I can’t describe the feeling as we sighted the South Shetland islands, the massive mountains of snow and ice towering from the ocean. I can’t describe the feelingwhen i set foot on Half Moon island with a small colony of Gentoo poenguins watching on. I can say that feeling was good, amazing and maybe even the best day of my life. Its a day I’ll forever remember.
I watched the penguins do penguin things, whether thats waddle along, fall over or even just push theselves along on their bellies. There is always a penguin doing something worth watching. They are curious about humans, but we try to observe a distance of 5m to the best of our abilities. I’m certain I was closer than that at times. Its hard to not try and flaunt the rules.
Unfortunately, Antarctica is cold and we also have timelimits on the ice. I’ve got to say i was quite warm though in all my layers. There was some snow, but what snow there was got dwarfed on the second day. We were planning to land at Orne harbour but it got cancelled and instead ended up cruising Wilhelmina Bay instead. From the ship seals and whales were visible, the thin sea ice cracked as the ship muslced its way through the ice and the ice bergs. I’m not sure whats more disturbing, the rock and roll of the drake passage or the sound of an iceberg scraping against the ships hull.
It snowed a lot today, enough for snowmen on board the ship, enough for the odd snowball fight, enough to coat the ship and zodiacs in snow. We managed to get out on the zodiacs and even spotted a lone fur seal that looked quite cold and in no hurry to move. The scale of the icebergs was evident in the zodiacs as we cruised past them.
I’m halfway through this way too quick visit to this amazing continent, but I plan to spend the next 2 days with as much enjoyment as the last 2 days.