18 January Danco Island and the Polar Plunge

We had a bit of a sleep-in today.

As soon as we went up to the deck we could hear the sound of penguins as well as glaciers and Mountains all surrounding us!



It was a short Zodiac trip across to Danco Island.



Lots of Gentoo penguins that we had to negotiate around to trek up the hill to another good viewpoint.










Dave requested us all to spend a short time in silence to enjoy listening to Antarctica. We then managed a group photo with Dave and the Islands and Ice sign.












Slippery slop on the way back down...















... finishing the morning's excursion with a zodiac cruise. When we learnt about black ice - ice that you could potentially miss as it is see-through rather than white like most of icebergs.








also saw a leopard seal on an iceberg



Back to the ship for lunch. Slight rain began



Ship on the move heading for Paradise Bay.

After lunch a call out to let us know that we were passing the Chilean Base on the port side. Rush out to see it. Ship travelling fast. Saw a bunch of penguins frolicking in the water close to the boat









On arrival at Paradise Bay loaded onto Zodiacs again and went across to the Argentinian Base. It was sleeting a bit when we headed out , then snowed a bit. We spent an hour and a half motoring around the bay looking at birds. Terns nesting and shooing away a Skua.







In awe of the amazing sights in Skontorp Cove in Paradise Bay. Mark drove us right around the bay showing us different interesting things. We spent a little while in silence enjoying the ambience. 









He took us to see a Leapord seal and then two Weddell Seals. Next thing we came across a whale that came up really close to us. Whilst we were out it began to rain a bit. 





Mark took us across to shore on the mainland so that we could get off the Zodiacs to stand on the Antarctic mainland. 





















When we got back to the ship it was surrounded by a sea of ice. They put on the bow thrusters to move away from the ice. 



Big attraction next - the polar plunge. At least half of the passengers participated in it including of course Heidi











Drinks in the lounge with Antarctic ice


Talk about penguin behaviours

Ukulele players and singing video


Gustav showed us a video of the history of whaling. 

Ross spoke about his business dealing with plastic pollution

Dave and Ross and Ramona sat with us at dinner

Comments

  1. Ron BJanuary 28, 2024 at 3:50 AM

    Just realised you had posted some blogs. Fabulous photos. What a memorable trip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2024 at 8:03 AM

      Replying as anonymous as having trouble logging in
      Yes it has taken us a while to catch up with our blogging
      No internet whilst on the ship and then of course moving a lot afterwards. We are now in Terra Del Paine with dodgy internet so not sure how much catching up we will do here!!!
      Yes it has all been amazing

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2024 at 9:19 PM

    Beautiful beautiful photos - how long was Heidi in the water?? Cheers, Judy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heidi McKellarFebruary 4, 2024 at 6:26 PM

      Thank you! Not long as there were quite a few people wanting to have a go but feel like I could have stayed longer as the initial 'shock' went away very quickly and was not too cold.

      Delete

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