31 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Returning Along The Beagle Channel

This is the final Blog Post from the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica trip. The previous Blog Post covered the large Whales and a few Birds that were seen as we entered the outer part of the Beagle Channel. We still had the rest of the afternoon and early evening until we were in sight of the port of Ushuaia. I stayed on deck, barring a quick dash for coffee, biscuits and a toilet break until I could see Ushuaia. I had missed the final late afternoon's drinks with the Captain and the starter at dinner, before I finally raced into the restaurant for my final dinner. I was hoping for a repeat sighting of Barna's Burmeister’s Porpoise, that he had seen and photographed on the first evening, but it didn't happen. Another reason to consider another trip to the Southern Oceans.

Hungarian Wildlife Guide Barna: Barna photographed a Burmeister’s Porpoise in the Beagle Channel on the first evening of the trip which was an excellent sighting and a frustrating dip for the rest of us who were still socialising at dinner. I will do my best to avoid making that mistake if I can get back to Ushuaia again

The Azamara Pursuit heads down channel to Antarctica: With the capacity to carry seven hundred passengers and another four hundred crew, this ship is far too large to allow the passengers ashore. But would they want to be distracted from the onboard casino and other attractions

The Argentinian side of Tierra del Fuego

A distant lighthouse on the point of the Chilean Barlovento Island

Another view of the same lighthouse

As we carried on up the Beagle Channel we passed the historic Estancia Harberton area, where there is a large Magellanic Penguin colony. This excellent site can be visited by road or on one of the many tour boats that can be booked from the Ushuaia waterfront.

Magellanic Penguin: Part of the Estancia Harberton Magellanic Penguin colony. More details of this colony can be found in a previous Blog Post

Magellanic Penguin: Adult

Magellanic Penguin: Juveniles don't have the black face of adults

The Argentinian Mountains to the East of Ushuaia

Black-browed Albatross: I saw about four hundred Black-browed Albatrosses in the Beagle Channel

Black-browed Albatross: The boats to Estancia Harberton must be one of the most accessible ways to get great photos of Black-browed Albatrosses

The historical Cemetery at Mejillones on the Chilean Navarino Island: This cemetery dates to the first half of the 20th Century and contains the remains of the indigenous Yahgan people who were associated with an Anglican mission in this area

South American Sealion colony: These colonies can be easy seen on one of the Ushaia boat trips

Chilean Skua: We were back in range for Chilean Skuas

The clear highlight of the Inner Beagle Channel were the pods of Dusky Dolphins. Many of the closer pods came into bow wave and swim alongside the sides of the Plancius. It was an excellent finale to a fantastic trip.

Dusky Dolphin: They are a small Dolphin no more than two metres in length with a very short, black beak, dark eye, distinctive markings and a pointed falcate dorsal fin with a paler grey rear edge to the fin

Dusky Dolphin: They were clearly identifiable underwater

Dusky Dolphin: They occur around the coasts of Western South America, Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, the Southern-most coast of South Africa, the coasts of the Southern half of Australia and New Zealand

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin: These two Dusky Dolphins were just logging at the surface

Finally, everybody else left for the free drink with the Captain and I had the top deck, the Dusky Dolphins and the Black-browed Albatrosses to myself.

Finally, Ushuaia comes into view: It was time to race to the restaurant for my final dinner

Although we were docked in Ushuaia, we stayed onboard that night and didn't disembark to the following morning. I spent the morning in an internet cafe catching up with the news after nearly three weeks of no wifi connection. The wifi was prohibitively expensive on the Plancius and I can't see why I would want to be online, when I could be on the bridge wings. Early afternoon, I headed off to the airport for my evening flight back to Buenos Aires. I had a pre-paid hired car booked which I had to collect at an airport hotel. I got to the hotel to find that car company had pulled out of using the hotel several months earlier and were only in the city centre, over an hours' drive away. With no prospect of a hired car, I booked into the hotel for the night. The following morning I returned to the airport, but the handful of other car hire firms had their cars booked out. So, the rest of the day was spent at the airport catching up on my Birding notes. After several months, the pre-paid car hire money was finally refunded by my credit card.

