4 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Exploring The Antarctic Sound

I woke early to find we were in the Antarctic Sound, surrounded by lots of ice floes. I spent a lot of time checking all the Penguin parties. There were lots of Adelie Penguins, but there wasn't any Emperor Penguins with them.

There was a lot of drifting ice in the Antarctic Sound: This didn't change during our time around the Antarctic Peninsula

The visibility wasn't great at times during the morning

While there were a number of passengers who were keen to see Birds and Cetaceans, there were only two Birders on board: myself and American Birder, Nick. Generally, Nick preferred to be outside on the deck below the bridge or sometimes near the bows, when that was possible. It was Nick's first visit to Antarctica and understandably he was keen to get good photos from the outer decks. If it had been my first visit, I would probably have been on similar decks. However, as this was my second visit to Antarctica, my strategy was to stay in the bridge as it was the highest and best viewpoint to look for Cetaceans or Emperor Penguins while we were moving. As a pleasant bonus, it was warmer, which helped when I was watching for hours at a time. I could get onto one of the bridge wings quickly, but there was only a fifty-fifty chance that the open bridge door was on the correct side of the ship as the latest sighting. If not, I had a long walk back down to deck 6 to get outside and onto the correct side of the ship. So, while I had a better view, I was limited to photographing sightings through the bridge window. That wasn't ideal, but the main objectives of this trip was to look for Emperor Penguins and hopefully see some Antarctic Petrels well, rather than Bird photography.

American Birder Nick (right) was the only other Birder on the expedition

We anchored up in the morning to allow the passengers to have a zodiac ride in the ice around Kinnes Cove, which has a twenty-five thousand pair colony of Adelie Penguins. I decided to stay on board as I hoped I would have a better viewpoint for seeing an Emperor Penguin. It was a gamble, as if the zodiacs had found an Emperor Penguin, I would have been one of the few passengers to have not seen it. In the end, no Emperor Penguins were seen. Once the zodiacs were back on board it was time for lunch, while the ship slowly moved East along the Antarctic Sound.

Adelie Penguin: Sometimes I found groups of fifty or more Adelie Penguins at the edge of the ice, but more typically it was just a few Adelie Penguins on an ice floe

Gentoo Penguin: I saw around fifty Gentoo Penguins compared to about five hundred Adelie Penguins during the day

Black-browed Albatross

Southern Giant Petrel

Cape Petrel

Snow Petrel: This is the nominate nivea subspecies which breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula & Antarctic islands (except in the Ross Sea region), as well as, South Georgia & Bouvet Island

Snow Petrel: They are incredibly well-camouflaged for life in the Antarctic

Wilson's Storm-petrel: This is the exasperatus subspecies which breeds on the South Shetland Islands, South Sandwich Islands & adjacent Antarctic coast

Wilson's Storm-petrel

Wilson's Storm-petrel

Weddell Seal: This was one of two Weddell Seals I saw during the morning

Crabeater Seal: I saw a distant Crabeater Seal which looked alive, but too far for a photograph. This second individual was sadly as healthy as the average montypythoni subspecies of Norwegian Blue Parrot

One of the highlights of the morning was seeing a couple of Antarctic Petrels belt past the ship at one point, but they were too quick for any photos and very quickly they were gone. Still, it was good to one properly. After I got back from my first visit to Antarctica, I found a few photos of the only one that raced past a giant iceberg I was photographing, which none of us saw at the time.

Rosamel Island: This small island lies in the channel between Andersson Island and Dundee Island

We were slowly making our way through the ice floes. The ship could only travel at a bit over two knots in these conditions, as the bridge crew weaved through the ice gaps to pushed through lighter ice floes. It was like being in a maze where you could see the way ahead and be able to push through some gaps in the hedges, but where other routes were totally impenetrable. Every now and then we would break through into areas of open water that was a mile or two in length. The open water looked good for finding an Orca pod, but we didn't see any during the day. However, we were aware they were in the area, as we had seen a larger distant cruise ship and the expedition staff confirmed that ship had seen them earlier in the morning. It was just a case of looking and I was hopefully we would connect over the next few days.

