Today was an exceptional day with LOTS of activity. It was our last day with landings in the Antarctic and and the weather was spectacular. We started the day with a mandatory Covid antigen test (our 3rd since arriving in Punta Arenas) and I am happy to report that the entire ship tested negative.
We had some gorgeous views while sailing to our landing spot and the cloudy skies continued to clear. Lots of snow and beautiful icebergs AND surprisingly, not cold. We have had temps in the mid- to high- 30s the entire trip.
Our first landing was Danco Island, a one mile long island in the southern part of the Errera Channel. This island is home to approximately 1,600 breeding pairs of gentoo penguins which breed high up on the slopes. This little guy greeted our boat but there were many more!
It was mesmerizing to watch them walking around the beach, hopping on rocks and then finally diving in.
But enough penguin gazing - it was time to hike up the hill to check out the penguin highway and large gentoo penguin colony breeding at the top!
These deep tracks comprise the penguin highway, the most expeditious way for the penguins to get from the colony to the beach. It is so cute to see slide along.
And such spectacular views from the top!
Time to get back to the boat for lunch and to cruise to our next landing site! In the photos below you can see the brash ice, the small floating fragments of sea ice. It
So much wildlife down here! I can now identify many of the arctic birds, seals and penguins and am learning to differentiate the whales and dolphins by their dorsal fins and coloring. You don't really have to go out of you way to see the wildlife; it just keeps popping up, like this fur seal on a chunk of floating ice.
Our second landing of the day was at Damoy Point where they also offered optional snowshoeing and excursions. With the lure of the ice, I opted to go kayaking again! It was an amazing afternoon, with relatively warm weather, penguins porpoising all around us, ice "sculptures" everywhere you looked and 2 separate near encounters with humpback whales. Kayaking may never be the same for me!
More gentoo penguins
Glacier ice is blue because the red part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue light is transmitted and scattered. The longer the path light travels in ice, the more blue it appears
After returning to the boat, we cruised through Lemaire Channel where steep cliffs hem in the iceberg-filled passage. Our destination was Petermann Island where 30 lucky lottery winners would camp overnight.
Unfortunately, icebergs filled the channel further down, preventing our ship from getting through. We saw a National Geographic expedition ship that was also trying to traverse the channel but a short time later, it had turned around. This was the only boat we had seen during our time in Antarctica, reinforcing how Sadly, the camping excursion would not happen but the expedition team on the MS Fram resorted to Plan B - an ice cruise on the zodiacs. Not everyone was willing to dress up for a 3rd adventure of the day but I'm glad I did because it was truly magical. The silence, the scraping through the ice and the incredible night sky!
Wow! so stunning! I love all your pics.
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