Judith, Passenger
Antarctic Safari
Today was the most amazing day, it will be hard to beat. First we went through the Graham passage. Very narrow and incredibly beautiful with glaciers and icebergs all around. Next I saw an iceberg with some penguins on it. Damien asked if we wanted to get closer. Of course. It was not only a couple of penguins. It was one Emperor penguin, which is extremely rare to see in this area (our captain has never seen one, sailing in Antarctica for 8 years). Also there was one Gentoo and one Chinstrap Penguin. Plus a fur seal. And in the background, behind that little bergy bit, there were whales. ¡Incredible! 5 different species, right there. We stuck around to see the Gentoo hop into the water and the Fur Seal to shuffle to a better position.
Afterwards we sailed to Portal Point, our first landing on the white continent (The peninsula of Antarctica). We walked up on top to enjoy the amazing view. There was a Fur Seal, posing for us and a few Weddell Seals on a piece of Ice. The bay was out of this world.
We thought we were pretty full of impressions, but as soon as we sailed on, outside Wilhelminas bay, soon we were surrounded by more than 7 feeding humpback whales. Sometimes they were quite close to the boat, diving and playing around us and showing they tails and fins. They kept up an amazing show for us, for quite a while.
After another great dinner, which was eaten while we were anchored up in Foyn Harbor, we went on a zodiak trip to get a closer look at Guvernoren. The Guvernoren is a wreck of an old whaling ship, which came to grief in 1915. After a successful whaling season they had a party which unfortunately ended in a fire onboard. But all survived. We also saw wrecks of the smaller wooden boats, who served Guvernoren. Cormorants and Arctic Terns flew around us. Back at Ocean Tramp, we raised anchor and sailed the short distance to the other side of the peninsula of Foyn harbor, where we will spend the night.
judith