A final photo of Tierra del Fuego from the Plancius: It's tradition to finish on a sunset. But this out of focus photo, which looks a bit artistic, will have to do. As I was sorting my photos, I found a number of distant photos were out of focus. It wasn't to a week into my next trip to New Zealand, that the problem was identified. The mounting bracket on the 100 - 400 mm lens was lose and sometimes the camera wasn't focusing properly at infinity. Fortunately, this was an easy fix and my glasses screwdriver also works on the camera lens

31 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Entering The Outer Part Of The Beagle Channel

Our final day at sea and the seas had moderated compared to the previous couple of days. However, many of the passengers who had disappeared two days earlier in the rough seas and Force Eight gale around the South Shetland Islands, were slow to return to view. Around breakfast time we were still South East of Tierra del Fuego, but by late morning we could see the Chilean coast.

Grey Phalarope: This Grey Phalarope well out to sea from the Tierra del Fuego coastline wasn't on my expected species to see on the trip list. They Winter all along the full length of the South American Pacific coast, but there are a few eBird records that have occurred off the Tierra del Fuego & Falklands coast

Southern Giant Petrel: No real surprise that we started to see Southern Giant Petrels given they are a common species in the Beagle Channel

The Southern-most part of Chilean Tierra del Fuego: The outermost part of the Beagle Channel can be seen in the right hand side of the photo

A closer view of the Southern-most part of Chilean Tierra del Fuego

The Argentinian Tierra del Fuego coast

By early afternoon, we could see the outer part of the Beagle Channel. The seas continued to moderate now we were closer to land, until finally the water became calm in the Beagle Channel. But it was to take the rest of the afternoon and early evening until we were in sight of the port of Ushuaia. There was a good selection of Whales, as we entered the very outer part of the Beagle Channel.

Antarctic Minke Whale: The distinctive thin dorsal fin of an Antarctic Minke Whale. Unfortunately, this was the only photo I managed to take of this individual

Antarctic Minke Whale: More of the body of a second, and more distant, Antarctic Minke Whale

Antarctic Minke Whale: The uncropped photo showing how distant the second Antarctic Minke Whale was from the Plancius. It is just visible in the middle of this photo and close to the coastline

Sei Whale: A Sei Whale also put in a brief appearance, showing its distinctive crooked dorsal fin

The real Whale stars were a couple of Fin Whales which put on a good show as they kept resurfacing closer to the Plancius. It's a pity the other two species seen weren't as close.

Fin Whale: The first Fin Whale on the surface with its blow still visible

Fin Whales: A second individual popped up

Fin Whale: The first individual

Fin Whale: A close up showing the classic dorsal fin shape of the first individual

Fin Whales: A close up of the more angular and irregularly-shaped dorsal fin of the second individual, as the second individual appears and starts to blow

Fin Whales: Showing the full height of the blow

Fin Whales: A good view of the head ridge and the blow-hole

Fin Whales

Fin Whale: Close up of the left-hand individual with the classic dorsal fin shape

Fin Whale: Close up of the right-hand individual showing the unusual dorsal fin shape, which, if this individual was seen on its own could suggest to be a Sei Whale

Fin Whale: A final view of the individual with the classic dorsal fin

There were also some Birds in the outer part of the Beagle Channel.

Southern Giant Petrel

Imperial Shag: As we passed the Chilean parts of Tierra del Fuego we started to see the first parties of Imperial Shags

Imperial Shag

Black-browed Albatross: Unfortunately, this flock of Black-browed Albatrosses were sitting on the water in the direction we started to pass into the outer Beagle Channel

We still had a few hours to travel along the Beagle Channel and I will save that for the final Blog Post.

