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02.03.2016: Day 19 - Hope Bay (Antarctic Continent) and Paulet Island
On the northernmost tip of the Peninsula, Hope Bay is home to one of the Antarctic's largest Adélie rookeries housing 125,000 pairs, along with a few Gentoos. The entrance to Hope Bay, reached via Antarctic Sound, is often filled with tabular icebergs.
Wake up call was at 7-15am and it was super weather! We went outside for photos of glaciers and icebergs as we sailed past Esperanza Station into Hope Bay. The decks were very icy so we had to be really careful not to do triple saltos and end up overboard! There was no wind and we got full reflections in the water. Wow!
Esperanza Station was built by the Argentinians in 1951 in an effort to establish sovereignty over the Antarctic Peninsula. Most personnel are military, and about 35% of Esperanza's population is made up of spouses and children. The first Antarctican was born here in 1978. There is even an ice runway on the nearby Buenos Aires glacier where small planes fly in about twenty times a year.
We got to breakfast half an hour late at 8am and at 8-30am Kelvin announced that the divers wouldn't be able to go out diving because of the bad conditions and they would be shown a film of paint drying instead!! We laughed at the joke seeing as most of the divers were already kitted out and could hardly wait to get into the water!
But then Jim told the rest of us that we would be leaving in the zodiacs in 20 minutes time! We all dashed out of the restaurant to get ready and got onto the zodiacs at 8-50am. It was such a contrast to yesterday where the conditions were so bad that we got very wet and some didn't even get to land. Today was perfect weather and Tobias, our driver, took us between wonderful blue icebergs to get to land.
We had another chance to land on the Antarctic Peninsula and those who didn't get on land the first time were able to do so today. We saw Gentoo, Adélie and Chinstrap penguins but most were more interested in taking photos of the wonderful icebergs and ice formations in the bay. The moon was already out at 7-20am and was still there, rising slowly at midday.
Hope Bay - 360° Panorama
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We hiked up to the top of a hill for breathtaking views of glaciers, icebergs and the Plancius in the bay. A perfect day on the Antarctic.
View of Hope Bay from the top - 360° Panorama
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It was followed by a wonderful 45 minute cruise around the icebergs in the bay. Our driver was the first officer Jaanus Hannes from Estonia. He'd already driven others around the bay and knew the best spots. He took us to see Crabeater seals for the first time, lying on an iceberg and sunning themselves. They look very soft and have a beautiful coral coloured belly that was shimmering in the sunlight. One even yawned showing all its teeth for the photos! They eat mostly krill and the biggest fish they can eat is 10cm long. I declared them the best looking of all the seals we have seen!
We sailed around many icebergs with their beautiful glacial blue colour and going deep into the water. We didn't really want to go back to the ship but Kirsten asked Jaanus if he would take us around to the other side of the ship so she could get a shot of the Plancius and its reflection. Our first officer obliged and Kirsten got her shot!
Day 19: Landing at Hope Bay (Antarctic Continent)
The divers also had a good time and some were taking group photos on the icebergs. Far better than watching paint dry!
Lunch was clear garlic soup with rye croutons, beef stew with tomato and corn served with mixed rice and salads. Just as we were finishing lunch we had another type of soup - Orca soup! The announcement came that lots of whale blows were seen. We all dashed out of the restaurant in a stampede! We spent 1 hour 20 minutes whale watching with our Captain skilfully guiding the ship to the best possible positions.
There were Minke whales and fur seals along with all the Orcas and at first we thought the Orcas were hunting the Minke whales and fur seals but there must have been a huge amount of krill in the water because all the animals were simply feeding peacefully together. Kelvin estimated that there were over 120 Orcas around us!
I saw Minke whales breaching at least ten times but they were too far away to get on video. Even getting the Orcas on full zoom with the video camera was extremely difficult. There was hardly any room on the deck where it was closest to the whales and Orcas. I even stood below people standing on the raised flag podium on the bow of the ship and tried to take shots from between their knees!! Five Minke whales were sailing past the bow! In the end I ran out of battery and just watched.
We had our wish list for this trip with the Blue whales in number one position. We'd been really lucky to see them and the only thing that was missing were the Orcas. Now we had so many of them all around us it was just fantastic. With the breaching Minke whales on top it was absolutely fabulous!
The Captain blew the horn which was his signal that we would be leaving and we set sail for Paulet Island. The DUI divers were gathering at the flag pole to take a group photo in the sun but by the time all the group had assembled, only five minutes later, they were in the fog! Unbelievable how fast the weather can change here!
As we sailed through the fog we went back to our cabin to recharge camera batteries and Kirsten started work on all the photos. She must have taken thousands! She also mentioned to me that she'd seen people on board today that she's never seen before! Day 19 and she's still seeing new people!
Our second landing of the day was at Paulet Island. It is just 2km in diameter but its distinctive volcanic cone is 353m high. About 100,000 pairs of Adélies nest here and there are also blue-eyed shags and southern giant petrels.
The island was discovered by James Clark Ross' expedition of 1839-43 and named for the Right Honourable Lord George Paulet, a captain in the Royal Navy. On February 12, 1903, Nordenskjöld's ship "Antarctic" which had been crushed by the Weddell Sea pack ice for weeks, finally sank 40km from Paulet. The 20 men sledged for 16 days to reach the island, then built a 10m by 7m hut on the northeast coast, where all but one survived the winter. The ruins - a pile of stones and some roofing timber - are still there.
We didn't get on land until 6-10pm so we only had one hour there. We saw a lot of blue-eyed shags and some Adélie penguins. Unfortunately we also saw quite a few dead ones. El Niño has played a role because the penguins get to there breeding spots too late probably because they couldn't eat enough before breeding as there are less krill. We saw a number of the penguins who are at the beginning of their moult and they won't make it in time before the onset of winter.
Paulet Island - 360° Panorama
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Before we got a zodiac back we watched Weddell seals playing at the waters edge and two divers getting underwater shots!
Day 19: Orca soup and landing on Paulet Island
It was almost 7-30pm by the time we got back on board and at 7-50pm, at recap, Jim told us we would be going to Half Moon Island tomorrow morning but there was a big storm on its way and the captain wanted to get through the Drake Passage as quickly as possible. The storm, with 60 mph winds, would hit Ushuaia on Saturday evening. So there would be no second landing on Deception Island tomorrow and we would set sail for the Drake by noon.
A spectacular sunset cheered us up and stopped us from thinking about 8 to 10 metre high waves that might hit us before we get out of the Drake!
For the evening meal we had cherry tomatoes with feta cheese, followed by an omelette for me that I ordered at lunch time. The main choices were duck and vermicelli, trout or kohlrabi. Not my kind of thing but Kirsten didn't fancy the trout or kohlrabi either and although she said the duck was good, the vermicelli didn't go very well with it. My omelette was very good and I got Kirsten's dessert - Philippine style rice pudding.
We went back to our cabin to write the diary, work on photos and it was midnight before we dived under the shower and went to bed. Another long but fabulous day.
