Late on day twelve we broke ice to the west to position ourselves for the next day's planned flight into the Taylor Dry Valley. We all looked forward to this since Kapitan Khlebnikov passengers are the only tourists to visit the this unusual place. Unfortunately, as the sun grew lower, the clouds came in. We would spend day thirteen parked in the ice, waiting for better weather.
By the fourteenth day, the clouds had lifted enough to allow us to make the 20 minute flight into Taylor Dry Valley.
Select the image above for a 360 degree panorama taken in the Taylor Dry Valley. WARNING: One Meg File!
Our trip to the dry valley was very brief due to weather that was again closing in. Since we were in an early dry valley group, we had some free time after our return to the ship. We were treated to a show by a pod of Orca that was following the open water lead near the ship.
