A Day Full of Firsts

There are many "firsts" in life that we all have the joy (and sometimes sorrow) of experiencing - first steps, first words, first kiss, first love, first child, first car; the list goes on. Today was chock full of a few "firsts" that will stay with me until I take my last breath.

First first:  As I sat in the M/S Expedition's Discover Lounge early in the afternoon drinking a cup of hot, generic coffee (passable but not anything like the rich java I'm used to savoring back home), over the loudspeaker came the ship's captain saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have our first iceberg sighting, starboard side, about 11:00."  The electricity felt among the passengers, all sensing we were closing in on the Antarctic continent within the 24 hours, was palpable at this exciting news.  Everyone associates icebergs with Antarctica; it's probably one of the first things we think of when we think of this remote and formidable place.  People were scrambling to grab their cameras, dashing up the staircases to the upper observation decks to get the coveted, prime views and pointing out the many, expansive picture windows that grace the Expedition's red hull.  Far in the distance at an estimated distance of about 10 miles, sure enough, sat the impressive, snow-white, immense, floating wonder.  Within minutes of that sighting, several more icebergs of equal size were seen in the distant fog like ghosts peering out of the haze at us. My brother, Marty who is a.k.a. "Quinten", had asked me before I left to "wave at an iceberg" for him, and I promised him I would do better than that: I would name one for him.  So henceforth, until it melts most likely hundreds of years from now, the world will have The Quinten Iceberg floating around somewhere.

Second first: During lunch, which followed the iceberg's appearance, a commotion in the dining room caught everyone's attention: someone has spotted a whale.  Nearly everyone jumped to their feet and ran to the windows to peer out at the large humpback whales, two of them, that were swimming parallel to our vessel, occasionally shooting massive plumes of mist from their blowholes and revealing their enormous, curved, ridged backs.  The captain, once again on the loudspeaker, announced that regrettably the ship was not able to stop to observe the giant beasts since our course demanded we stay at full speed to reach our destination for later in the day. Therefore, those of us whose cameras had been left in our rooms were not able to snap pictures of this amazing sight, but we were reassured by our expedition leader who was in the dining hall with us that there would likely be more opportunities in the upcoming days.  <no photo available for those following this blog...not yet at least>

Third first:  My first Zodiak ride.  Mid-day, the entire manifest of adventurers on board were given a "briefing" (as they are fond of calling them) to explain the procedures for loading into our Jacque Cousteau-inspired landing craft that would take us off the Expedition and to the many landings (we have been told there will be up to a dozen of them) scheduled on this voyage.  Instructions on how to properly don our life jackets, prepare our boots with liquid disinfectant to avoid any bio-contamination on the continent to preserve the wildlife in Antarctica, how to get into the small, 10-person, black, thick-skinned, rubber speed boats powered by powerful Evinrude outboard motors, and then, most importantly, how to load into and off of these incredible, swift boats in the safest way possible. We all had to learn the "sailor's handshake" - grasping forearm to forearm for optimal grip and security. Our first excursion in the Zodiak brought us to the day's most incredible, thrilling, unforgettable and truly magical highlight:  a trip to our FIRST penguin rookery on Aitcho Island.

The best-for-last last first: walking with the penguins! Imagine yourself inserted into the National Geographic's Academy Award-winning film, "March of the Penguins".  Stepping onto the island filled with up to 25,000 Gento and Chinstrap penguins all huddled in groups or wandering around solo or in pairs has got to be one of the biggest thrills of my lifetime - for real- right up there with seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time (which brought me literally to tears), walking along the Great Wall of China or climbing up into bowels of the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Giza.  It was an extraordinary, mind-numbing experience.  These adorable, comical, sweet, brave and rugged little creatures in tuxedos are truly some of Mother Nature's most special children.  In enormous numbers, the toddling penguins were EVERYWHERE, all of them trumpeting and filling the icey air with their cacophonous cries.  Shy, trusting, curious and unfettered by the presence of 114 giant humans dressed in bright Gor Tex and ski gear staring at them and snapping photographs of their nesting, incubating, defending, courting and literally lovemaking in all its stages, the rookery was alive with activity, noise and the acrid stench of penguin guano, which none of the visitors (myself included) seemed to mind much with so much magic and beauty surrounding us. As far as I was concerned at that very moment, standing there with my new feathered friends, some of whom came up to me within arm's reach, I could have come home today and been fulfilled with the entire trip.  It was that powerful and that special.

"Firsts" are not supposed to come all in one day like this; generally the appear years apart so the mind, body, and soul can absorb them slowly.  But today, I was blessed with four of them all in the same day.