Antarctica East 2026

Jan 10, sea day

James, in answer to your question, I reckon age range is between 60-80. And guess what…while the submersible is on board, it may not be able to operate if there’s too much ice. Also the ice may mean that the polar plunge may not be possible (you can imagine how devastated I feel about the plunge …..NOT)

As each day passes, the temperature drops a bit more. On Jan 7, temp was about 14 degrees C. Now it’s down to 2 degrees C, and we’ve just entered Antarctic waters and sailed past our first iceberg

Lots of activities have been offered to us. Got a great lesson on how to use binoculars properly. There’s been craft classes, jewellery making classes, and I have learnt the fundamentals of scrimshaw. ( for those unacquainted with scrimshaw, it is engravings or carvings done in bone or ivory .Typically it refers to the artwork created by  whalers,engraved on the byproducts of whales, such as bones or cartilage. Today it is done on piano keys or materials like corian.)

Anyway, here I am engrossed in this activity

These activities are all in addition to the expert lectures throughout the day….leaves little time to do anything else!

And of course the Discovery team let us know if there’s anything to see on the ocean. And today, we saw our first whales

Dined at the Nightmarket tonight. Restaurant only caters for 8 people, and has a different cuisine every night. Tonight it was Middle eastern fare with a very passionate chef. Here’s some pics of what we ate

Dessert was upside down baklava with sheets of pistachio and yoghurt icecream

It’s now 10.20 pm and the sun is just setting