First off, I have to back up to last night after I signed off.  I went to the bridge and around midnight.  When I go there, I was the only “non-employee” on the bridge and there were two Russian sailors manning the bridge.  These guys were working!  The visibility was about a hundred yards and there was a spot light on the bow that was pointed out into the darkness – or should I say – the white spray.  It was hard to tell if it was snow, ice, sleet, or spray from the water.  I tried to go out the port door to find out, and not only was the door locked that usually is a sliding door, but I could see they had closed the steel doors that had 8 large clasps to keep the door sealed from wind and water.  The radar was the only way that they were navigating, and I finally figured out they were looking for icebergs.   I stayed and watched for a while, just long enough to see us hit a small iceberg that caused a loud bang and a shudder of the ship…and that was it.  We were only going about 8 knots at that point so it was about like hitting a bottle in the pool while swimming.

I climbed into bed and fell asleep reading the book on my i-Pad.  I awoke at 3:00 AM because for the first time in over 60 hours, it was calm and quiet.  I assumed we had reached King Georges Island and had dropped anchor.  I feel back to sleep and awoke at 4:45 AM to find the boat underway and listing to the port side about 10 degrees.  I got up and went up to the bridge and it was light out, but very gray.  You could see the silhouette of land and directly ahead one lonely light about as bright as a street light.  As we cruised into the bay the wind kept us listing to the port, but now many people were coming up the bridge (many in bathrobes and pajamas) because it had been so long since we had seen land.

Once in the bay you could see glaciers on both sides of the ship and the one to the east was bigger than the west.  I wonder which one we will get to run on.

At about 8:00 AM they dropped the Marathon Tours employees off onto the island with the zodiacs to mark out the marathon course.  We are anchored awaiting their return so we can move to the leeward end of the island to do some kayaking and/or go to shore.

I went up to the top deck after breakfast and took picture with my GO PRO so when I eventually get back I will be able to send them out.  The wind was less than at dawn.  Now that the anchor was down and the bow of the boat was pointed into the wind the ship was no longer listing.  The sky was still gray, but the visibility was better because there was less fog.  The scenery is bare and is either black rock, white snow or ice, and some green moss.  There is not a single tree in sight.

I now have my race number – which is 34 – so you can watch for me on the webcam.  I will wait until I see what tomorrow brings for weather before I decide what to wear.  I have prepared all of my marathon gear for tomorrow.  The hard part is that we have to take our shoes off at the finish and put on the muck boots to get to the zodiacs.  They advised that you remove wet clothing and put on dry clothing before getting on the zodiacs for the return to the ship.  Remember, changing your shoes and clothes all happens out in the open, in the mud with not even a tent.  The Russian Weather group has not been allowed to let the marathon people use their huts or buildings for the last 4 or 5 years, so everything is out in the open.  You have to label everything you take to shore with your last name and race number so if it is lost or blown away they know who is responsible.

I want to explain that I usually write once in the morning and then once at night.  So instead of me trying to make it sound like I wrote all in one sitting I will start the evening section like this….

DAY 3 – PART 2: EVENING

So after lunch they announced that there was going to be a meeting at 3:00 PM to “explain the course”.  The crew had come back from marking out the course and had found some of the course almost impassable, and the markers were now meant to guide you around some of the deep mud.  They had pictures of the two worst areas that they put up on a screen and showed an area to the right that was snow-covered and explained that if you went over there the mud was up to your hips under the 6’’ of snow.  They went on to explain that the rest of the course was better than expected but that the forecast was for it to stay above freezing, so the mud was not going to freeze over night.  That was the bad part of the day.

At about 4:30 PM we boarded the zodiacs and headed to Roberts Bay where we were allowed to roam around for about two hours.  The rules were pretty simple: You could not approach any wildlife closer than 15 feet.  However, if you stopped and they came up to you, you should not move.  The penguins would swim out of the water as the most graceful bird would fly, but once on land looked like we did trying to walk around the ship in 15 foot swells.  They stumbled and tripped and funniest of all when approaching a rock would hop up with both feet at the same time.  The seals were everywhere, and if they thought you were to close, they let you know.  A few people were chased just because the seals wanted to chase them.

There was one Elephant Seal that was the size of a whale – and was so fat it could not move.  It laid there on the beach until the tide brought the water up close enough for it to wiggle its blubber into the water.  It was at least 20 feet long and 8 feet in diameter.

As soon as we got back on the zodiacs (it was 7:30 PM)  we had dinner, and now at 9:00 PM I think I am the only one awake on the ship.  There were a lot of people freaking out about the race tomorrow and they wanted to get some extra sleep.

So tomorrow I finally get to run. My legs have not sat this long with such little activity in I don’t know how long and I cannot wait for tomorrow.

Good night – and I will write after the marathon!