It was a beautiful summer morning, and a perfect day to spend on the water. We had an hour or so before cruise departure to walk around the town of Akaroa, explore, and pick up a little lunch for the cruise. Once I boarded the boat, though, I staked out a space on the upper deck, and I spent the entire tour standing, watching, photographing, and saying "Wow!", on the port side or the bow of the ship.
We were greeted by a pod of Hector's dolphins soon after leaving shore.
The captain also pointed out some white-flippered penguins to me, and I managed to snap a few shots.
This was a fantastic excursion on a perfect day, and I could have stayed out there for 5 hours, instead of just the scheduled 2 hours. Soon after I moved to the front of the boat, I was greeted by two Hector's dolphins leaping from the water -- it was a thrill like seeing a shooting star cross the sky.
We had some additional time to explore Akaroa after the harbour cruise.
I spent most of the time walking along the waterfront, with a stop for, um, lunch.
On the way back to Christchurch, Rosie had Allan take us for a side trip to Birdlings Flat, where all of us spent some time on this beach, and where a greenstone rock found me.
Our last excursion of the tour was a trip to the International Antarctic Centre, on Tuesday evening. The tour included the opportunity to go into a room that was chilled down to zero degrees F wind chill, which we did, and which I'm sure made the Chicagoans in our group feel at home. We also were able to see some Little Blue penguins.
The other highlight of this excursion was our post-dinner presentation by a gentleman who has worked in Antarctica, sharing his experiences with us. Fascinating.
Excellent tour. Wonderful fellow travelers and, now, friends. Beautiful country. Interesting culture. Good beer.
1 comment:
I love your penguin pictures!
Post a Comment