26th – 27th – Go west!

Two days were spent on crossing the sea, and while the conditions weren’t quite as calm as we had experienced in previous crossings it was still very manageable. We had clear visibility for most of the crossing which gave optimal conditions for bird watching and looking out for whales and various other mammals. 

If you weren’t into spending all your time outside in the at times chilly weather there were regular presentations and talks of various parts of the wildlife and flora we would have a chance of seeing on the tour. Much of it was quite interesting, some of it not quite so but worked as an excuse to take a break from standing outside and getting warm again. 

Two black-browed albatrosses.

Royal, wandering and black-browed albatrosses and a couple of white-chinned petrels.

Blue-eyed shag.

With a bit of cropping you see what the albatross is looking at.

Royal and wandering albatross.

Being on such a tour it’s always important to have a camera nearby – wildlife does not respect your breaks or times off; they show up whenever they want. So in the middle of dinner I thought I saw something so I grabbed the camera and rushed out. I normal reaction when seeing someone during a meal rush out with a camera is that a few others grab theirs and run with hoping they’ll find out what was spotted. Nobody followed me to my surprise, but that meant I seemed to be the sole spotter of a pod of southern right whale dolphins. They were far away but the photos I got were confirmed by the guides afterwards. I felt pretty happy about the result, especially because they disappeared shortly after I had made it outside with my camera.

Southern right whale dolphins.

Otherwise being outside resulted in numerous sights of wandering, royal and black-browed albatrosses which were such magnificent birds. The wingspans are absolutely amazing when seeing them up close!

24th – 25th – Second attempt, walking and cruising

As the forecast showed improvement in the weather, we decided to return to St. Andrews Bay to see if the conditions had improved since yesterday. They surely had, it was overcast but there was barely any wind, so the zodiacs were put into the water and we were shipped to the shore. The reason why we were so intent on getting on land here was that the area is occupied by a huge colony of king penguins, much larger than the one we saw yesterday. It was quite an experience. During our visit it started to snow heavily and soon every surface, ground and penguins alike were starting getting covered. The wind was still calm, though, so it was never a real issue. Coming back to the ship there were quite a few people who were struggling with wet camera gear from the snow melting, though, but they were handed a container filled with rice by the kitchen to try and remedy the issue.

King penguins.

Huge colony.

And snow.

King penguins meet the bigger red penguins.

In the afternoon we moved to Fortuna Bay where we did a zodiac cruise. It wasn’t snowing and while overcast it stayed dry and the winds kept calm. It was near perfect conditions to just put around and look at the local wildlife minding their own business, not being bothered by our presence.

The plans for the morning was that some people had signed up for a walk following the path of Shackleton form Fortuna Bay. We were to meet in the mud room at 0600 where we boarded the zodiacs and zipped to shore. Well, not so much zipping as not even half way there (the zodiac I ended up in pretty much did circled the ship) the walk was cancelled due to sea conditions and the inability to get on shore. So back onto the ship and instead we went to Stromness, a derelict whaling station where we landed and had a nice walk through boggy areas to Shackleton Waterfall at the end of the valley. The weather was beautiful and a small climb gave you a stunning view.

Arriving at Stromness.

There were plenty of pups running about near the zodiac landing.

The afternoon was spent on a casual zodiac cruise in Leith Harbour, seeing another whaling station and more wildlife, mostly birds of various petrels and penguins. Coming back to the ship we raised anchor and headed back into open sea, heading towards the Falklands.

22nd – 23rd – Kings, storms and towns

Having arrived South Georgia in the early morning and cruising in Drygalski Fjord we anchored at Cooper Bay where we all entered the zodiacs and cruised around along the coast. Fur seals and macaroni penguins were in an abundance in the area and we were also visited by giant petrels, leopard seals, a few chinstrap and king penguins. We were also lucky to see the island’s only songbird, the South Georgia pipit. As a bonus we even got to see a leucistic seal pup, one that had a full white coat. While looking almost cuter than the rest (if that was possible) these kinds of seals usually don’t survive to adulthood as they are easy targets by predators.

Arriving in South Georgia.

Macaroni and chinstrap penguins.

Leucistic seal pup.

Antarctic tern (rear) and arctic tern (front).

During lunch we relocated to Gold Harbor where we landed where we got to walk among a large king penguin colony. The white chests, yellow markings and orange beaks really stood out in the large groups. These were mixed up with skuas, sheathbills and a few pairs of light-mantled sooty albatrosses were nesting in the area. While overcast the weather was nice, but when leaving the beach again the swell had increased so some zodiacs had problems getting people into the boats due to the large waves coming in. Our zodiac got hit by at least three large waves during loading leaving no one dry. 

