15 March THE CONTINENT, Our 7th, Brown Station, Paradise Bay

Today we took Zodiacs to the Brown Station, an Argentine research station currently unmanned. It has relatively new construction, as the former station was burned down by its doctor when he was told he would have to stay over during the winter months. Because of COVID the station has been left unmanned for the past two years. It is the home to many, many Gentoo penguins that are molting. This gives them different patches of furry feathers on their backs, heads, or chests.

While ashore we heard the crack of a glacier, but alas never saw the actual calving. The sound alone is remarkable. Skies remain cloudy and the temperature was 16F. Low humidity and no wind made it seem much warmer.

After our shore excursion we returned to the ship for a lunch of soup and salad. The soups on board are different every day, except in the Mamsen’s, which is sort of a Norwegian sandwich shop. They have the soup of the day, but every day they have split pea soup. This is the Viking Cruise Lines owner’s favorite and uses his mother’s recipe. According to the Chief of the restaurant wait staff when on board, he has it every day.

The afternoon landing was to Cuverville Island. The beach was very rocky and had many well-weathered whale bones. It hosts the largest Gentoo penguin colony in Antarctica. Let there be no doubt when the wind is blowing just right.

We opted for a predinner cocktail in The Living Room, an area designed for comfort and quiet. We looked at ice configurations, ripples in the water, etc.- the eternal search for a whale siting while we drank our margaritas. Mine was frozen, no salt. Rick had a regular with salt.

Dinner tonight in the World Café buffet. Unlike the Viking ocean ships, Octantis, an expedition ship, has a dedicated grill section. You can order steaks, a hamburger or as I did tonight a pork chop cooked to order. I placed my order, grabbed a bowl of langoustines soup to start. I added grilled potatoes, a few asparagus spears, and sautéed spinach from the buffet line for a most excellent meal.

After dinner we joined others for Team Trivia. Quite by random we all had a Virginia connection. Two from UVA and one from Thomas Jefferson High School. With a background like that we tied for first, failing to know that the Congo River runs both north and south of the equator and the Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest ocean. Team Trivia is about the only big cruise ship activity on a Viking cruise. They do have a large special table with a 4,000-piece puzzle under construction throughout the cruise. With many hands working on it, all self-organizing, in only a day a new project starts. It is difficult to walk by without scanning the loose pieces for a fit.