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.

29 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Force Eight Around The Antarctic South Shetland Islands

After two long days with very early starts and deck watches until last light, I needed a bit of a lie in. This decision was reinforced overnight by feeling the ship moving a lot in the sea. So, I had a lie in until about 07:30 which allowed time for a look at the conditions from the lounge over a cuppa tea before heading off to breakfast. The sea was lively and the conditions were living up to the Force eight gale that Expedition Leader Ali has promised us, or was that warned us, about for the journey back across the Drake Passage. The plan for the morning was a zodiac ride around the South Shetland Islands, but that seemed optimistic.

A post-breakfast view of one of the South Shetland Islands coming out of the mist

Another island in the mist

Another island

As we got closer to the South Shetland Islands, the seas and winds picked up. But that's not too unusual as the wind and sea can increase due to funnelling through the islands. We checked out the planning zodiac location and it was clearly too rough to consider anything.

The seas did moderate at times around the islands

Another island taken from the comfort of the lounge

Steve, Siegfried, Bill & I discussing our plans for the day: Not sure who took this photo

The seas were very lively at times around the islands

I was surprised to see a navigation marker on one of the islands

Ali & the Captain checked out a couple of other locations, hoping to find a more sheltered area, but to no avail. When I spent time on deck, I saw a number of expected Southern Ocean Seabirds, but this Antarctic Tern was the only species I photographed.

Antarctic Tern: Carrying a fish & presumably breeding on one of the islands

Antarctic Tern

By later morning, it was clear that we weren't going to get a final zodiac ride in the South Shetland Islands: c'est la vie. Plan C was adopted which was to start out a bit earlier for Ushuaia. This would give us a bit more time to the cross the Drake Passage. However, it also meant we passed through a very rough channel between two islands just as we went to lunch. This made for a very bumpy meal. In hindsight, I guess the catering team would have preferred for the ship to stay in the lee of the islands for an hour to finish lunch, before we covered that rough channel. But it was to be a quiet lunch for those of us who ate, as about twenty to twenty-five passengers had retreated to the cabins and we didn't see them again until the final afternoon as the seas finally moderated as we reached the Tierra del Fuego coastline. I was really pleased that the sea-sickness patches were working well and I was able to carry on Birding & eating, despite it being a Force eight gale and corresponding seas.

One of the last views of the South Shetland Islands

Looking back on the South Shetland Islands as we depart

Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross

Grey-headed Albatross

Antarctic Fulmar

Antarctic Fulmar

Antarctic Fulmar

Soft-plumaged Petrel

We also had a couple of large Whales, either Fin Whales or Sei Whales, but given the sea conditions we did well getting any photographs at all. Sadly, these had to go down in the notes as not specifically identified.

Fin/Sei Whales: Sometimes the photos are just not good enough to be able to identify a Whale to a species. There were two individuals right next to each other

Fin/Sei Whale: This is about the best dorsal fin shape that I have got from a later photo. Based upon the bulk and dorsal fin these two large Whales are either Fin or Sei Whales. But there isn't a good enough photo of the dorsal fin shape to be sure

The rough conditions brought a number of the non-wildlife passengers up to bridge wings with the hope of getting the perfect photo of the sea breaking over the bows. I never succeeded to get this photo. But the next two photos show how much we were moving in these seas, which had moderated a bit from the even rougher seas around the South Shetland Islands.

Whenever we climbed this high there was a chance of a good splash photo

This one didn't produce the perfect photo: It looks like we had passed through a front that afternoon as the skies are looking brighter

Sadly, it felt like our Antarctica trip was all too rapidly coming to the end. However, we still had two full days at sea left and so there was still time for some interesting Cetaceans. However, I'm sure quite a few of the passengers that evening were wishing we only had two hours of these seas left to endure.

26 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Macaroni's On The Menu

The last Blog Post, focused on our early morning visit to Point Wild, on the Northern side of Elephant Island. This was the stoney beach where Shackleton's crew spent four and a half months before Shackleton was able to rescue them. Sadly, the seas were too rough and foggy to be able to safely launch the zodiacs. So, the Expedition Leader Ali & the skipper proposed checking out Cape Lookout on the Southern coastline. It was a thirty-five mile distance at sea, but the weather improved as soon as we cleared Cape Valentine, in the North East corner of the island.

