Antarctica 2016: March 2016

Thursday, January 21, 2016
Yalour Islands and Petermann Islands, Antarctica

“In memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in his splendor, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man.” - Sir Ernest Shackleton

It was a snowy, cold and windy day; but we were excited to be at the Yalour Islands. Our adventure continued as we embarked on a zodiac and cruised around the literally hundreds of islets and skerries that make up the Yalour Islands.

The Yalour Islands are located east of the Argentine Islands in Penola Strait. They were discovered in 1903 by Charcot's French Antarctic Expedition. These low-lying islands are scattered over 1.5 miles and are home to over 4,200 breeding pairs of Ad

elie penguins spread among 13 colonies.

We had a lovely welcoming by these Adelie Penguins

As we cruised around the islands the crabeaters barely acknowledged our presence, although a few did look up and posed for the photo.

We left our penguin friends behind as we headed back to the warmth of the ship.

After lunch we were back in the zodiacs for a great cruise to Petermann Island. This island lies in the Penola Strait. It is home to Adélie penguins, one of the most southerly colonies of gentoo penguins in Antarctica and Antarctic cormorants.

Landing at Petermann Island provided the perfect opportunity to get up close to both blue-eyed shags, gentoo penguins and Adèlie penguins. Chicks from all three species were visible and we were able to see some fascinating behavior.

We followed the gentoos to their colonies

We arrived at the southernmost Gentoo penguin colony which were our first Gentoos ! They were so tame they let us walk right up to them.

Everywhere we walked we saw gentoos feeding their hungry chicks.

After an hour's stay, we were back into the zodiacs to cruise around the ice sheets and icebergs for another hour and a half.

We saw lots of cute and curious Adelies on ice sheets.

              We were excited to be treated to seeing another elephant seal!

Around 6 pm the Ocean Diamond sailed into Lemaire Channel. This is an incredibly narrow channel, between Booth Island and the continental peninsula itself. It not only gave us a real sense of the sheer scale of Antarctica; but due to the overcast weather, the mountains and glaciers disappeared into the clouds, resulting in a dramatic and awe-inspiring atmosphere.

Day 13...Wednesday....January 20, 2016

" I had a dream when I was 22 that someday I would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till I came to one of the poles of the earth”
― Ernest Shackleton

All throughout the night the captain sailed the Ocean Diamond north around Adelaide Island, and then south to the eastern side of the island. We were well below the Antarctic Circle.

It was snowing harder and colder than yesterday, but we were full of adventure!

We were headed for Detaille Island!

Typically, landing at tiny Detaille Island can not be made due to high winds and rough seas. As our expedition leader, "Woody" wrote in the ship's Voyage Journal: "We were fortunate enough that the ice conditions allowed us to make a landing at Detaille Island, home to British base ‘W’."
This provided a unique opportunity to visit one of the most isolated bases that has been maintained to be as it was in the 1959, when it was closed (due to difficulties with the sea ice). It is home to thousands of original artefacts. The base was also home to the first Antarctic Tennis Club, following the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit in 1957."

Once onshore, we joined the Adelie penguins and walked up thru the deep snow towards Britain's abandoned "Base W".

It felt great to be on terra firma again!

Here we are, below the Antarctic Circle and we feel like we are on top of the world!

We walked to Britain's abandoned "Base W".
In the summer of 1958-1959, severe weather conditions prompted the researchers in Base W to hurriedly depart which dictated the necessity that they take precious little with them. Base W is an eerily preserved time capsule of 1950's Antarctic life.

It was amazing to us that Base W has continued to remain so well preserved. SInce so few ships venture this far south of the Antarctic Circle, we felt privileged to be there and see the spartan conditions these brave researchers endured.

Another highlight of our day was seeing our first Adelie penguins with their chicks! They were so tame. Many walked right up to us. It was like the Galapagos Islands in snow!

The Adelie's chicks were nearly as tall as the adult penguins. The chicks were still covered in their downy coats, making them unable to swim and thus feed themselves. The chicks received their nourishment from their parents who regurgitated krill and squid. Much to the consternation of the "parents", their chicks have an insatiable appetite!

Later in the day we were back in the zodiac for an excursion thru the

Lallemand Fjord.

As Woody wrote in the Voyage Journal, "Again the Ocean Diamond penetrated down the fjord as far as possible until the sea ice prevented it from going further. As our zodiac cruised into the fjord. We were almost immediately rewarded with the incredibly rare sighting (for the Antarctic peninsula) of three emperor penguins!"

We could not believe it when it happened! Right in front of our zodiac there were 3 Emperor penguins on an iceberg! Such an incredibly rare sighting!

Our naturalist,Wolfgang, said in his 10 years of Antarctic expeditions, these were only his 3rd, 4th, and 5th Emperor Penguins that he had ever seen. Quite exciting!

You can see that they are nearly completed with their molting.

Then 3 Adelie's appeared and put on a show.

We continued to zodiac around the icebergs and sheet ice,

This iceburg is taller than the Arc de Triomphe! Keep in mind that only 10% -20% of it is above the water line. The zodiac you see in the distance did not go thru it ,as it might appear. They went around, kept their distance and they are safely on the other side.

There were numerous crabeater seals lounging on the sea-ice and icebergs.

And then we had the excitement of a rare sighting of a Weddell seal this far south of the Antarctic Circle and so close to Adelaide Island!

We quickly cruised around the ice-sheet and came up on the other side of it.

We were told by our naturalist that Weddell seals can dive to 2,000 feet down and stay under for up to 80 to 90 minutes. If, when they surface to breath and they find no natural openings in the ice pack, they will use their sharp teeth to chew the ice and open an airhole.