We were late getting into port due to high winds. The winds also resulted in the cancellation of our excursion (Speedboat to Magdalena Island to see the Magellan Penguins). Frustrating, but you can't control the weather. Due to this excursion being cancelled, we then signed up for the Punta Tombo excursion from Puerto Madryn for a 2nd chance to see Magellan Penguins up close. We went into town and bought some gifts (spending the last of our Chilean pesos). When we got back to the ship, we noticed some whales hanging out somewhat near the ship, so we sat on the balcony and watched them for over an hour. We thought they were humpbacks but we really didn't manage to get any decent pictures of them, best efforts below.
We woke to a very grey and rainy day. We were cruising through Glacier Alley, and we could still see the glaciers, but many of the mountains beyond were shrouded in clouds. When we got to Ushuaia, "at the end of the world," the wind was still very high, cancelling another excursion, cruising the Beagle Channel. Argh! We didn't get to go on our wildlife tour, but we we did get some good shots of local birds when we went into town. The flowers are beautiful, and we got to do some more shopping, this time picking up some earrings for Stephanie (who is in much more desperate need of extra ears than earrings).
Glacier Alley
Cape Gull
Dolphin Gull
Juvenile Giant Petrel
Ushuaia
Christmas Penguin
Cute penguin wall art
Flowers in Ushuaia
Today is one of the main events - rounding Cape Horn! It was again rainy and windy, but not bad by Cape Horn standards. Seamen can wear a gold hoop earring in the ear that was closest to the Cape when they sailed past it - so we can now officially wear a hoop in our right ear since we sailed past going east to west (even though most of our trip has been west to east up to this point). And now on to Antarctica, the true main event!
Changable weather - these two photos were taken 10 minutes apart
With calm weather we made good time and officially entered Antarctic waters about midnight, putting us almost a half day ahead of schedule. In the morning we got to Dallmann Bay and could see land. We were greeted by amazing weather - blue skies, calm seas, and the temperature just below freezing - not bad for summer in Antarctica. The landscape is so beautiful, snow and ice covered hills and insanely pointy mountains. And tons of wildlife. Penguins and seals and whales, oh my! Highlight of the day was seeing a pod of orcas. We sailed through Schollaert Channel, Gerlache Strait, Neumayer Channel and ended the day going back out to open ocean - don't want to meet any unexpected icebergs in the night.
First iceberg spotted
Cape Petrels
Scenery
Lonely Chinstrap Penguin
Crabeater Seal
Humpback Whale
Pod of Orca Whales
Gentoo Penguin Colony
At 6 am this morning we picked up 16 people from Palmer Station who came aboard to give a couple talks (and get haircuts since they don't have a barber in the station - there are only 40 people there). They talked about their research and life at the station. The station manager is from Littleton, Colorado (just like us)! and he knows a couple people a year or two ahead of Stephanie in high school. Talk about a small world. Unbelievably, the weather was even nicer today than yesterday. There was no wind, so it was actually almost warm. Every time I think I can't be any more amazed, something even more amazing comes along. I can't believe how rugged and sharp the many of the peaks are. We went partway through Lemaire Channel, also known as "Kodak Alley" for the picturesque scenery, but got stopped by several large icebergs at the end of the channel. The Captain said he has only made it all the way through this narrow channel 3 of 10 times (3 of 11 now, I guess). We also went to Paradise Harbor and passed Waterboat Point and saw the historic shack, the station and the penguins there. We continue to see lots of wildlife - seals, penguins, and whales. We even saw a leopard seal! We stayed up until midnight to welcome in the new year. Big party on the ship complete with Father Time and two Baby New Years (not sure why there were two). It was strange that it was still light out when we went to bed. Although the sun goes down, it never gets dark where we are at this time of year.
Iceberg
Palmer Station Zodiac
Palmer Station Zodiacs leaving later
Southern Right Whale
Humpback Whale
Scenery Lemaire Channel
Me and Pikachu
Whale Tail
Old shack and Penguins
Leopard Seal
Crabeater Seal
Danco Coast, Antarctica - we started the day at Deception Island which has one of the largest colonies of chinstrap penguins. We came around a huge rock and spire, and there in front of us were approximately 80,000 penguins. And there were tons in the water too. I figured out the flash burst mode on the camera which allows it to take about 30 frames quickly when you shoot, and we finally got REALLY good pictures of them swimming. We also passed by an enormous iceberg that was about the same size as the ship. Wouldn't want to encounter that unexpectedly.
Deception Island
Chinstrap Penguins
Lots of Chinstrap Penguins
Chinstrap Penguins swimming near Deception Island
Chinstrap Penguin out of water mid swim
Ship sized iceberg
Hope Bay and Admiralty Bay, Antarctica - Another early morning, we arrived at Hope Bay at 6 am. Hope Bay is another place the ship often can't get to, but this time we were in luck! Right next to Argentina's Esperanza Station is a very large colony of Adelie penguins - 120,000 pairs. They covered multiple hillsides, there were penguins everywhere you looked. This is where we got our "Abandon Iceberg" video. Soooo cool to capture that. We then sailed to Admiralty Bay, passing a number of very large tabular icebergs (many much larger than the ship) along the way. And then we had to say goodbye to Antarctica. What an amazing experience to get to see such an unusual place.
Esperanza Station
All those little dots are Penguins
Adelie Penguins
Adelie Penguins Abandoning an Iceberg as the ship was a little too close
Hope Bay
Large Icebergs in Antarctic Sound
Admiralty Bay
Goodbye Antarctica - now heading for Falkland Islands
