ANTARCTICA (Part Two) - Landing on the White Continent. 20 211 Km

On the morning of February 2nd, we woke at Cuverville Island to an almost perfect blue sky. After the the first landing in the South Shetland islands we were excited to be landing on the white continent itself. There were a few arguments about whether Cuverville Island forms part of the Antarctic continent or not but our expedition leader assured us we had reached Antarctica.

After Breakfast we jumped in Zodiacs again and landed on Cuverville. Surrounded by Penguins once again, some of us went to mingle with Penguins whilst a few of us, including Captain Sergie, hiked to a near by peak.

Hiking to the tops was unbelievable. Whilst there was some initial rocky ground to cover, we found more and more penguins over each hill and around each corner. Unlike the hordes cruising around the beach, these were in small groups and families. I could have watched these Gentoo Penguins for hours. But we pressed on to the top of the hill and the view was spectacular.

After the hike back, we headed for the boat and sailed further south arriving at Damoy Point and Wiencke Island where we visited a historic British Hut and again a lot of penguins. It is hard to impress how awesome seeing each colony of penguins was, doing their thing whether it be stealing stones from each other, waddling back and forth to the ocean, or just chilling out.

This landing was also going to be the place for us to camp on Antarctica. The weather had made a small turn since the morning and shortly after getting in the Zodiacs it started to snow. Seeing how the penguins reacted to the snow and wind was great, particularly the parents with their chicks. As the snow came on, the tucked their chicks in and essentially laid down on top of them. Apparently they have a special gap in the abdominal muscles just for this purpose so the chicks don't get squashed. The change in weather questioned the ability to camp but after dinner, the captain and expedition leader agreed it was worth doing that night.

The weather actually improved and though we didn't spend long camping it was another awesome experience I won't forget. Essentially we left after dinner, set up tents, and then went for a small walk before heading to bed around midnight. But being out there as the sun went down, listening to the sound of penguins, and watching the lights of the boat in the distance, was magical.

The next morning we were back on board the boat and started cruising down the Lemaire channel. Thankful to our captain who navigated beautifully through the large icebergs. It was a cool day with lots of snow again and good chance to see seals, penguins, and Orcas. They put on hot chocolate with Kahlua and Elaine pulled out the bag pipes to serenade us down the channel.

Australians - Like kids in a candy store when it snows

In the afternoon we unloaded from the boat once again at our most southerly point of the trip and the furtherst south the boat had gotten this season. Peterman island - 65 degrees, 11.1 minutes South. Here we got to See our first Adelie Penguins and their feeding chicks.

That night it was a return to the polar bear bar for some sing along with Jeff as we cruised back up the Lemaire Channel with some of the best light we had had on the trip.

The night we arrived at Paradise Harbour and the following morning we unloaded to visit the Argentine summer station and hike again to a local summit.

It was only a short visit to the Argentine base this morning before we spent some prolonged time on the zodiacs looking at the icebergs and searching for wildlife.

In the afternoon we moved again to Neko harbour where we would again spend some time cruising on Zodiacs beforearriving on land to check out the penguins and hike to a local peak. The Zodiac I was in spent even longer out than planed so by the time we arrived on land there was insufficient time before it was time to take the polar plunge. Oh yeah - the majority of the boat went "swimming".

A shot of whisky, a mildly warm shower so as not to burn, and then into the Sauna was cure enough for that somewhat short swim. Despite being freezing cold, going into the water with the penguins was also kinda cool.

After dinner we made our way further north to prepare for heading home arriving in Cierva Cove. On the final morning in Antarctica we again got into Zodiacs to go looking a the large icebergs in the area and hopefully find some whales. We found both but unfortunately the photos of the whales did not turn out well.

Our final afternoon was planned for Mikkelsen Harbour but as the winds started to blow harder, it became impossible to safely get people off the boat and onto the Zodiacs. So unfortunately our last landing was cancelled and on the afternoon of February 5th we started to make our way back north to Ushuaia.

We were expecting a worse Drake crossing than on the way down. Everybody got ready with sea sick tablets and patches and prepared for the worst. But again we were fortunate and our captain steered us into a calm patch of the storm. This also meant we cam up a little earlier than though so he tacked west to take us around Cape Horne.