Icebergs for Breakfast

21st January 2016 Part 1
At 7:30 when we were woken the outside temperature was reported to be -1C.
I had a much better sleep last night. We are still in the "Drake", but I must me getting use to the rolling.
On my side of the cabin is a window. When I opened the blind this morning we could see icebergs floating by. Throughout the day the icebergs got bigger and bigger.
In the morning we had a mandatory brief on IAATO (International Association Antarctica Tour Operators), the does and don'ts when on land and with the various animals. This was followed by briefings on zodiac drill and how to dress when going ashore or on trips from the zodiacs. Although we have large block style life jackets, these are for it we had to abandon ship. We were all issued with an inflatable life jacket for when we travel in the zodiacs. Each of these has a number on it and when we leave the ship this number is recorded by a crew member and again when we come back. That way they always know who is onboard and who is on land.
We have now completed our crossing of the Drake Passage. The swell in the morning was around 3-4m, on the first night when we entered to passage it was 8m. The staff still insist that it was a gently crossing.
During the night we crossed the Antarctic Confluence. This is were the warm water from the north meets the cold water of the south. This means we are now in the Antarctic.
It's hopped this afternoon that we will reach the South Shetland Islands and make our first landing on Half Moon Island. But all of that depends on the weather conditions.
If we do manage to land at Half Moon Island, we will hopefully see Chinstrap and Gentoo Penquins.
The IAATO states that you can only land 100 people at a time in a location. We are only 85 passengers, so we can all land at the same time since including our guides we will not exceed 100. Some of the big ships with 300 have to take it in turns, I guess this means less time ashore for them. They may not have rolled so much in the Drake as us, but I recon this is were being on a smaller ship comes in to its own.