Every now and then, we would see larger areas of open water

There were also some seriously large icebergs

By mid-afternoon, we were approaching the Argentinian Petrel base on Dundee Island. There was a large expanse of sea ice extending out from Dundee Island. The crew decided to gentle ram into this solid ice sheet until the ship came to a halt. One of the expedition team, Sam, had worked in Antarctica for an extended contract advising the base on safe travel on the ice. Sam and some of the expedition team disembarked onto the ice to check it out and after about a half hour, we had an announcement that those who wanted to, could get off the ship. There was a route across the ice sheet that had been marked out for about a kilometre for people to walk. I decided that my best option was to get the scope and tripod and start scanning the sea floes and open water for Orca and Emperor Penguins from the top deck.

A mountain on Dundee island near to the Petrel base

After we had rammed into the pack ice: The Petrel base was on the island in the distance

The waving line of those who wanted to have a walk on the ice

The distant Argentinian Petrel base

Cape Petrel

Adelie Penguin: This lone Adelie Penguin was hanging out close to the ship

Eventually, the Adelie Penguin found some colourful admirers: Shan (left) and Gary (right) were from the Expedition staff team. Shan was translating the briefings and talks for the twenty-five or so Chinese passengers

At the pre-dinner briefing, Pippa said there was still a large amount of solid ice floes in the fifty miles between the ship and Snow Hill Island. They were hoping that the sea and wind conditions might move those ice floes further East into the Weddell Sea, but for now there wasn't a lot of chance in us getting close enough to be able to use the helicopters to reach the Snow Hill Emperor Penguin colony. In addition to getting close to Snow Hill Island, we also needed a realistic long window when we could all land on the island and more importantly get off safely again. Each passenger would have needed two to three hours to allow them to walk a couple of kilometres to the colony and back again and obviously have a reasonable amount of time at the colony. To do this we would need to have a day long window of good weather and be fairly close to the colony. Given the amount of ice floes, Pippa said the plan was the ship would stay at the edge of the pack ice overnight and see if the winds turned in our favour. It still seemed unlikely that we would get close to Snow Hill Island.

Pippa explaining the complexities about getting to Snow Hill: Pippa said that there would be a set of scenic flights around the Northern Weddell Sea during the following day. We were divided into groups and all the four berth cabin passengers were in the final group to fly. However, we would be the first passengers for the second set of scenic flights

Having drawn a blank in finding an Emperor Penguin or an Orca pod while the other passengers were walking on the ice, I didn't hurry to get back on the top deck after dinner. But I decided to give it another go on the top deck. I found Nick and his partner, Caroline had beaten me to the deck and Nick was staring intently through his scope. A few minutes earlier they had found the first Emperor Penguin standing on distant ice. Some of the Expedition staff had also seen it from the bridge, but they hadn't announced this news to the passengers yet. Nick quickly got me onto the right bit of ice, but there was a small ridge of ice next to where he had seen it and it had either walked behind that ridge or popped back into the water. After a few worrying minutes, it reappeared from behind the ice ridge. It was the best part of a half mile away. It needed the scope on a high magnification to get a decent view, but it was great to see my first Emperor Penguin. At that point, one of my cabin mates, Rob, appeared and I lent him my scope to have a look. A couple of minutes later when I went to have another look, the Emperor Penguin had disappeared again. Sadly, it didn't reappear.

Rosamel Island dominated the open water in this part of the Antarctic Sound

Pippa and the Captain decided to depart from the ice sheet and see if we could get closer. An announcement was finally made to tell the passengers about the Emperor Penguin, but it was already too late as it had disappeared. Having reversed back out of the ice, I was expecting we would sail the half mile or so to where we had seen the Emperor Penguin and to hang around that area. I was surprised and disappointed to find that we didn't stop and we kept moving towards the Northern end of the Weddell Sea. That could have been a costly mistake for most of the passengers.

A final close up view of Rosamel Island

Our route around the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula: Copied from the Oceanwide Expeditions trip report. Snow Hill Island can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of the map (just above the labels box)

A close up of the Antarctic Sound and Northern Weddell Sea: Point 5 is the Kinnes Cove zodiac trip and point 6 is the Petrel base. We didn't manage to get much further South in the next few days

I said on deck looking until we lost the light, but there was no further sign of any Emperor Penguins. Frustratingly, we had quickly left the one we knew about long behind us. It was time to set the alarm for another early start, albeit having seen an Emperor Penguin, I allowed myself a lie-in to about 04:30.

