Half Moon Island – Journey Back
Last day on the peninsula. That morning, we made our last stop at Half Moon Island. This Island lies in the entrance to Moon Bay, between Livingston and Greenwich Islands. The 2 km long island is crescent-shaped and home to approximately 3,300 breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins. Antarctic terns, skuas, kelp gulls, Wilson’s storm-petrels and […]
Port Lockroy – Trinity Island
On our 5th day, we landed at Port Lockroy. Port Lockroy is comprised of Jougla Point and Goudier Island, both of which are home to numerous nesting gentoo penguins. There is a fascinating museum inside the old British Antarctic Survey (BAS) hut on Goudier Island. One room within the hut is also a post office […]
Lemaire Channel – Petermann Island – Vernadsky Station
This morning we were going to cross the Lemaire Channel. It is approximately 8 miles long and only about a mile wide, though at its narrowest point it is a mere 800 metres wall to wall. It separates Booth Island from the Antarctic Peninsula mainland. The channel was traversed in December 1898 by the Belgian […]
Cuverville Island – Neko Harbour – Paradise Bay
Our next stop was Cuverville Island, named in 1898 after Vice-Admiral Jean Marie Armand Cavelier de Cuverville of the French Navy. It is a 2km by 2.5km island, two-thirds of which is covered by a permanent ice-cap. The island is home to breeding Gentoo penguins, kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, snowy sheathbills, blue-eyed shags, Wilson’s storm-petrels, […]
Cierva Cove – Portal Point – Orne Harbour
Waking up on the ship was always a fun experience. The expedition leader, Alex, always played a cheerful good morning song followed by his “Good morning… Good morning everyone… “, weather announcement and other random announcements, all of this delivered in his most gentle monotonic voice. I really wish I had recorded it! Although I […]
Deception Island
On the second day at sea, we spotted our first piece of land, Deception Island. It’s called Deception Island because explorers first thought this island was the fabled 7th continent, but it ended up being just and island… Although we weren’t supposed to land that day, we were able to get through the drake passage […]
Drake Passage
The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America and Antarctica. There, the otherwise unimpeded waves of the vast Southern Ocean squeeze through the relatively narrow and shallow bottleneck of the Drake Passage, and in the process, generate complicated, unpredictable and often brutal weather. The Drake Passage is also considered the most dangerous […]
Leaving Ushuaia
Antarctica. Antarctica. Antarctica. I have to say it multiple times to convince myself that this actually happened. I did go to Antarctica. I left on the 27th of November 2014, the day of Thanksgiving. All of the passengers gathered near the port and it was obvious that we were all so excited. Since we were […]