Today was a very quiet day at sea with little of great interest. One of the most notable events was that we crossed back int our old time zone (Buenos Aries time), so we had an extra hour in bed.
I spent a little time on the bridge today and every now and then we could see a whale spout. We did have some fin whales within a few hundred metres of the ship in the afternoon so there was a furious rush for cameras.
It has become quite cold now. the outside temperature is less than 2 degrees and anywhere in the wind is very cold indeed.We have had 30 knot winds for most of the day which cause large swells and the ship has been pitching its bow into them regularly with quite a thud.
We thought that we might of had the possibility of visiting the South Orkney Islands but they are currently surrounded by a large volume of ice that has been blown out of the Weddell Sea. They are impossible to get to. We should arrive at Elephant Island by early tomorrow morning. We understand that the winds are forecast to increase so our expedition leader, Graham, plans to make a run for the Antarctic Peninsular and some shelter. This should give us an extra day there. Not a bad place for an extra day!
For now, it’s back to doing nothing until we reach Wilde Point on Elephant Island which is where Shackleton left his men while he went for help at South Georgia.