My Birding cabin mate, Steve Preddy: Catching up on lost sleep after the Whales, whilst ensuring he was ready if there was a final interesting shout from the top deck

30 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Heading North In The Drake Passage

We were nearly a day into the Drake Passage and the seas hadn't moderated. However, the skies were relatively bright and the sea-sickness patches were still working well. But with the bouncy conditions, there were still a number of passengers who we hadn't seen for a day and weren't going to see again until we reached the calm waters of the Beagle Channel on the following afternoon. But, a number of other more hardy passengers joining us for extended periods on the bridge wings to try and get that perfect waves breaking over the ship photo.

Spray breaking over the ship: This is one of the better photos I saw, but it is only spray and not waves. I think my cabin mate Bill took this photo

Albatrosses and Northern Giant Petrels provided the close Avian highlights of the day, albeit we did see a reasonable selection of other Petrels and Storm-petrels.

Wandering Albatross: Immature

Southern Royal Albatross: This is an immature & I think it's a 1st year individual. Adult Southern Royal Albatrosses have a white band on the inner secondary coverts which narrows as it reaches the bend in the wing: this area remains black in Northern Royal Albatrosses

Southern Royal Albatross: The same individual

Black-browed Albatross

Black-browed Albatross: A different individual

Northern Giant Petrel: This individual spent some time just flying alongside and quite close to the Plancius. This is something we often saw with the Albatrosses and Giant Petrels. I assume that they can save effort from being in the slipstream or perhaps they are just sheltering from the wind when they are on the correct side of the ship

Northern Giant Petrel: The same individual

Northern Giant Petrel: The same individual

Northern Giant Petrel: The same individual

We saw a few ships heading to Antarctica. They were bigger, more luxurious and probably more stable for their passengers in these seas. However, they wouldn't have offered the same extended landings or some of the interesting landings that a smaller ship like the Plancius can offer. Due to their extra size, they would have had more than one hundred passengers, which is the limit of passengers allowed on South Georgia and Antarctica at one time. This means that their passengers could only have landed for part of the landing window. But some of the ships in Antarctica offer the opportunity to experience the continent without the 'hassle' of landings. Personally, that would be a massive reason not to travel on ships like that. But if it means that type of passenger avoids the Oceanwide Expedition ships, then that is good in my eyes.

The Aurora Expeditions ship Greg Mortimer heading to Antarctica

In the early afternoon, a couple of Hourglass Dolphins tried to come in to bow-wave. However, they weren't close enough or fast enough to be catch us up to play in the bow wave. They may have reached the stern as I've seen Hourglass Dolphins tagging along in the wake before.

Hourglass Dolphin: I had good views to identify these Hourglass Dolphins before I tried to get some photos. But every time they broke the surface, they were quickly back below the water before I could get a photo. But it's possible to see the large white patch of the side of the front half of the body which tapes to virtually nothing before broadening after the dorsal fin

Hourglass Dolphin: Another view showing how difficult it is to see the exact shape of coloured patches when the subject is underwater

My clear highlight of crossing the Drake Passage occurred around mid-afternoon. For a change I switched sides to the port bridge wing. I had only been there about twenty minutes when I picked up two large chunky Dolphins coming towards me. They were keeping just below the crests of the waves and had a very distinctive black upperside with more black at the front of the body and less at the rear and a contrasting white underside. There were larger and bulkier-bodied compared to any of the other Dolphins I had seen on the trip. When I thought back to the sighting immediately afterwards I realised I hadn't seen a dorsal fin on them. It was useful to have seen the Hourglass Dolphins less than an hour before, as that really helped to emphasise how large and bulky they were. It confused me as it wasn't a species I recognised. But when I checked the books it all became clear that these were my first two Southern Right Whale Dolphins. I watched them for a while and had a good view, before I tried to get some photos. Frustratingly, I failed to get any photos. The lack of a dorsal fin and the ying and yang shape of black and white markings ruled out a Spectacled Porpoise, which has a more uniform-width black upper body and white underbody and a large semi-circular dorsal fin.

Northern Giant Petrel: A final individual which appeared during the late afternoon

We still had one more day in the Drake Passage until we reached the Tierra del Fuego coast and the Beagle Channel. I will cover that in the next Blog Post.