Antarctica - Day 3

Last night we sailed out of the Antarctic Sound and hugged the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, towards Charlotte Bay. As our boat is relatively small compared to other larger ships who cruise in the area, the captain was able to navigate between large icebergs and so this morning we did not have a shore landing but stayed on the boat for a lecture and then just watched the spectacular scenery of the huge cliffs of ice surrounding the boat as we sailed through some very narrow channels. From the bridge and the top decks we got incredible sights, and humpback whales were feeding in the bay so we got many whale sightings too. In addition, we had sunshine and blue skies for the first time.

After that wonderful show by nature we had lunch and then dropped anchor in Neko Bay where we went ashore. There were many gentoo and adelie penguins on the shore, including many chicks and some still on the rocky nest being protected by a parent. We hiked up above the bay and got beautiful views across the bay. Today seemed much warmer and there was no wind, so the bay was like glass and the light was very good too.

Back to the boat and then it was the polar plunge where some mad fools jump into the icy water of 0C. They are harnessed to the boat and jump off the landing platform and the staff then quickly pull you out so you are only in the water for seconds. Gavin was one of those crazy fools! There is a ship’s doctor and two of our group of seven people are doctors so I figured he would get some medical care if it was needed!

This was followed by a late afternoon/evening cruise on the zodiacs in Andvord Bay. I regrettably decided not to go, as it was at the end of the day until 8pm and I was concerned I would get too cold. Instead from the deck of the boat I photographed landscape scenes in the beautiful golden light, and witnessed and photographed quite a large avalanche. When they announced that the zodiacs had found a pod of whales lunge feeding, I felt very envious but then our ship went up to where the zodiacs were and I got photos of the whales from the deck, which was great but not as good as from the zodiacs. I could clearly hear the whales feeding as they made sighing kind of noises.


The thing we are really enjoying about this ship is that they are very flexible in their schedule and every day take us to the best places appropriate for the weather conditions, they do not follow a standard route as some other ships do. They are also very committed to conservation and have many programs they are involved in, in which they include their guests. Today on the outing guests were doing cloud recording and bird watching, and we have also been asked to submit photos of whales’ tails to help identify them and their migration patterns. We certainly feel as if we are on an Antarctica expedition rather than a holiday cruise, albeit a very luxurious one with excellent food.

My main blip today is of Gentoo penguins chasing off a predatory Skua bird circling above their chick. Extras are 1. The boat moored in the bay 2. A solitary chinstrap penguin on a floating iceberg 3. Beautiful light on the ice 4. The zodiac boats watching the whales 5. A whale lunge feeding

Please also have a look at yesterday's blip if you have not seen it yet