November 28th, 29th and 30th – The Final Day and the Ride Back

I certainly did not hear the wakeup call. I barely heard the 20 min until boarding the zodiacs call and managed to drag myself (and my roommate) out of bed on the final boarding call...we missed the last official boat.

We were heading that morning to deception island in the South Shetland Islands; an active volcano caldera. They sent a zodiac back for us and we managed to get ashore. It was an old whaling station with a few scenic views and the sand steamed in contact with the cool air that gave the place a distinctively eerie, cool feeling. The beach was littered with the remnance of the glory days of whaling in the region gone by. This was also our opportunity to “polar plunge.” My roommate couldn't handle any walking so he simply stripped to his bathing suit had his swim and then boarded a zodiac back to the ship and his bed. I decided to take advantage of the place (only there once, right?) and have a look around before plunging with the rest of the group.

My head was pounding, but the island was very beautiful and after an hour or so of walking I was more than ready to take a swim and then take a nap. I was the first down to my skivvies as the rest of the passengers started to gather around the beach. I and another passenger bounded towards the frigid water and dove in head first. I expected it to help my hangover headache, but it made it much worse and I headed for the shore double time. The air actually felt warm in comparison so after toweling off I remained in just my shorts. I waited patiently by the boat until a few more people were ready and they shuttled us back across. I was amazed how hot the volcanic sands were on my bare feet as I waited and after returning to the ship I got a much needed 2 hour nap before lunch.

My final activity would be one last ski. The weather was perfect for the occasion which made it easier for myself and my roommate to drag ourselves out for the occasion. It was a picturesque ending to say the least, the sun made the snow and water glisten and from the glacier we could see the island and ship below us. The guides also had fun with us because they knew we were feeling a bit iffy. There were only a handful of us who chose to go on this ski and all were the more fit and ready to go so the guides pushed us hard and joked with us that they could smell the alcohol leech from our pores as we sweat. It was great and when we returned the boat we felt like were done with our experience and ready to head back.

We spent the next 2 full days at sea before arriving in port very early on the 1st. We spent virtually all of the 29th and 30th in bed sleeping or reading and occasionally poking our heads in the common room to see a lecture for a few minutes. It was sweet sweet laziness. By the time the night came around on the 30th we were finally stir crazy and ready to party. I had a great time with my new friends and by the time we went back to the rooms we were just 30 minutes from wake up call.