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Published: February 22nd 2018
From the South Shetland Islands, the ship has sailed 100 miles further south and we awake to find ourselves in Mikkelsen Harbour surrounded by glaciers. At last we feel we are in Antarctica proper. It is lovely to be the only ship in sight and we feel the Continent is ours. We once more get into the Zodiacs and go over to a small island on which there are plenty of Gentoo penguins and a few fur seals but also a Weddell seal. These are large and pale blue with spots. He is sleepy but a few of the fur seals are more active and we are told to back off as they wake up and don’t like all these people around them. There are lots of whale bones left over from the now defunct whaling industry, some wrecked whaling boats and a survival hut. The weather was kind at 2 degrees and no rain. However, the weather which as always can change rapidly closed in and prevented our afternoon excursion. So instead we had an interesting lecture about Shackleton’s explorations. Life on board is so different from the usual cruise ship. There are no games and sadly no trivia quizzes.
As this is an expedition ship we attend lectures about Antarctica, it’s history and wildlife. We did see some humpback whales later in the afternoon and the Captain sailed as close as he could. No photos as we just stood and watched them coming up. It was the best view of whales we have ever had. Our entertainment, otherwise is wining, dining and meeting new people, all of which we have done with gusto.
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Stephen Cole
non-member comment
Hope you packed your thermals.
Looks like we are going to have some very cold weather next week.Sounds a bit like a luxury school field trip, I recently watched a documentary on Shackleton, a very interesting man and his trip to rescue his men amazing. Hope you enjoy a hot toddy or two in that cold.