Up until today, all of our landings have been on islands. Our first attempt earlier in the week to make an actual continental landing was aborted due to poor conditions. The landing party from the ship tried to go ashore but the zodiac was nearly flipped over by the winds.  The katabatic winds coming off the mountains are not to be messed with!

Today we finally managed to go ashore on the actual continent – not once but twice! Our first landing was at Base Brown Antartica Argentina on Paradise Bay.  We encountered some wildlife we had yet to see on this trip….humans!  The base is run by the Argenitnian military and is staffed by a small group of people.  Apparently both Chile and Argentina have numerous bases on the Antarctic peninsula just in case there is ever a time when they may be able to make a claim to the land.  Right now is is governed by a consortium and belongs to no country….but you never know….probably good insurance against the zombie apocalypse too!

This afternoon we transited what has to be a whale super highway on our way to our second landing site at Orne Harbour.  We were following a pod of 12-15 killer whales on one side of the ship while another half dozen humpbacks were feeding on the other side.  To top it all off, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day on deck.  

Oh yeah – and just before lunch we underwent a crazy ritual called the polar plunge.  We stupidly lined up at the side of the ship and jumped into the freezing water – well, not quite freezing.  The water temperature was just shy of a whopping 1C but you may notice the icebergs in the background in the picture.  It was rather shocking but quite exhilarating. Safely out of the water and back on board, we were greeted with a shot of schnapps and a badge to celebrate our achievement (stupidity?!?)