Last day in the Antarctic

Feb 17 2015 Cuverville Is: 64o40'S/062o38'W
Feb 17 2015 Neko Harbour: 64o50'S/062o32'W

Cuverville Island
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.

Timure, our zodiac driver, turned off the engine so that we could sit in silence – this is a real treat. As a whale surfaced we could hear the blow, and sometimes a grunt – to be so close (10-20 meters at times) was amazing. They were fully aware that we were there - they would have heard our squeals of delight and oohs & aahs each time they surfaced.

Neko
All too soon it was time to go back to the ship, have lunch and sail to Neko Harbour in Anvers Bay. This is my third visit here, and I never tire of seeing this part of Antarctica. First I spent about 1.5hrs just watching a group of Gentoo penguins go about their day. Parents came back from fishing walking and hopping from rock to rock up to the rookery, then pointing their beaks to the sky and warbling to find their chicks.

Hungry chicks came running, chasing a parent until the parent identified its own. There was lots of squawking, pecking and biting as adults kept their nests in order. At one point two chicks were fighting – one used its wings to hit the other, just like children!

Neko has very active glaciers – every so often we heard very loud cracks and thunderous rumbling coming from inside one that was opposite the penguin colony. Sure enough it finally calved, slowly sending masses of ice into the sea. The resulting tsunami was fascinating to watch.

Then it was back into zodiacs for our final excursion – a field of icebergs and little bits of ice. We did manage to bring one chunk of crystal clear glacial ice back with us for cocktails in the evening – delicious with Kahlua!

We are on our way north now, away from the ice and well into the Drake Passage. Although foggy this morning and noticeably warmer, it has cleared a little and the sea is nicely calm – just gentle rolling that rocks me to sleep. Let’s hope it stays that way because I have plenty of photos to edit, and many to delete. So that’s my task for today and tomorrow, between presentations of course!

It’s also a wonderful time to reflect on where we’ve been and what we’ve seen. But that is for the next post.