Monday 8 February

Antarctica Day 3

Lesley, as usual, was the first up and opened the blinds to see Orcas/killer whales in small pods not far from the ship. At the time we were passing through the Antarctic Sound. Within 10 minutes, the Captain made a public address announcement (waking those who were sleeping) that there were numerous killer whale pods in the area. The killer whales were hunting the penguins which were plentiful and feeding on krill. The Captain turned the ship in a circle so we all got to see the killer whales, before we headed off to our first destination for the day.

During breakfast the Captain and expedition leader announced that following discussion with other boats in the area, today’s itinerary was being changed from that published. Due to icebergs and large amounts of ice sheets, the ship was not able to travel south as planned, into the Weddell Sea.

After breakfast, our group was told we had 40 minutes to get ready for an excursion onto a floating piece of ice sheet (approx. 50m square). The guides had been searching for over an hour to find a suitable ice sheet on to which we could be landed. We boarded the zodiacs and climbed onto the ice sheet where we were served Champagne and orange juice! Special!! As the ice sheet was not that large only about 50 people were on the ice sheet at any time. It was rather windy so we had to be careful of our footing, but we were in no danger of falling off into the water.

Following the return of everyone, the ship headed off east, towards our next destination, whilst the Expedition leader and guides briefed us on our next landing. This was to be Paulet Island, which was a rookery for Adelie penguins. This is a conical island, brown dirt and rock. Hundreds of thousands of penguins were there, adults and chicks. In about two weeks there will be no penguins there so we are lucky to have been able to see them. Fur seals lay on the shore, brown skua hung around to pick off a neglected chick or two, cormorants were drying and preening their feathers. Chicks chased parents around until they got fed, adolescent penguins practised swimming, adults waddled around or sat thinking. A very busy place. Penguin chicks were moulting the down and getting their adult feathers. They looked rather comical. Once they are fully fledged they are completely on their own. Parents have nothing further to do with them.

The sun came out and shone on brilliant white icebergs. One such berg we passed is 11 miles (15km) long. One day it will melt, but not for some time yet! We were able to get some nice shots of sunset over this iceberg.

in the bridge