Paradise: pack ice and its crushing embrace.

Our journey takes us to a place known aptly as Paradise bay. Surrounded by steep snow clad mountains descending into the sea and tranquil waters filled with broken ice it was a picturesque, somewhat dreamy place to be in.

There were a few buildings used by the Argentine government for research (Estación Científica Almirante Brown) . Some of the kayakers traipsed around to look at them – though all that was to see was the outside of locked buildings. The rest of the passengers had a bit of fun glissading on the slopes and capturing the odd penguin and bird in their lens.

We found a sheet of floating ice to slide our kayaks up onto for a landing. A walk around and pose for photos was a fun activity for a few minutes before we continued our journey to the bay. Seal launching, not an intimidating exercise at all there is no way any of us were going into the drink ! We are back into the water was easy as we exited from it, with our near level height difference to the water.

One of the rocks had an interesting blue green streak. This is a copper compound, no doubt of interest to those who wish to mine Antarctica.

The water within the ice floe was ripple free, the surface mirroring mountains, our kayaks and bergs.

We found another site farther into the bay to stop for hot chocolate or tea, it was situated in an area that had stunning views of the bay and mountains.

Coming back to ship we had a narrow escape with the ice floe closing in to the shore. David, the last paddler through was paddling on top of some of the ice as we powered through: just missed out on being another ‘Endurance’ modern day Shackelton misadventure ! We headed towards and open part of the sea and waited for our ship to break through the rest of the ice. It’s quite amazing how quickly the floating ice pack moves around in the wind and tidal motions.

We sailed on towards the port Lockroy with the intent to view the museum and post some letters. One of the staff members – Hannah came over to give us a talk regaling us with the history and story about how she got the job over 3000 applicants after three years of trying. Unfortunately with the winds increasing to 35 knots our landing could not proceed due to the risk of a hazardous return.

Dinner and all the other meals are very good on the ship. There might be some issues with weight management once we leave. There is vegetarian options on offer for all passengers who wish it at any meal time and I was able to ask for fish in lieu of pork for one meal sitting. Sometimes I would ask for a simple tomato sandwich instead of a full cooked meal at lunch. After a big breakfast, two course lunch, a three course dinner just cannot be managed: though the desserts looked good - if I was to have anything I would just have an orange.

One of the guys was a full romantic (please don’t let my wife know !) For their 25th anniversary he arranged for a wedding dress and photo shoot on the boat. Maybe a tear drop fell from my eyes too with the joy of the occasion.