3 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Deception Island

The second morning at sea saw the Ortelius continuing to head South in the Drake Passage. We were heading for Deception Island, which lies at the South West end of the South Shetland Islands. The South Shetland Islands are a three hundred mile long chain of islands. They lie about six hundred miles South of the mouth of the Beagle Channel and are about seventy-five miles North of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The visibility was limited first thing

It was hard work early on with the visibility down to as little as one hundred metres. Fortunately, the visibility improved as we got closer to Deception Island. The seas were still good for the Drake Passage, with a moderate two and a half metre swell. Due to the limited view from the bridge wings, I switched to watching from the bridge, which was a lot warmer as we were so much closer to Antarctica. On the downside, I was having to take photos through the bridge windows.

The bridge: One of the good things about Oceanwide Expeditions, is they allow the passengers to view from the bridge

We passed this impressive Fish iceberg

Humpback Whale: This was one of two Humpback Whales that I saw as we approached the South Shetland Islands

Chinstrap Penguin: As we approached Deception Island, we started to see Chinstrap Penguins in the sea

We arrived at Deception Island around late-afternoon. This volcanic island is about nine miles across in circumference. The sea has broken through to form a narrow five hundred metres wide entrance, which leads to a flooded caldera. There is a very shallow rock just below the surface in the centre of this entrance. The most recent volcanic activity occurred in the late 1960s. Soon we were inside the caldera and dropping the anchor in Whaler's Bay. The zodiacs were launched to allow us to head ashore to explore the old whaling base. It was going to be an interesting landing, as we had thirty knot winds and a snowstorm.

Heading for the entrance channel: There is a safe anchorage within the caldera

Deception Island nearly featured in the Shackleton story. When Shackleton and his crew put to sea in their three lifeboats, they were aiming for the recently established whaling station at Deception Island. They failed to reach Deception Island, as the sea currents were too strong and they finally reached Elephant Island, over two hundred miles to the North East of Deception Island. The crew spent the next four months on the beach at Point Wild on Elephant Island, while Shackleton and his five companions put back to sea in their attempt to reach South Georgia. Fortunately, they were successful. After getting a boat to South America, Shackleton made three attempts to rescue his stranded crew. He finally reached Elephant Island and rescued the crew, only a few weeks before they were due to attempt to reach Deception Island. Shackleton knew that if his attempt to reach South Georgia failed, then the crew had a chance of making it to the whaling base at Deception Island. In comparison, they had no realistic chance of rescue at Elephant Island, as it was well off the route of other whaling ships.

The zodiacs landed us on the beach near the old whaling station: This had only been in operation for a few seasons before Shackleton's Endurance expedition

This poor visibility made seeing the Ortelius difficult

The local Penguins were on the beach to welcome us. Unlike us, they looked unfazed by the cold, snowy weather.

Chinstrap Penguin: This monotypic species breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula & surrounding islands

Gentoo Penguins with a sole Chinstrap Penguin: This is the ellsworthi subspecies of Gentoo Penguin which breeds on the South Shetland, South Orkney & South Sandwich Islands, as well as, the Antarctic Peninsula

It was time to have a look around the old whaling base. It was a lot smaller than the South Georgia whaling bases I've seen at Grytviken and Stromness.

Looking right along the beach

Another zodiac lands: The crew were efficient at getting our hundred passengers ashore. When considering an Antarctica trip, the number of passengers is an important consideration, as only one hundred passengers are allowed ashore at a time. Larger ships have to land passengers in relays and ships with over five hundred passengers are not allowed to land passengers

The main Whale oil tanks with the whaling base beyond

The main part of the whaling base

More old Whale oil tanks

Looking back on the old Whale oil tanks

Kelp Gull: This is the austrinus subspecies which breeds on Antarctica & the surrounding Antarctic islands. It was nesting on top of the old Whale oil tanks

These old wooden huts wouldn't have provided much insulation from the cold conditions in the South Shetland Islands

The main office building: Visitors are not allowed to enter any of the buildings to protect them. However, they were too unsafe to enter

Before we arrived, there were plans to allow the passengers to have a polar dip, as the South Shetland Islands are considered as part of Antarctica. However, this was cancelled due to the strong winds and snow. A pity as I had gone ashore intending to do a polar plunge. Conditions were better on our return to the South Shetland Islands on our way back to Ushuaia. However, I had to skip that opportunity, as I was struggling to get over a nasty bug that had been going around the ship. We were back on Ortelius just before dinner. After dinner, I headed back to the bridge and saw two Fin Whales and four Humpback Whales as we headed for the Antarctic Peninsula.

