Wednesday – February 18, 2009
Last night we reached Mikkelson Harbor, a small, rocky islet located in the protected bay at the southeast corner of Trinity Island. The plan was to get out real early and kayak in the bay, so by 7 AM I was getting into the zodiac for a short trip to where the staff was setting up a dry way of getting into the kayak. By the time we got to the islet, plans for kayaking were starched, as the wind came up very suddenly, making waves. So I spent a few hours wandering around a gentoo penguin colony (with one lone chinstrap), avoiding beached fur seals and getting close (5 ft) to a Weddell seal (which looks a lot like a leopard seal).
Mid-afternoon will find us at Deception Island, which is essentially a giant caldera created by multiple volcanic collapses where the central underground magma chamber has receded deeper into the earth, creating a passageway, for the ship, into the middle of the caldera. Deception has erupted 9 times in the past two hundred years, the latest being 1967, 1969 and 1970.
If I failed to mention it on the prior posting, I did set foot on the Antarctic continent yesterday, at the Argentine research station where we also did a hike.
As we cruise to Deception Island, I am sitting on the top deck of the ship in the library/observation area. The view is about 300 degrees, with only the bridge in the way of allowing a total viewing area free of any obstructions. We are watching for whales, and icebergs like the one that just slipped by on the starboard side (I now know starboard (right) from port (left)).
After Deception, if things go to plan, we are to sail to Elephant Island, the place where Shackelton and his men ended up after their ship became trapped in the ice, and later was crushed by the ice. It was from here that Shackelton and a few sailors made their way across hundreds of miles of sea to South Georgia Island (this in itself was an amazing feat), then crossed a mountain range and several glaciers until they found a whaling station. Then they returned to rescue the remaining sailors. There was zero loss of life in the nearly 2 years spent in the Antarctic waters by this expedition.
These is lands are in the South Shetlands.

Thursday – February 19, 2009
We made our way through moderate seas to Elephant Island (named for the elephant seals that once populated the island, until whalers killed them all off). The seas were too rough to have zodiac rides to shore, so got in as close as possible with the big ship and then sailed out into a ocean, with nothing in our way until South Georgia Island. The waves started to kick up again, and the spray came all the way up to the 4th deck above sea level. With that, I retreated to my cabin, and slept the afternoon away.

Friday – February 20, 2009
We are at sea. Nothing to see - no whales, albatrosses or land. We make landfall at South Georgia in the afternoon on Saturday. Not much to report until then.