Blogs from Palmer Station, Antarctica, Antarctica

We arrived at Cierva Cove at 7 am and I had my typical hot chocolate up in the Dome Observation Lounge on Deck 7. The weather did not look particularly appealing, though it was calm, so the kayakers were able to go out. For me, I decided to skip the day's zodiac excursion. It was nice. I took a long hot shower, read my book, and just enjoyed some me time. L went and said it was actually pretty good, though it did start to snow. They saw more swimming penguins and humpback whales, but they may have even seen a blue whale! It was not a humpback and was huge, so that was exciting. He also showed me a video he took of two penguins walking along a mini iceberg.... and one fell off! So ... read more

Every day just kept getting better and better and today was amazing. We had an earlier breakfast than usual and our group D was among the first to board the zodiacs around 9:30am. The weather conditions were ideal for us, so even the third kayak group got to go out and started before we did. We were supposed to go to the Useful and Danco Islands, but the weather conditions were not great, so we instead journeyed to Cuverville Island which changed some of the timelines around. No problem for me getting ready today! I was about to go see some penguins! This was amazing. We did a zodiac landing and got to wander around the island which has a huge colony of Gentoo Penguins, one of the three types of penguins we would encounter and ... read more

5. Almirante Browns Station Paridise Harbour Antarctic Peninsula We woke to a beautiful day with glassy water. We have been so lucky with the weather. Again, it was out in the zodiacs so that we could explore Brown’s Station, an intermittently operating Argentine research centre in summer. It began life as a single refuge hut in 1947/48 at the time when Britain and Argentina were competing with each other to determine occupation as part of their territorial claims. It was developed into a year-round Argentina naval meteorological station in 1950/51 and continued in the role up to 1959/60 when I was closed. It reopened in 1964/65 as a scientific station operated by The Argentine Antarctic Institute. A marriage took place on the station in February 1975. Operations at the station came to an abrupt end on ... read more

Wednesday – Monday 13-18 February: DAYS 12 - 17 / SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS AND ANTARCTICA PENINSULA This Blog: Day 12/13, 13&14 February Around 60 miles off the coast of the Antarctic mainland we found the South Shetland Island chain. 1. Active Sound in the Antarctic Sound Pushing on past the islands, on Wednesday morning, we woke to the announcement that it was 0.5 C degrees with fine weather. Out our window we saw lots of ice floating in the water and islands around us, some covered in ice and others of dark volcanic treeless peak. It was starkly beautiful. After breakfast, we rugged up, went outside to take some photos then got ready for a 9.00am launch into the zodiacs. As the wind was strong, we stayed in the zodiacs in the morning for almost 2 ... read more

PALMER STATION - JANUARY 21 -Well, what can I say, more beauty and amazement. At one point in the early afternoon the captain reported we had spotted 28 humpback whales. I didn’t see all, but I did catch many of them. It seems like we saw many hundreds of penguins and a few Orca whales. Some of the scientists from the Palmer Station (a US scientific station in Antarctica) came on board for a couple of lectures. I managed to stay awake and found their presentation and the Q & A very interesting. In the morning I went on the bow to observe a little closer to sea level, but it was COLD, so I only could stay there for 30 minutes or so. The crew brought us Dutch pea soup while on the deck. Very ... read more