Krill Bill and a Proper Send-off

Our last day on the ship. More lectures by Historian Dave, and Derek the Naturalist, whose presentation 'Krill Bill' was an instant classic in krill biology entertainment. We passed within 3 miles of Cape Horn, Chile, signaling our voyage was almost at an end. But not without a proper send-off.

Ira the Photographer-in-Residence put together a 20-minute 'best of' slide show from the trip that we had all contributed to. David the Expedition Leader handed out champagne, toasted our voyage, and recapped our incredible trip. The Captain joined us in his dress uniform and was welcomed with a rousing cheer of appreciation for the burly Russian that had treated us to indescribable wonders, safely navigated us twice through the Drake Passage, and stood up to the Chilean Navy. He spoke many kind words, but particularly touching was his toast to each and every species of penguins we had seen. Finally, we saw a presentation of Ira's photos, which he put together at our demand, content to otherwise show photos by the passengers only. So his one-upped ours a bit (or a lot), but they should have and they were beautiful. The night ended with a ship-wide dance party, but a wee bit less fresh than we were 14 days ago when New Year's arrived, the broads of 341 turned in early, and hit the sack one last time in our floating hotel.