Day 10/32: Wednesday, February 5, 2020: Paradise Bay, Antarctica

Day 2 in Antarctica. This morning we arrived in Paradise Bay on the peninsula, so called by the old whalers who frequented the area. We are not going ashore, but will take a zodiac ride around the bay. There is an Argentinian base (Base Brown) in the bay which is only inhabited during the summer months, like right now.

After the lousy performance yesterday, they have added more time to the departure schedule. Our Group 8 now leaves at 11:45 am. So, we had a leisurely morning and reported to Deck 3 around 11:35 am. There was no line and apparently, we were the only two people still in Group 8. So, we immediately were put on a zodiac and, along with the driver and one other crew member, we had the whole boat (normally holds 16 plus driver) to ourselves.

Today was much cooler and windier than yesterday, with overcast skies. The temperature was at freezing with a mild breeze. It felt much colder, especially as we raced across the bay. As we approached some of the ice bergs, we spotted a couple of Crabeater seals sleeping on one berg. The name is misleading because they do not eat crabs, but krill. Our guide suggested the name originated from a mispronunciation of the Norwegian word for krill.

Later, we came across a Weddell Seal basking on the ice.

Our driver Steffan.

Approaching the Argentinian Base Brown.

The living quarters.

Their power plant and workshops.

Lots of penguins.

Lots of ice, in fact, we broke our propeller driving through the ice field. We made it make to the ship however.

Paradise Bay

The remainder of the day was spent cruising along the peninsula. Some good sized ice bergs!

There was a 3:15 pm briefing on what was going to take place on Day 3. The original plan was to journey up to the South Shetlands, but the weather forecast was for high winds. So instead, we will go back down south to a Chile Naval Base on the main land in the same area as our first day at Danco Island.

Day 9/31: Tuesday, February 4, 2020: Danco Island, Antarctica

Our first day in Antarctica. We are in Group 8 to go ashore and were told our debarkation time was 11:15 am. We were asked to arrive about 10 minutes early. The zodiac ride to the shore was to last 10 minutes and we would have one hour on shore, but could come back at anytime as there are no facilities on shore, only the Gentoo penguin colony.

From the ship, we could see the barren beach on Danco Island. The mainland of the Antarctic continent is all the mountains behind the island.

Each of the zodiacs can carry up to sixteen guests plus the driver.

We arrived at the disembarkation point on Deck 3 at 11:00 am, as instructed, in our antarctic gear. We then stood around for the next 45 minutes before we finally were loaded upon our zodiac. The weather was almost perfect and the expedition members noted they had never seen it so nice. The temperature was around 40F, with essentially no wind and smooth seas.

Most of the penguin colony resides up on the high ground of the island. The penguin chicks had bee  hatched earlier in the year and were now being tended to by the adults who took turns walking down to the ocean to go fishing, bringing food back for the chicks.

I walked up to the high ground to get a view of the ship and the rookery.

In the middle of the picture below, a nest of pebbles with a parent and chick can be seen,

Maria decided not to climb up to the high ground.

Due to the late start in getting us ashore, we were not given the full hour on the beach, but it was enough.

A expedition ship passed us.

Back on board and leaving the site as another ship is coming in.

Goodbye to Danco Island.