(from Paul)
We are organizing to go on a tour of Akaroa harbor and see little blue penguins and Hector's dolphins (bus and boat).
The large harbor is Akaroa Harbor. The whole basin was part of a volcano, long since extinct; one side blew out to make access for the harbor.
Some sort of duck??
Some (black) shags??
A New Zealand fur seal
A sheerwater
Later that day
We just returned from our day trip to Akaroa; everyone had a great time. I saw little blue penguins and Hector's dolphins. The one penguin was too fast to photograph, but I got great photos of dolphins and we took a team picture.
Still later that day
We had a fairly simple dinner at a pub type bar that apparently was visited by Scott in his day. It is back in the corner (Bailey's) of Cathedral Square next to an old hotel. The trip was good; everyone had fun and they all saw the little blue penguin (there was just one) and the dolphins. It was a nice sunny day.
I saw Jack, the head of the helo pilots, and he said that apparently there is a small window tomorrow of "good weather" and that after that another storm is moving in over the weekend. So I hope we get in.
If we are cancelled, there is to be the lecture portion of the sea ice refresher course for a bunch of us tomorrow. So, we will get that done if we are still in Christchurch. I heard from Pam Hill at FSTOP that the storm in McMurdo may last another 24-48 hrs (as of midnight last night), so perhaps we can leave tomorrow.
