For The Love of Travel

We woke up this morning at Prospect Point, at the head of the Velingrad Peninsula in Graham Land. Initially kayaking or zodiac exploration were the 2 morning options, but as brash ice ‘attacked the ship’ making it impossible for the kayaks to get out, we all went out in zodiacs.

A biting wind so we were glad we’d brought our face/neck buffs – more lovely seals relaxing on ice floes, gorgeous little Adelie penguins, and delightful icebergs.   

Lunch and then sailed through the Grandidier Channel, then Harrison Channel past the Straggle Islands, with Captain Olaf then doing a manoeuvre called ‘parking the ship in the ice’.  

We were then off on an ice walk – what could possibly go wrong with that?? Yes, well, 10 steps from me and my right leg sank into the ice to the knee – the wellies came in handy! Had to be pulled out by ‘the help’.

Walked 3 more steps and ….same. Gave up and enjoyed watching all the others exhaust themselves. Crazy Brad dressed up in a banana outfit and gave us lots to laugh about.  

Bright sunshine late afternoon, radiated off the ice! 

After dinner, will be watching Part 1 of the “Last Place on Earth” – a mini series about the race for the South Pole.

Cuverville Island is home to a wealth of breeding birds including a large Gentoo penguin colony. Lots of drizzle, very icy and penguin poo slippery conditions onshore when we traipsed out for a walk – more of a slip slide really. I didn’t last long, 15 mins tops.

We sail from Cuverville Island to Paradise Harbour – the surrounding mountains spire upwards. Argentinia and Chile have scientific bases here. The Argentinian delegation were out in kayaks when we arrived. Lots of beautiful glaciers.  

Out on the zodiac to explore the and we come upon some crabeater seals and blue-eyed shags.     Also saw an avalanche off a glacier – awesome!   Lemaire Channel (names after a Belgian explorer of the Congo) is the most narrow and scenic channel of our voyage (7 miles long and one mile wide), with spectacular peaks either side. So we head for an early dinner, then rug up and go out on deck to see the sunset over the channel.  

We had a great ‘crossing’ of the Drake…took a prophylactic Meclizine tab just in case it got a bit roller coaster-ish overnight, but no, just some 5 metre swells that rocked the ship, lulling (me) to sleep. Not so for other poor folk unfortunately!

Set the alarm for sunrise in anticipation of majestic hues….arrrh, lots of fog instead! We woke up truly in Antarctic waters, south of the 60th parallel, having crossed ‘the Convergence’, where Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet (and the water temperature drops by 3 degrees instantly because of the glacial melt).

Our destination this afternoon is the Aitcho Islands, a small archipelago in the northern entrance to English Strait. Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins (some moulting adults and cute chicks!) abound on this island. We might also see (another thing to try to photo) southern giant petrels, Wilson’s storm petrels, blue-eyed shags and skuas. Grey skies, slight drizzle, but we are all pumped for our first zodiac landing on Antarctic shores……