Neko Harbor: Landing on the Continent of Antarctica






After a full day, we cleaned up and all met for the cocktail hour wrap-up which happened daily before dinner. This is where we would see the footage from the divers and the naturalists would share with us all we had seen that day. It is also when we would hear about where we were planning to go the next day. But- by now we had learned that with Captain Skog the plans could always change based on ice and where he felt we might be able to access for the best adventure.  At dinner, however, that night we were informed by the captain that after dinner we would be in Neko Harbor and that anyone who wanted to walk on the actual continent of Antarctica would be able to do so. Zodiacs would begin running at 9:00 PM. Since we were in almost 24 hours of daylight-why not? You never saw a dining room clear out so fast. The sky was mauve and baby blue, the waters quiet, the air cool. We hiked up a small glacier where we had a view of the bay. The younger passengers and a few of the braver mature of us chose to slide down the glacier. Staff had brought out black garbage bags to make the ride a little faster. We stayed about two hours, and I made many friends with some fun gentoo penguins. They seemed very interested in what these strange new birds were doing sliding and howling down the hill. I stood for the longest time just breathing in the air and watching the lights in the sky, when one of the expedition leaders came up to me and told me it was time to go. I could have stayed there for hours more. As we walked back to the zodiacs, I asked him if he ever gets used to this beauty- he said no and then he said to me " And you have not even been to where we all love the best . He wouldn't tell me where that would be- I had to just wait for the next day.  Around midnight- the Explorer pulled up anchor and headed out into the icy seas! All her passengers crawled into their beds exhausted from another amazing day in the white world.