Monday, 12 September 2011 @ 7pm - Yesterday was a day of rest, so "The Guy with the Indian Name from Denmark" (TGWTINFD) and I embarked on a combination rocky/seaweedy/sandy/grassy/muddy trail to a thousand-year-old church/cemetery atop a hill overlooking the village. I had been itching to go up there ever since I arrived in Gardenstown. I remember the moment when I first saw it:Me: What's that up there?
Staff member: It's a church. About a thousand years old.
Me: Ah...
(Pause)
Me: Is it possible to walk up there?
Staff member: Yes, there's a path you can take up there.
Me: Ah...
(Pause)
Me: Well THAT was a stupid question.*group laughs*
Anyway, we made it up the steep trail without cardiac arrest, explored the place and took some photos. On the way back I stepped onto what looked like a sturdy pile of seaweed and ended up ankle down in ocean water. TGWTINFD stepped in dog shit.
Not too long ago we returned from a VERY cold and VERY rainy day at sea. It was so cold and rainy that when we stopped for lunch, we were tempted to eat in the old bathrooms/outhouses at one bay area. But we managed to huddle/cuddle under this small, oddly placed tunnel. Upon returning to sea we discovered a mother dolphin and calf hunting down a very large fish...it was SO large for a dolphin diet, that when we returned to the base we noticed in the photograph we took that the mother practically dislocated her jaw like a snake to swallow it.
So we were entertained by that for a while, and then it got so foggy that it looked as though we reached the edge of the earth. Before starting back, we sat and snacked for a bit to generate body heat."Let's have something to eat first. And if you're not hungry then feel free to fart inside your dry suit," said the director.
And so we made our way back through what looked like an icy wonderland...fart-free.
