An Antarctic Christmas

In the morning we got to Snow hill island - a small island off the James Ross island…which is a ‘less small’ island next to the tip of the Antarctic peninsula.The expedition team got busy early in the morning, launching Zodiacs and getting ready to take passengers for a spin. There was already a lot of muttering and discontent about the multiple missed landings - and it was essential to get the passengers down on ice.

​The first news of the day - We were not landing on the island…  (surprise! Surprise!)
But while we were not landing, at least we would be going on a Zodiac cruise - to see the Antarctic seas and the magnificent sea ice!

‘Enjoy the feel of being in this environment!’ Gui the guide said to us ‘It is a great privilege to be able to be in the middle of so much sea ice. It’s the most beautiful sight in the world. And once we start moving North, we won’t see any sea ice - so soak it in!’
It was so beautiful! It was like a fairy land!
The combination of both sea ice and icebergs made for truly surreal vistas in all directions.
Here they are before me,
   surreal in the dazzling morning sun.
      Against clear skies of blue, and
peaked snow-capped mountains-
Their marbled, glistening whites,
   with multi shades of blue,
      arcane crevices and jagged peaks-
stir visions of cold, ghost-like forms
   that glare at me in this mysterious Bay
      of murmurous creaks and moans.
We didn’t see any Emperor penguins  after all - one boat did But not us. 
We saw an Adele. No, not the singer - the penguin! 
It was the only penguin around - so we clicked an awful lot of shots of it. 
‘Good afternoon, everyone - Good afternoon.’ Shelli’s perky voice sounded over the PA system. ‘This afternoon we were planning to do a landing on Cockburn island! - A tiny island nearby which has a lot of Adele penguin colonies.’
HEY! Wait a minute!
What did she mean - ‘were planning’ ?!
‘…But we will not be landing there after all!’ Shelli continued ‘Unfortunately, the island is fortified with ice, making a landing impossible. In addition, the rising tide will  move more ice in. The risk is too great. Bye!’
What?!!
Another cancellation!
The whole passenger contingent exploded in anger! 
Shelli quailed at the passenger anger - And after a discussion with Cap’n Kangaroo, the Ocean Victory sailed to a place called ‘False point island’  and dropped anchor.
'Here you are!’ Shelli said ’Here is your bloody landing! Walk around to your hearts desire!’
​And what a landing it was. There was literally nothing there! No snow - no ice - nothing. There was one solitary penguin, and one solitary seal
We had a very pleasant dinner to celebrate Christmas eve.  Apart from the main restaurant on the 4th deck, there was a specialty restaurant on the 8th deck where they specialised in ‘Hot stone cooking’. They would heat a stone to 400 degrees and bring it to your table along with the raw meat of your choice - and you cook it yourself on the hot stone to whatever extent you liked. - extremely rare or very well done or whatever you prefer. 
Everyone had a lot of fun wearing the Christmas festive onesies and elf caps and played a game of stealing each others Christmas presents
After dinner we went to the 8th floor deck for a party - the expedition guys had organised some carol singing and the F&B guys provided some excellent Vino Caliente - hot spiced wine, and there was dancing and hugging and kissing and we all had a great time!
We spent the night looking at the awesome sight of the icebergs in the light of the midnight sun.  It looked like a late evening at 12 in the night - and the icebergs shone red and orange in the setting sun. It was simply magical!