
Our first adventure in the zodiacs was at Cuverville Island. I think this was more a practice run so that the passengers would experience the organized routine of the excursions we were to take later. Passengers were divided into groups. Those traveling together were assigned to the same group. At a set time before our boarding the zodiac, we were to meet in a designated lounge and wait to be called. Our group was the last one on the schedule for the afternoon and as the sun dipped lower, I feared we might be canceled because of darkness.



Mid-morning the Marco Polo turned and set course for Port Lockeroy on Weincke Island. Just before noon, we anchored in the bay. A change in the wind let us know that there was definitely a colony of penguins there. The smell of guano (the term for sea fowl excrement) greeted us. While the snow and ice is the purest white you can imagine, the home of the penguin colony colors it a dark orange.

Guano or not, we were excited to learn that our group that was last the day before would be first this afternoon. We finished lunch and scurried to gather our parkas, pants, boots, gloves, cameras, scarves. . .the list seemed long. Hearts beating quickly, we waited in the lounge for the call to the zodiacs all the while remembering: right hand through the life jacket first.
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