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Published: January 1st 2013
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It's New Year's Eve! During the night we were supposed to enter Bransfield Strait, which divides King George Island from Antarctic's Trinity Peninsula in the Palmer Archipelago. However, again there was too much ice, so we turned around in the night and are now sailing around King George Island on the ocean side. The captain hopes to backtrack and enter the strait from the opposite end.
It's a grey day with patchy fog on relatively calm waters. Vi and I take a stroll outside before breakfast. It's about 1°C and quite pleasant, but we can't see much. We do, however, catch sight of a series of whale plumes and some finned black backs in the distance.
The truth is that it has turned into a rather bland day. We are out of sight of visible land for most of the day, the weather is grey, and the birds have deserted us. We play bridge, read, attend a lecture on astronomy, and, of course, we eat.
Around 3 pm, we reach the far end of King George Island and try once again to enter Bransfield Strait, this time through Boyd Strait between Smith Island and Snow Island. The captain has announced that his goal is to get us to Deception Island in the inner passage, formed from the caldera of a dormant volcano, by around 6 pm. The fog has mostly lifted but the ceiling is still low. Tendrils of grey and black clouds drift over the mountaintops. We pass quite close to Smith Island and it is spectacular, with three prominent peaks. So magnificent and so desolate. We see whale plumes every few minutes or so now but catching a glimpse of these leviathans is difficult. They seem to be staying well away from the ship, which of course just shows that they are smart. Cove petrels in particular have rejoined the ship and long, flat icebergs are getting common as we move closer to the mainland.
We relax a bit and then get dolled up in our New Year's finery. We then ascend to the Crow's Nest area on deck 12, unable to resist the lure of the magnificent scenery. And our timing is perfect, because a humpback whale and her calf have decided to keep pace with the ship. The calf is breaching every few minutes, throwing itself out of the water with abandon. A great show that is well appreciated by the passengers lucky enough to be on deck or in the Crow's Nest area.
It's not long before we reach Deception Island. The caldera of the island's central volcano forms an excellent natural harbour that was used by sealers and whalers for centuries. Although our ship is too large to enter safely, the dramatic, stark scenery is breath-taking. The rapidly moving clouds and mist mean that the light is constantly changing, creating new perspectives of the scenery all the time.
It's time for New Year's dinner, where we receive the requisite silly hats. We end up seated with a trio from Atlanta, Georgia who are interesting people and lots of fun. After dinner it's back to the Crow's Nest for the big party. By this time, the captain has manoeuvred the ship into a beautiful natural bay somewhere in the Gerlache Strait, with rugged islands on three sides and sparkling blue bergs bobbing about on the gentle swells. He lets the ship slowly drift in a circle in these magnificent surroundings, beautifully illuminated by the slowly descending sun, as we celebrate to bring in the New Year 2013. What an experience!
We party for a bit and then retire about 1:30 with the backdrop of a pink and orange sunset in the west.
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