It was time to leave the Antarctic mainland and return to open water and head to South Georgia. While the sea wasn’t quite as calm as when we crossed the Drake it was still very manageable, and on top of that visibility was much better though it was overcast most of the time.
On the way north we did pass by Elephant Island where we got to see the bust of captain Luis Alberto Pardo who commanded the Chilean cutter Yelcho that rescued the survivors of the British ship Endurance. The bust was located on Point Wild and had the conditions been optimal we would have landed there. Instead, the swell made it impossible to do so, which meant that the location was temporarily renamed Point Bloody Wild.
Point (Bloody) Wild.
Heading northbound we got to see the occasional whale, but it was mostly birdlife that grabbed our attention. Albatrosses started appearing, something I had been looking forward to. I had been standing out most of the day, trying to get some sightings, especially the wandering albatross, the bird with the widest wingspan in the world (up to 3,5 meters). As any wildlife watcher knows, things only happen when you are not paying attention, so it was obvious what would occur when I took a rare toilet break. Halfway done the PA system suddenly announced that a wandering had been circling the ship for the last minute and it was highly recommended to come out to see it, as it isn’t often you are lucky enough to get to see one. The stream of words that came out of my mouth in that instant even impressed myself, and of course when I finally made it back outside it was gone.
Cape petrels.
Blue petrel.
Fortunately, and to several guides’ surprise, we were soon visited by several wandering, sooty and grey-headed albatrosses. Throughout the remaining of the trip we sighted more albatrosses than many of the guides would have expected realistic so needless to say the guides were just as entertained as we were.
Southern royal albatros.
Grey-headed albatross.
Sooty albatross.
Wandering albatross.
I wanted to see orcas and breaching whales on this trip. Instead I got a combination of the two: a breaching orca.
This is a rare type D orca. This is likely the 9th recorded sighting of a type D in the wild since it was recorded as a seperate type back in 1955.
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