Day 7
It was a 7:00am wake-up for breakfast at 7:30. Those on the bridge area on the lookout for whales. Is is a balmy 3C but very low cloud cover.....you can see distance, just not up. The ship moved through Gerlache Strait and into Orne Harbour as we readied ourselves for this mornings excursion. Another opportunity to stand on the continent and observe chinstrap penguins with the option of hiking higher, higher! There are a multitude of adventure seekers who headed up, poles in hand. The landing site was slippery with its rocky icy shore. We unloaded from the zodiac for a short time while the guides rearranged passengers to their desires. Some wanted to head back to the ship while there were others of us who preferred to cruise around before returning to ship. It is raining, a gentle cold rain which turned to ice 
pellets and then snow. We cruised out around Spigot Peak and observed the chinstraps high on the rocks. The chinstraps are noisier and rowdy in comparison to other penguins.
We returned to the ship with wet gear so the drying process begins again.
The weather (four continuous days of cloud and rain) we have experienced is unusual for Antarctica but then guide Sunny said the thrill of Antarctica is that there is no "usual". It is every changing and always surprising.
The ship is moving on to Wilhelmina Bay as we enjoy the pasta buffet complete with salad bar, cream of broccoli soup with deliciously creamy blue cheese and cream puffs filled with dolce de leche.
It is snowing outside as we make our way into the bay. The zodiacs plan to venture out again around 3:00 but we will take advantage of the not so lovely weather and take a break. We can watch for mammals and look at the ice from the ships bridge.
There are a few around ship with injured ankles and knees from yesterday, in particular the luge sliding. In the cabin next to us is passenger, Dr John Wood, an orthopaedic surgeon from the States, next cabin to him is his parents/father retired Dr. Jack Wood, gastroenterologist. There is also a Russian doctor, a dentist and One Ocean's Dr. Melissa on board. We have much quicker physician access here in the Antarctic than at home.
Our afternoon polar siesta was cut short by the announcement of whales sighted from the bridge. Humpback and Minkie whales were seen by everyone from the bridge, the zodiacs and kayaks. The excitement on board begins with the One Ocean staff. They are masters in biology, geography, ecology and history as well as tourism and hospitality. To watch them organize, coordinate, communicate, interact and provide this spectacular individual experience to each passenger is phenomenal.
Dinner: Black Cod and "rare" Stripped Beer Tenderloin with baked potato and veggies. The dessert was a frozen banana creme topped with whipped cream and blueberries. Of interest, they serve a lot of green and red peppers on their menu.
It was decided through submissions and by consensus that a group of penguins is called a "Chaplin" of penguins!
As for the evening, we set sail out into Gerlache Strait, leaving the continent of Antarctica behind us. The whales are very active in the open waters around us....many, many sightings of breaching, blowing and fluking whales. The cloud ceiling has lifted and the sun has appeared on the western horizon. We will sail through the night as we head northward to the South Shetland Islands.Day 7 has been a whale of a day!
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