13th January - More of Everything including Sunshine

Another picture perfect day in Antarctica with new mountains and ice bergs to greet you when you wake up with blue skies and sunshine. We are in the Yalour Islands. Our Zodiac cruise this morning includes Gentoo and Adelie penguins, Crabeater and Leopard seals and Humpback Whales. Some enthusiasts go paddle boarding and kayaking.



Leopard Seal

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Adelie on the right, Gentoo on the left


Crabeater seal






This afternoon we have a landing and a walk at Winter Island part of the Argentine Islands. The landing is near yet another of the UK Expedition huts, this time Base F or Wordie House which was first established in 1935, re-established in 1947 and used until 1954. We also have a walk up a hill for a vista view of the bay.





On return, there have been a couple of Weddell Seals come ashore. Plus a few more penguins and then a juvenile Elephant Seal before returning to our "yacht".



Juvenile Elephant Seal

As the sun moves lower in the sky, we pass through a narrow channel with high cliffs, lots of ice and snow, and plenty of ice bergs. The weather is very nice so we have drinks on the top deck as we navigate the narrow passage and watch the sun set. What a magnificent day.
















Comments

  1. leslee14 January 2024 at 22:09

    Jenny these photos are sensational. the sun shining and all those beautiful animals. The twilight view must have been so memorable, forever etched. Just stunning.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3rd / 4th January - We're Off

Image
3rd January Leave Melbourne - eventually. Caught the bus (thanks Wendy) to the airport, no problems. Plane just would not leave but we got to Sydney 25 minutes late so all in all not too bad. Met Carolyn at the carousels and we made our way over to International where we stayed the night at the hotel. A beer was required after the hot walk from the bus drop off.  4th January Off to Santiago. 12 and a half hours later we're there. Pretty seamless getting to the transit lounge and sitting back to wait for our next flight. Then off to Buenos Aires, over the Andes. Arrive, quick settle into our room, then off for a beer and nibbles in the bar. A night cap and off to dream land, our Antarctica tour is off and running,
Read more

12th January - Penguins, Seals and Icebergs

Image
Not so early a start today as we are now in the last group to go out. We are at Prospect Point, another site of an old UK Science Station, this time Station J, also abandoned in 1959.  We are here for the Adelie Penguin colonies nesting with the Antarctic Shags, all in the Fish Islands at Prospect Point on the Velingrad Peninsula in Graham Land,. The Zodiac team takes us to the nesting sites, where we see lots and lots of penguins many with chicks. In between are the Antarctic Shags also with chicks, these a lot larger. The chicks are the grey ones for penguins or the "no white" ones for the shags. 😁 After our penguin / shag looking, we head for the landing on the Antarctic continent itself. Yesterday was only sheet ice so doesn't technically count. We are very lucky to see a calving of ice from the glacier. Sorry no pictures but makes our landing just a little bit more difficult with the ice now moving because of the wave and a lot more icebergs. A path is cleared and w...
Read more

19th / 20th / 21st January - Planes, planes and planes

Image
19th January  We disembarked our home for the last 11 days and had a quick walk around Ushuaia. A town of souvenir shops, coffee shops and high priced tacky shops. Anyway they make their money from the tourist boats in summer and the snow tourist in winter. Please note the spelling of Sydney!! Our flight back to Buenos Aires is a little late but overall uneventful. Dinner at the hotel with a couple of beers. 20th January We're off to Santiago, Chile today. Our guy at the check-in counter books us all the way through to Australia. He was asked nicely not to as we were overnighting in Santiago. Yes, yes he says ..... never trust a smiling Argentinian. We get to Santiago, get through Passport control, no bags. They are in the transit process, we are told. We wait for a couple of hours and finally our bags are found and brought up. Mine is booked all the way through to Perth !!!. Anyway dinner at the airport hotel with another beer. 21st January We're leaving Chile for Australia to...
Read more