Next up is Miguel with Blue Blood Penguins – but before he starts we notice that it’s snowing! Well, we didn’t make it to Antarctica but we got the icebergs and the weather!

Miguel’s presentation is all about the King and the Emperor penguin.  They are more similar to each other than to other penguins, but while they have a lot of similarities – appearance, feed mainly on small fish far from shore and can dive very deep – they breed completely differently.  The location of breeding – Kings closer to the Equator, Emperors closer to the South Pole – affects the time necessary. 

Emperors incubation and nesting takes 7 months, which can’t fit into the summer season, so they incubate and nest over the winter.  Because they have to breed where the sea ice doesn’t melt, they have to walk very far inland to their breeding ground (sometimes over 100k from the shore, and they only walk about 2KPH on average!).  The female has the egg, hands it off to the male, then leaves to fish for food.  The male incubates the egg all winter long, crowding into a densely packed circle to keep warm in temperatures of 60 below and up to 100mph winds.  The circle rotates, the penguins in the middle get too hot and come to the outside, the outside penguins move in.  Due to this type of breeding and incubation, the Emperor is the only penguin that does not mate with the same partner for life.  Because there is no specific nest or place the penguin comes back to each year, they don’t know where to look for their mate.  Thus, they court and mate with a different penguin each year.  The chicks feed off the male for 5 months, when the female comes back both parents feed the chicks in turns, then the chicks stay in what they call a “kindergarten” with a few adult penguins who stay to watch over them while they grow and molt and get ready to go out to sea.

The King penguin, on the other hand, breed on the beach and don’t have problems trying to find someplace.  The largest colony has over 300,000 breeding pairs and although they don’t have a nest, they are territorial.  Each penguin has a little square of area that they call their own; after one breeding cycle they go back to the same exact spot to meet their partner from the previous year.  The King only needs 10 days for courtship and egg laying, another 55 days for incubation, but both male and female swap doing incubation; each for 10 or 14 days. Chick feeding is 9.5 to 13 months to independence. Because of the feeding and molting cycle, the parents feed the chicks for a few months, then during the winter season chicks get no food. When spring arrives parents start feeding them again so that by midsummer chicks become independent and find their own food.  Because of the length of time, the Kings skip a year in the breeding cycle.

See?  Sorry, geeking out. But it is so fascinating all these differences in animals that seem so similar!

Lunch in the dining room, then back upstairs for Carine and Whale behavior, which is fun guessing what each behavior is named.  We’re actually pretty good at it, managing to get virtually all of them correct.  Then a fascinating presentation by Richard about how he became an Antarctic guide. He was a mountaineer and trail runner, joined the army and trained in telecommunications. He became the go-to guy for setting up telecommunications in places where nobody has been before anywhere in the world.  He also managed the logistics, planning and military team building for expeditions. 

He first went to Antarctica in 2012 with the British military.  They actually sailed down on a yacht.  He had wild stories about building campsites, falling into crevasses, hiking and skiing all over the peninsula and inland.  He had videos and pictures and just an amazing story. 

He went back again in 2021 with the British Antarctic Survey team doing the Antarctic Quest 21.  He had more wild stories about their time and what they did – but when it came time to leave the continent, their ship didn’t come for them.  The Omicron strain of COVID had hit and all ships were leaving to go back to Argentina.  They called mayday to anyone, and Le Ponant answered but would not let them board!  They refused to take them back – but they did give them croissants to eat (after Richard asked for them!).  What jerks!  In comes Swan Hellenic Minerva who agreed to take them back to Ushuaia.  Only there were no empty cabins, so they slept in the Library – which all the expedition members loved because at this point it was like luxury to them after 5 weeks on the Peninsula.  Later he left the army and Swan Hellenic asked if he wanted to be an expedition team member, the rest is history!  Fascinating.

Later at the briefing, Brandon tells us that when we get back to our cabin we will have a letter from the company regarding the cruise – hmmmm – and then goes on to talk about the day and that we will be receiving all the photos that Gennadiy is taking.  It goes over fairly well – but let’s see about the letter!

Dinner is excellent as usual – then we go to the cabin for the letter and it the compensation they are offering – which is ok but could really be better.  If this is the final, we’re good with it. I mean we got to Tristan (only 60% of ships made it last year), we got 3 expeditions in S. Georgia (would we have liked more? Yes, but safety first) and yes, Antarctica is the main attraction – but again – safety first!  We are in the minority though.  As we go back out to go upstairs for our after dinner drinks with Allan, there are 3 Russians sitting on the sofa in Guest Relations, right outside the dining room with signs saying “Hunger Strike” and then taking the Swan Hellenic tagline “See What Others Don’t” and twisting it to “Don’t see what others do.”  Ok – that part was cute – but a Hunger Strike? Really.  What will that accomplish?

There is an email address on the letter for comments and complaints – use that!  We did!  Sigh.  This might be ugly….but for now…drinks with Allan, back to the cabin for our evening shows and bedtime for Bonzo.