The weather was totally different on the South side of Elephant Island

Antarctic Tern: This is the gaini subspecies which breeds around the South Shetland Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula & neighbouring islands

Antarctic Tern: They are superficially similar to Arctic Terns, but any Arctic Terns would be in their Winter plumage at this time of year. They are really good looking, if you get the exposure correct

The seas around Elephant Island are clearly good for Whales. Around the coastline we saw five Fin Whales, another two Fin or Sei Whales, another four large Whales, ten Humpback Whales, my first Antarctic Minke Whale and about twenty sets of blows where we didn't see the Whale. There was also a pod of three Hourglass Dolphins.

Fin Whale: A blowing Fin Whale

Fin Whale: I managed to get a photo of the dorsal fin to confirm the identification. Some of the other confirmed Fin Whales were based upon photos that some of the other Birders managed to take, but I failed to get anything

We passed this impressive glacier

We carried on cruising along the coast, until we reached a Chinstrap Penguin colony at Cape Lookout: on the Southern-most point of Elephant Island. Fortunately, the sea conditions were good enough to launch the zodiacs. A recent Greenpeace study has suggested the population of Chinstrap Penguins on Elephant Island has declined from the one hundred and twenty thousand pairs at the start of the 1970s to just over fifty thousand pairs. Climate change is considered to be the cause of this decline.

The Chinstrap Penguins were scattered across the hillside

Chinstrap Penguin: A closer photo of part of the main colony

Finally, the sea conditions were good enough to launch the zodiacs

This photo was circulating widely the following morning: Sadly, I didn't see this Chinstrap Penguin who popped up on a zodiac to check out the passengers, which included one of my cabin mates, Steve Preddy, who is sitting on the far right. Amusingly, none of the passengers on the zodiac was aware of this visitor

Chinstrap Penguin: There few a few breeding closer to the beach, along with a couple of Macaroni Penguins at the top

Chinstrap Penguin

Chinstrap Penguin

Chinstrap Penguin: I guess nesting closer to the beach is cleaner, until you get a Southern storm hitting the coastline

Chinstrap Penguin: Some were in need of a bath by the time they had hopped up & down through some of the muddy, guano-filled gullies

More interesting was there was a smaller colony of Macaroni Penguins in some of the gullies. We had seen a few when we were at Cooper Island. But we hadn't managed to get into the zodiacs there due to the sea conditions. So, these were the first Macaroni Penguins that many of the non-Birders on the Plancius would have seen.

Macaroni Penguin: There were small groups of Macaroni Penguins breeding on the lower parts of the coast

Macaroni Penguin: It looks like is been a successful breeding season

Macaroni Penguin: This monotypic species breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula, the Falklands, South Georgia, Kerguelen & Heard Islands

Macaroni Penguin: There are a few other similar-looking Penguins around the World: Fiordland Penguin, Erect-crested Penguin, Royal Penguin, Western Rockhopper Penguin, Eastern Rockhopper Penguin, Tristan Penguin and Snare's Penguin. They are separated geographically, but they can also be identified by the size and shape of the ear crests

By late morning, everybody was back onboard and we were heading South to the Antarctic Peninsula. But we still had another one hundred and fifty miles before we reached the Antarctic Peninsula. We weren't going to see Antarctic until we got up around dawn on the following morning.

A final view of Elephant Island as we were heading South to the Antarctic Peninsula

There were still a reasonable selection of Seabirds as we departed from Elephant Island.

Grey-headed Albatross: Adult

Grey-headed Albatross: Adult

Grey-headed Albatross: Adult

Grey-headed Albatross: 1st Year. They have a darker head pattern than immature Shy Albatrosses and the dark bill confirms it is a Grey-headed Albatross. Shy Albatrosses would have a pale bill

Southern Royal Albatross: Adult. This is a Southern Royal Albatross. Its breeding grounds are in the New Zealand Subantarctic Campbell and Auckland Islands. The dark gap line and the all-white tail eliminates it from one of the Wandering Albatrosses. The white forewing confirms the age

Antarctic Fulmar: I saw sixteen as we sailed South from Elephant Island

It was going to be an early start on the following morning as we would at the Antarctic Peninsula and the chance to see my first Adelie Penguins. However, all eyes were needed in the hope of an outside chance of an Emperor Penguin, albeit we wouldn't get closer than about sixty miles to the nearest colony.