Day 10 – another sea day

Today there were no mandatory briefings. Instead there were a few expedition talks and a cookie decorating session. And, what started out looking like it might be a boring day at sea, became a much more exciting day.

We had our first iceberg sighting while eating breakfast, And we thought that was exciting until the afternoon surprise from the captain.

We also were offered eggnog at breakfast. It was quite good.

I did have a wonderful massage this morning and while I was doing that, Bill went to the fitness center – I know that is hard for many of you to imagine.

Cookie decorating went a bit like this. Once completed, the cookies went on display in the living room of the ship for all to see…they were not to be eaten.

In the afternoon, the Captain made an announcement that there was to be a Christmas present for all the passengers…he was going to bring the ship up to A23a, the world’s largest iceberg. A23s calved from Antarctica in 1986 and was grounded there for the next 30 years. It then started to move north and we saw it on our way to South Georgia Island.

We sailed through an ice field most of the remainder of the day (and maybe the night too), so there were many icebergs to be seen. This is one of my favorites. Does anyone else see the Queen’s throne and one of her corgis at her feet?

Just as we were turning away from A23a, a few humpback whales appeared alongside the ship.

First you see the blow

Then the dorsal fin…

And for us the finale was the tail. The whales did not breach.

Dinner was a buffet for us – carved turkey breast and a few of the fixings. Dessert for me was the following: it was called Christmas charm. A red cover on chocolate mousse. It was yummy.

The evening was capped off with a Christmas show with a passenger choir. I did not join the choir because the first rehearsal was two days ago when we were having tea with the penguins. It was a fun program complete with Santa reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas. The ship’s captain is on the right in the Santa hat.

Well, the crew choir and passenger choir combined for Silent Night – too bad they modified the third verse to be a repeat of the first verse.

All in all, it was a great day!

So I leave you with, “And, to all a goodnight!”