I awoke to find we were still crossing the Bransfield Strait, between the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. The crossing was good for Whales with four Humpback Whales, brief views of a Fin or Sei Whale and three other Whale blows. After breakfast, Livingston Island and Greenwich Island came into view. Our first destination was Half Moon Island, which is a small rocky island located within a sheltered large bay on Livingston Island's East coast. The plan for to visit the modest Chinstrap Penguin colony on Half Moon Island.
Approaching the South Shetland Islands: Livingston Island is to the left and Greenwich Island has the higher hills on the right. These islands lie towards the Western end of this three hundred mile long chain of islands
Greenwich Island: A five mile channel separates Greenwich Island from Livingston Island
Half Moon Island: Half Moon is a crescent-shaped island that is just over a mile from top to bottom, but it is a two mile walk from the ends of each crescent. We landed at the primary landing site in the South East corner of the crescent
The Argentinian Camara Base
The ship soon had the zodiacs in the water
The zodiac after mine landing another ten passengers on Half Moon Island
The South Shetland Islands lie about one hundred miles North of the Antarctic Peninsula: They are still considered as part of Antarctica
Walking up from the primary landing site
An abandoned ship's boat: I've not managed to find confirmation of the age of this boat, but it is generally described as an abandoned whaling-era boat
Practicing the lifeboat launch: It is always reassuring to see the crew practicing a lifeboat launch
It was an easy half mile walk to the tip of the island from the landing site. We were greeting on the beach by the first Chinstrap Penguins and we followed their route to the colony, whilst ensuring we weren't on their main trackway.
Chinstrap Penguin: They had laid on a small scale welcome party
Gentoo Penguin: This individual was late to join the welcome party
Chinstrap Penguin: This individual was heading towards the colony
Chinstrap Penguin: They are an elegant Penguin to look at
Chinstrap Penguin: Sometimes they look a bit scruffy when they have been hanging around the colony
Gentoo Penguin: There were a few Gentoo Penguins with the Chinstrap Penguins
Chinstrap Penguin: Sometimes it was easier to toboggan on the snow, than to make small hops
There were low numbers of a few other species around the Chinstrap Penguins.
Snowy Sheathbill: This monotypic species breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetlands, South Orkneys & South Georgia. They winter as far North as coastal South-central Chile & East-central Argentina
Snowy Sheathbill: And then there were two
South Polar Skua: There were a few South Polar Skuas around Half Moon Island, but I didn't manage to get any good photos of them. This monotypic subspecies breeds on the South Shetland & South Orkney Islands and coastal Antarctica
Kelp Gull: With only a few hours of darkness each day, sometimes you just need to get some sleep during the daytime
Kelp Gull: This is the austrinus subspecies which breeds on Antarctica & the surrounding Antarctic islands
There was also a Weddell Seal and a Southern Elephant Seal on the island.
It was time to return to the ship
Over lunch, Ortelius repositioned for a second landing at the nearby Yankee Harbour on Greenwich Island. This has a modest Gentoo Penguin colony. I decided to give it a miss as I was still recovering from the ship's cough and the tiredness associated with it. I wanted to be on the bridge as we sailed North out of the South Shetland Islands and like the earlier Kelp Gull, sometimes a power nap during the day helps.
There is long, curved spit which protects Yankee Harbour
Our route, day by day, for the trip
Pippa providing a weather update on our route back to Ushuaia: The pink colours on Windy.com is over two metres of swell, whereas the blue is up to two metres. It looked like we might have a reasonable return crossing of the Drake Passage
The sea conditions were looking good once we were at sea North of the South Shetland Islands: Unfortunately, all I saw was a single Whale blow that evening
