This is my last blog from the Ocean Diamond – we’re now on track to pass Cape Horne at around 4-5pm this afternoon and then head to the entrance to the Beagle Channel. We’ll anchor just inside the entrance until around 1am when the Pilot will come on board and take us into Ushuaia.  It is always sad to leave the Antarctic. Thankfully the Drake Passage is still a “lake” today – just gentle swells, albatross flying around the ship, light winds and pleasant temperatures.

The standout for me has been South Georgia – a truly glorious place, so isolated and yet impacted by humans in many ways.

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It was a magnificent final day yesterday - on the Antarctic continent and on zodiacs. We spent time on Cuverville Island with Gentoo penguins, some still nesting two chicks. Sunshine, blue skies with wispy white clouds, deep blue sea with large icebergs, and surrounded by mountains and glaciers. Just beautiful.  We then hopped back into zodiacs to find more whales – and we did! A “family” of 2 adults and a calf were lolling about in an inlet nearby. They are such magnificent animals as they lie on the surface, arch their backs and then dive – sometimes showing us a beautiful tail fluke.

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Late yesterday Annie announced from the Bridge that we had a pod of 10-15 Orca in front of our bow. The whole room rose as one and raced to cabins to grab weather-proof gear and cameras. What a sight!! I went up to Deck 7 (allows you to move from one side of the ship to the other fairly easily). The Captain, also a photographer, was gradually turning the ship so that we could see and take photos. We followed them for about 45 minutes (207 photos), just watching them glide through the water, blowing but not apparently hunting

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66.46°S – we crossed the Antarctic Circle at 8:37am yesterday (Saturday). A little early for champagne, but never too early to cheer! It was a cold, grey, windy morning, and hopes faded for a zodiac cruise south of the Circle.  But there were many, many icebergs around us – large, small & even ginormous. It really was glorious.  I was on the Bridge early - just two of us and Fabrice, one of our guides. At around 6:30am, we saw splashing off our port bow – two Humpbacks playfully rolling around, slapping pectoral fins on the water. I managed a couple of fuzzy shots in the poor light – but at least we saw them.

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This has been two days of contrasts. Yesterday we arrived at Deception Island in the morning. This is a volcanic caldera that was flooded by the sea a long time ago. The volcano remains active, having erupted most recently in the 60’s and we're warned that seismic activity is quite frequent at the moment. It has been a whaling factory, and was used by sailors to take shelter from Antarctic storms.  A zodiac cruise before entering the caldera had fabulous sightings of Chinstrap penguins – little black & white guys standing on the black volcanic sand with silvery water in front of them. We also saw Giant Petrels enjoying a “meal” of penguin.

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We crossed 60°S latitude overnight and this means that we are officially in Antarctica!  It has been a foggy day and we have been travelling very slowly. Although we have radar to pick up icebergs, it does not “see” the smaller chunks of ice known as “growlers.” These sit less than a meter above the surface & approx 9 meters below, and because they can be chunks of very old ice from glaciers, they are very solid and can do damage to ships. Our Captain is suitably wary.

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