Happy Valentines from Antarctica!
We certainly felt the love from Antartica today. The first duty today was to transit to Cuvervllie which was side-tracked by over an hour by spotting a large pod of Orca. This was the first sighing of Orca by the Hans Hansson crew this season so we all felt pretty special. We rugged up in our warmest clothes and ventured out on deck. Although the air temperature was a fresh -0.6 degrees, Federico said that with the wind chill factor, the temperature was closer to -15 degrees celsius. We even had some light snow falling to complete our summer’s morning. Definitely chilly for the Aussies in the group. While spotting the Orcas, we also saw penguins porpoising and more pods of Humpback whales. We saw the gentle tails waving in the distance and were very excited to catch a few breaching which is unusal behaviour at this time of year.
After lunch we rugged up again and headed off to Cuverville Island to spend a couple of hours on land with a large colony of Gentoo Penguins. Although the aroma of penguin scat was very strong and mildly unpleasant, the sight of thousands of penguins was magical. There was a whole range of baby penguins from the tiniest fluffy grey balls to the awkward teenagers who had almost completed molting.
There were even parents nursing their eggs but unfortunately these will hatch too late in the season as the water will start to freeze over in just a few short weeks. The songs sung by the penguins calling their partners home was enchanting. It was a delight to be able to stand quietly and observe the nurturing parents feeding and caring for their offspring. We were also entertained by some cheeky juveniles chasing each other and moving surprising fast for their little penguin feet.
Our last activity was to take a zodiac trip around “Iceberg alley”. These fantastical shapes changed with the differing light and viewpoint and we could have enjoyed the ever-changing scenes for hours. But, alas, it was time to motor to our overnight anchorage before nightfall, but even this took us past incredible scenes of snow-covered peaks bathed in dappled afternoon light.
A note to our blog readers – any comments are sent back to the boat!!!
From Bernadette Vincent Images Andrew Teakle + Federico Guerrero
