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In the South Orkneys
The Facts: At sea
Activities: Living with Albatross
Albatross and the long-line fisheries
Wildlife Watch
5 Course Russian dinner
The longer version Heading towards the South Orkney islands and Antarctica we continued to encounter high seas which Roger photographed from the bridge of the boat whilst also discussing the finer points of bird watching with the bird watchers. Karen ate cheese, crackers and some mashed potato for each meal. Rest assured that a comeback was made in time for the Russian feast.
Day 16- Saturday 18th February
The Facts: Coronation Island landing
Lectures: Pinnipeds II
Ice is nice
The longer version: We awoke to a beautiful morning cruising amongst the big tabular icebergs in the South Orkney Islands. We did a shore landing and discovered that the Gentoo penguin colony was basically all at sea. That left only the dead penguins of which there were many, but it was the usual attrition rate. We were also fortunate to see a mass of Elephant seals doing what they do best, lounging around. Some were moving (like slugs), so that was also a bit of excitement. There were also some fur
Morning light
In the South Orkneys seals here for something a bit different! Then, we were back out to sea.
Day 17- Sunday 19th February
The Facts: At sea
Cruise by Elephant Island
Lectures: Penguins II: The Antarctic ones
The Nordenskjold Swedish expedition of 1901-02
The longer version: Rough weather prevented us from doing a Zodiac crusie near Elephant Island, the place Shackeltons men landed. It was again fairly windy, but the island was much bigger than expected and the seas have eroded away the island and there is virtually no where to and on the island any more. A Humpback was spotted by some with good eyes, but it did a dive and was not to be seen again.
Day 18 - Monday 20th February
The Facts: Half moon Island: Chinstrap Penguins, Argentinean Base
Deception Island: Volcano and swimming
The longer version: Finally we got to land as we were all going a bit stir-crazy. Half moon island is a location full of Chinstrap penguins. We got to observe them nest building and carrying rocks around. Roger also went and looked at he Argentinean base. On interest is the area that Argentina claim should is theirs,
Sunrise
In the South Orkneys also overlaps with the part Chile claim as theirs. I think the British also feel they have a part of this section of the Peninsula! All have bases in the area, may are just token bases to assert their authority. Of course, Antarctica belongs to no one. Heading back to the boat we were lucky enough to spot a Leopard seal lying on an iceberg. He was kind enough to stay on there us so we could get some great shots. Leopard seals dine on Penguins and Crabeater seals but this one was just resting.
We then headed down to Deception Island. You enter the Island which is the crater (caldera) of an active volcano, through Neptunes Bellows ( a windy spot). We observed an old whaling station, and aircraft hangar (the first trans Antarctic flight took off from here), and got to hear many stories from the whaling days and of the times of eruption. We landed at Telefon Bay and took a walk up to the latest cone developed during the last eruption, in a strange black landscape with whist snow and ice. A truly amazing scene. At the bottom we went for a swim. Roger first,
Mystical clouds
In the South Orkneys then Karen. Both came out alive, bot eaten by seals or other creatures of the deep (no penguins here). In some spots at Deception Island there is warm water and almost hot springs. This was not the case for us. Seven brave souls went in, and earnt the admiration (maybe not he right word!) of many.
Day 19 - Tuesday 21st February
The Facts: Danco Island
Paadise Harbour and our continental landing
Neumayer Channel
Port Lockroy
The longer version: Another truly amazing start to the day with light cloud, ice and snowy mountain, and a fantastic sunrise over a Gentoo Penguin Colony. Another early start as we made our first landing in the real Antarctica. We climbed to the top of Danco Island where the views to the neighbouring islands and channels were spectacular. It was also amazing t thin that the penguins also nested so high as it wasn’t as easy place to get to, but they were there. Many fluffy Gentoo chicks were quite active and hungry for food, so were quite nosy and hassling every adult for some food. The adults (unless they were the parents) weren’t into feeding others chicks so lost of wing
Elephant Seals
In the South Orkneys slapping was going on. We also saw evidence of an old station set-up, in case Germany tried to take over some of the land. As history tells us, they never got this far south!
Next stop was Paradise Harbour, a beautiful location and one near where we stepped on the Continent itself_ at an old Argentinean base Admirante Brown. First a zodiac cruise took us past nesting shags, a lazy leopard seal and the edge of glacier with caves. Then the landing, which a in a pretty spot and also saw the sun come out.
The afternoon we headed out in t the Neumayer channel with some amazing cloud formation and surrounded by ice and glaciers. For those of us who spent two hours on the bow we were rewarded with some Minke whales and Orcas crusing close by.
Our final stop for the day was into Port Lockroy, a British Station manned with 3 staff. They have no boat to leave the island and are effectively stuck there as OH&S regulations stipulate you need at least 4 to have a boat, and second boat in case the first one fails! There is no electricity or hot water. It was
Stripey Blue Berg
In the South Orkneys however full of Gentoo Penguins and a study being done as to the effects of humans on the penguins. Many fat and fluffy Gentoo chicks squawking and looking for food were observed in this one tiny spot.
Another BBQ on deck in slighter nicer weather, with the company of Port Lockroy staff.
Day 20 - Wednesday 22nd February
The Facts: Lemaire Channel
Pleneau Bay (Iceberg Graveyard)
Petermann Island
The longer version: An early start in mystical weather (read low cloud) for a trip through Lemaire Channel (aka Kodak gap and Fuji Funnel). We spotted some Crabeater seals and potentially a Weddell Seal on ice floes and in the water. We ten got out in a place called the Iceberg Graveyard, so called because many icebergs come here to die in the shallower conditions. We saw bergs of many shapes and colours, and in one location we saw a lot of Crabeater seals in the water (101 was the unofficial count).
The afternoon took us to Petermann Island, normally home to a lot of Adelie Penguins (the ones in tuxedos). However we managed to spot one in the first half hour, and I think it got some form of
poisoning from the 47 people photographing it. Luckily we came across a few more and I think the final count was 20! Karen was swooped upon by a nesting Skua, but later went and found a quiet spot with a dozen Gentoo penguins swimming, preening themselves in the water diving and jumping.. Roger found another similar location, but wit the addition of cracking icebergs and small tsunamis from the break. He also managed to photograph the jumping penguins (which is not easy). On the final zodiac cruise back to the boat, we all got to watch more penguins jumping out of the water and diving- a good way to end the Antarctic part of the trip.
So it was back on the boat, and we were warned to take sea sickness medication as we were heading out into the Drake Passage, known as some of the roughest seas on the earth.
Day 21 - Thursday 23rd February
The facts: Crossing the Drake Lake
Lectures: Living and working on a sub-Antarctic Island
Building an Antarctic food web
The longer version: Not a lot of excitement as the Drake Passage failed to live up to its reputation,
instead being the Drake Lake.
Roger was proud of his beard of 3 weeks and was deciding on his next facial hair
Day 22 - Friday 24th February
The facts: Drake Lake
Anchor at 1pm
The longer version: Still the Drake Lake persisted and we made anchor by 1pm in the entrance to the Beagle Channel to wait our pilot at 1am.
On the way there we had the excitement of Roger shaving of his beard to reveal a disgusting moustache, and a race against the ‘Clipper Adventurer’ who had overtaken us the previous day, but whom we overtook in the last stages of the trip, and a view of Cape Horn from many miles away (Chile charge a huge fee for entering the waters within 20 mile of the Cape, so we didn’t do that).
Day 23- Saturday 25th February
The Facts: Disemabarktion at 7am
Ushuaia
Flight to El Calafate
The longer version And so we got off the boat and said our goodbyes.
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Ernie
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Boonie
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