King penguin colony at Gold Harbor.

Loading the zodiac to return to the ship. 

Photo taken by unknown passenger.

The following morning the plan had been to land in St. Andrews Bay but when the guides were scouting the location the winds picked up from 25 knots to 60 knots, making any operation impossible. Looking at them returning in the ship it was obviously not fun trying to handle the zodiac while alongside the ship unloading guides and equipment. Instead we went to Ocean Harbour where the weather was significantly better and had a zodiac cruise. Here there was a flurry of giant-, cape-, and wilson’s storm petrels, all seemingly in the middle of a feeding frenzy. In the bay there was a rusted old wreck of the ship Bayard. On what had previously been a deck grass had grown and a group of shags had nested there.

Wilson's storm petrel.

South Georgia pipit.

Bayard (or what's left of it).

In the afternoon we entered the old whaling station Grytviken. Here we got to see Shackleton’s grave and have a relaxing walk around, seeing the old whaling equipment, the small museum and generally just enjoying the view in what turned out to be excellent weather. All the while trying to stay at a respectable distance from fur seals and king penguins. Grytviken is maintained by a small crew keeping it running and maintained, and when ships like ours visit they do a raffle and a handful of people get to go onto the ship and join a meal there. While they do get decent food on land, there are limits to the freshness so getting on board where the storage facilities are potentially better is always a great treat. It was a great evening with and outdoor barbecue on the rear deck.

Cloud formations outside Grytviken.

Coming in to Grytviken.

Despite being built according to code some buildings still need to be tied down to stabilize due to the weather. 

Barbecue on the ship.

During the crossing of the Drake we all went through a thorough bio-security check to make sure we wouldn’t transfer any seeds, small insects or similar to the places we would be visiting. Outer layers of clothes, bags and whatnot went through a thorough check to make sure they were clean before being approved. And when leaving and returning to the ship we walk through disinfectant and were required to manually clean our boots to make sure nothing was hiding in any crevasse. South Georgia and the Falklands have been working hard to get rid of invasive species, so in South Georgia, before leaving to visit Grytviken, someone from Grytviken came on board and did a check of everyone before getting into the zodiacs. We were informed that last year only one ship managed to unload passengers without having turn anyone around and have them do extra cleaning. Our guides must have been fantastic teachers as we were informed that we had had a 100% success rate when leaving the ship. Well done!

19th – 21st – Crossing to South Georgia

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.

Return to the deep south

Coming back from my most recent trip to the Arctic I was already looking forward to returning to the ship. As the number of tours and destinations are limited when going on the ship I am finding it more and more difficult to justify going on more trips with it as I have by now almost been at all its destinations.

Almost. Almost.

There are a select few tours that bring you past the Falkland Islands and South Georgia so I can't write off the expedition tours yet. Obviously! And timing your departure right during the year you'll get to see the penguins with all the new chicks.

So I didn't really have a choice.

10th - 11th of January, 2020

Arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina where I stay one night before flying south to Ushuaia. Needless to say, steak is on the menu.

12th - 15th of January

Board the ship and leave Ushuaia, going east towards the Falklands. We'll be spending a few days at the Falklands, (hopefully) seeing an abundance of penguins and black-browed albatrosses.

16th - 21st of January

Continuing east we again spend a few days on the sea before arriving at South Georgia where we will, depending on weather, spend four days exploring. The highlight of the trip will be the large colony of king penguins, but also historical sites will be visited (whaling stations, Shackleton's grave etc.).

22nd - 23rd of January

We point the ship south, leave South Georgia and head towards Antarctica.

24th - 28th of January

At the Antarctica peninsula we will be spending as much time as possible off the ship and the in zodiacs or on land, exploring, enjoying the beautiful views and the large numbers of penguins that will be running/waddling around minding their own business and largely ignoring us.

29th - 31st of January

Heading back north, leaving Antarctica behind and returning to Ushuaia where I will be flying out on disembarkation day to Buenos Aires. I haven't sorted out tickets to and from Argentina yet but I am not expecting to spend more than maybe an extra night there before leaving. Have to get another steak, but have to get back to work, too, unfortunately.

Compared to the previous tours I've done on the ship we will be spending quite a lot of time just crossing water, but that is unavoidable when you want to visit remote islands so I expect it to be worth it. If nothing else I am crossing my fingers that the extra time spent out in the open means more chances of seeing whales and other ocean mammals which I haven't had much chance of yet. (Orcas.I am talking about orcas).