We’ve been heading south for two days. Although the temperatures slowly crept down it didn’t seem like an abrupt change since we had sun both days and the wind was relatively mild. There were small whitecaps but nothing that required more than a bit of wobbly walking.

Last night we set our watches ahead an hour.

Filling our days at sea is pretty easy. After a quick glance at the daily program, we each choose what’s of interest and then fill in the gaps eating, reading, napping, attending mandatory activities, participating in lectures, watching documentaries, and keeping up with the folks back home via the very reliable Wi-Fi on board. In the last two days I have decorated a gingerbread house; enjoyed hours of staring at the ocean from the lounge in the very front of the ship; watched documentaries on snow animals and Antarctica; attended presentations on binoculars, cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises), and penguins; and spotted my first whale blows and my first (small) iceberg.

New to me are what’s called lightening lectures. I’d liken them to TED Talks. Yesterday a UC of San Diego PhD candidate spoke about the research he is doing on how penguin poop fertilizes the water and provides food for the phytoplankton communities. Interestingly, Viking supports this project and provides lab space on its two polar expedition ships for scientific research. Today’s lightening lecture addressed the successful three-phase, $10 million program to eradicate rats on South Georgia Island, our next stop.

To keep invasives out of South Georgia our vessel was inspected by rat dogs before leaving the Falklands and all of the passengers onboard had to have the outer clothing they wore in the Falklands inspected by the bio-security team today.

We reserved dinner on a we’ll-sit-with-strangers basis. Tonight’s unsuspecting couple was from Maine, last night’s was from the LA area, and a couple nights ago we ate with a couple from Victoria Island. They all shared interesting tales of their international travels and make us look like travel rookies! Don’t ya know they enjoyed meeting us though?

From the captain:
What do you call an old snowman?
Answer: water.

... Our Vessel …

Guest capacity: 378
Crew: 256
Year built: 2022
Length: 665 feet
Designation: class 6 expedition ship
Two dining rooms: one French, one Italian
Four casual dining spots: a large buffet; a grill (burgers, dogs, steak, lobster);
sushi and seafood buffet; and a Norwegian grab-and-go.