Cierva Cove: 63.6° S, 60.5° W; 5° C (41° F)  Sunrise:  03:17   Sunset:  23:14

Today was a low-key day for me.  Feeling a bit under the weather, I spent my time on ship.  Whatever was ailing me was not related to sea sickness.  We have had an extraordinarily smooth voyage, most of the time realizing the ship is moving only by watching the landscape pass by.

Shirley went out on a zodiac excursion to a Gentoo colony in the morning, while others kayaked around Cierva Cove. On board the wildlife alerts came frequently:  leopard seals, Weddell seals, humpback whales.

Stunning icebergs floated by, too many to capture by photo.

The highlight of the day for many folks was the polar plunge.  Aargh!  But a lot of people, Shirley and I not included, decided it was a good idea to jump into the Antarctic Ocean.  There’s no accounting for some people’s taste, ha ha.

Each evening around 6 pm there is a daily recap.  This may take the form of our various experts presenting on something that happened that day or an educational lecture.  Today one of the topics was the political situation in Antarctica.  No country owns Antarctica though many have staked claims.  The claims are nothing but that, but to support the claim the country must have some research station in that area.  You will note from the map that Great Britain, Chile and Argentina have all claimed the same area, while at the same time there is a large unclaimed area.

In support of the Argentine claim there is a small station that is rarely staffed, but satisfies the requirement.

Antarctica is “governed” by a treaty signed in the late 1950s by a Council of Countries that has grown over time to include 70% of the countries in the world.

We finished the day watching a video produced by our undersea expert.  She had sent a ROV (underwater robot) down to the seabed where wonderfully exotic anemones and small fish and other marine life survive.  Fascinating!