Day 19 Roald admunsen

Well today is finally kayaking day!!!

I am up early and will admit I have a big bit of anxiety in my belly. 

While Stuart has done his fair share of kayaking, I have not.

Today is my first time and what a place to start.

Firstly we have to head down to the expedition room to collect our gear. 

This room is on the the 3rd floor deck and leads out to the “ tenders” where we jump on go the zodiacs.

This room is also know as the black box because, well it is a black box.

Now our gear consists of our own thermal top and bottom plus 2x pairs of socks. We then  put on a thermal onesie, then dry suit , then boots, buff, beanie and a life vest. 😳

Not nervous at all ...

We will transfer into our kayaks from the zodiacs in the middle of the ocean, not even a beach entrance.

So very graceful, not. But in!

Not long after we venture off, a humpback whale appears with a friend and swims under us. Cannot illustrate with words or pictures how fabulous this experience is... of course there ate the fur seals and occasional penguins; chinstrap no less, that add to the scenery. 

Our guide has told us that they have never kayaked  around here before. We poke in and out of potential passages between the rocks, though often blocked with large bits of ice! 

We come across the (famous for these parts) double rock arches. Our guide, thankfully thinks it is too dangerous to paddle through! 

So we continue on through the swell around the rocks and ice bergs. As we return to pickup, a flock of sea birds a curious enough to swim amongst us. Through out all this the air temperature was around zero. on return the guide complements us, says around 3/5 difficulty!

Once on ship, washed off, borrowed gear returned, it is another fabulous lunch, though alas a rest is warranted after. 

as the sun goes down, we pass a few large icebergs 2.7km long.