Our last stop was supposed to be The South Shetland Islands, which would have been great for the seal, sea bird, and penguin life and the historical ruins of the whaling industry. But a storm in the Drake Passage had winds of 50knts and seas of 8m which would have made landing impossible and conditions very unpleasant. Once again, having the flexibility to change plans made life pleasant. Instead of battling through, we sought refuge in an ice filled bay and had a last day out in the zodiacs. The zodiacs were military grade and as tough as nails. We pushed through ice, over ice, spat mini berg's out beneath the propellor and generally barged our way through. Amazing. This swell was generated by the storm we were avoiding. As we left that afternoon, we rode the last of the gale with winds of 70knts and seas of 6m. It lasted about 6 hours while we slept. At some stage, I was jolted awake by a noise that turned out to be my cabin buddy getting tossed out of bed!! No harm done, but hilariously funny 😂😂 We woke the next morning to smooth seas and gentle breeze. Both our outbound and inbound passages across the notorious Drake Passage were calm and uneventful. So lucky!
And they did! Mad bastards!!! Their aim is to swim in temps between 0 and -1. Look out for them because they are in the process of applying to become a Winter Olympic event, aiming to be included in the Italian Winter Olympics. Good luck to them, but I don't think I'll be joining in. I DID do the Polar Plunge, however. OMG!!!! That was well and truly enough 😂
It got even better. As we headed north, we came into the Orca Zone. They were as curious as the whales. This was one instance where our plans changed on the spot. We were supposed to be anchored in Neko Harbour in time for dinner, but this encounter was so incredibly rare, that the Captain stopped our engines and we just sat for about half an hour while the Orcas hung around. In a true David Attenborough moment, later as we watched, they hunted and killed a fur seal, right in front of us! While it was disturbing on one hand, it was fascinating on the other. How many people get to see that in real life!
They didn't nudge the boat at all. Their spacial awareness is amazing. Such a huge animal, but so gentle.
Whale breath...I've never been so excited to be sprayed with fish stink water 😂😂😂 These guys were so close, we could have patted them. Words just can't describe how privileged we all felt.
A Gentoo coming in to land. It spied me and decided to try another spot. Antarctica landings are strictly limited. Only 50 people at a time can land, and you can only spend an hour at each site. Ships are restricted to zones, and only one ship can be in a zone at any one time. This limits the amount of disruption we tourists can cause. Mind you, not all penguins are this shy! Mostly they totally ignored us and we often had to be the ones to get out of their way! We pose no threat, so are mostly seen as just another obstacle...like a moving rock 😂
A Gentoo Penguin Mum feeding her chick.