It's a pity that the Beagle Channel Commerson's Dolphins didn't show this well earlier in the trip

Soon after it was dark, I was heading to bed as I had another early start planned as we would be around the Antarctic Peninsula and in range of an Emperor Penguin.

2 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Sailing South In The Drake Passage

I decided on an early 05:30 start for the first day at sea in the Drake Passage. Even with this early start I failed to see the sun rise. After a quick cuppa tea I headed up to one of the bridge wings. The seas were remarkably calm for the Drake Passage, with a moderate two and a half metre swell. Ortelius is ninety metres long and she is still a fairly small ship by polar standards. These seas were creating a bit of movement, but it wasn't a problem from my perspective.

The main lounge on deck 6: It was nice and empty as I was one of the first up that morning

Deck 7 is the top deck

The big disadvantage of Ortelius is it is not possible to see forward from the bridge wings: The front of deck 6 has a forward-facing wrap-around walkway, but observers are very exposed to any headwinds on this walkway

Mid-morning in the Drake Passage: That is an impressively calm sea for the Northern end of the Drake Passage

Me watching from the port bridge wing: The photo was taken by one of the other passengers and the copyright remains with them. Unfortunately, I can't remember who took it

There was a reasonable selection of expected Seabirds on this first day at sea.

Black-browed Albatross: This is the nominate melanophris subspecies which breeds in the Antarctic & Subantarctic Islands, including islands off southern Chile, the Falklands, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Crozet, Heard & Kerguelen Islands, Macquarie Island & New Zealand's Antipodes, Snares & Campbell Islands. They range across the Southern Oceans from North of the Antarctic Convergence to the Tropic of Capricorn

Grey-headed Albatross: They breed on Subantarctic Islands off Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Macquarie & Campbell Islands

Grey-headed Albatross: They are easily my favourite Albatross

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: They have a cute body shape

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: The breed on the circumpolar Subantarctic Islands and range throughout the Subantarctic & Antarctic Oceans

Cape Petrel: They are always an attractive Petrel to watch

Cape Petrel: This is the nominate capense subspecies which breeds from South Georgia to Macquarie Island, as well as, the Antarctic coast. A second subspecies breeds in the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands

Wilson's Storm-petrel

What I wasn't expecting to see were two species of Penguins, given we were over a hundred miles from the Southern-most point of mainland South America.

King Penguin: They breed breeds on the Subantarctic islands in Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen & Heard islands, as well as, Macquarie Island

Western Rockhopper Penguin: This party of eight Western Rockhopper Penguins were at least a hundred miles from the nearest colony which seems a long way to travel to feed

Western Rockhopper Penguin: A closer crop of the last photo. They breed on the Southern Chilean islands of the Magallanes Province and Cape Horn Archipelago & the Falkland Islands

The overall highlight of the day was a couple Antarctic Minke Whales which passed fairly close to the ship. Unfortunately, they were the only Antarctic Minke Whales I saw during the trip.

Antarctic Minke Whale: They were once thought to be a subspecies of Minke Whales, but these days they are split. They average about nine metres long, but they can grow to over ten metres. Unlike Minke Whales they have grey flippers

Antarctic Minke Whale: They occur across the Antarctic & Subantarctic Oceans and range as far North as Madagascar to North Australia in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific to Peru & Guiana to North Angola in the South Atlantic

The plan for the cruise was to head far enough South into the Weddell Sea, so that we could use the three helicopters that we had on board to travel the final distance to the Snow Hill Emperor Penguin colony. This is the most-Northerly Emperor Penguin colony in Antarctica. Oceanwide Expeditions had a team of three pilots and their engineers from DAP Helicopters onboard. The three pilots had many decades of flying experience in Chile and Antarctica, including flying for the police and air-sea rescue. I felt we were going to be well looked after on the helicopter rides. In preparation for the helicopter flights, there was a mandatory briefing in the afternoon to get us familiar to the helicopters. This involved showing us how to approach and board the helicopters. It also allowed us to take some photos, as we wouldn't be allowed to do that when the helicopters had their rotors turning later in the cruise.

The three helicopters could carry fourteen passengers between them

Rob Luff in the middle was one of my cabin mates

The instrument panel was compact

It had been a good but long, day on deck, especially as I went back to spend some extra time after the evening meal. Then it was time for bed as I had another early alarm set for our second full day at sea.