Seals on the rocky shore
A humpback whale
Ship anchored at sea
Abundant icebergs
Icebergs with a blue-tint from the sun reflection
More scenery
remote sitesTuesday, March 1st
Today we awoke to the most spectacular scenery of the trip. Blue skies, sunshine, and icebergs/mountains surrounding the ship. We were able to step out on the track from our 4th level room and be awestruck We were anchored just off the shore of Cuverville Island.
Cuverville Island lies in the Errera Channel, between Ronge Island and the Arctowski Peninsula. The island was discovered by Gerlache's 'Belgica' expedition of 1897-1899, and named after a vice admiral in the French Navy. This small rocky island has vertical cliffs measuring 650 ft in elevation and has extensive moss cover. Culverville Island is home to the largest gentoo penguin colony in the region (4,800 breeding pairs), along with southern giant petrels, kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, snowy sheathbills, and south polar skuas.
We spent a couple hours on land walking amongst the penguins and capturing the amazing sites. This island had smaller chicks and even had some still on the nest. The gentoos make their nest on the rocky shore. In a couple weeks, they will return to the ocean for feeding. We saw a number of penguins going through the molting process - where they shed their feathers, resulting in the slick, black coating we're familiar with seeing. Some of the mothers were feeding the chicks by regurgitating krill to give to their young.
Before returning to the boat, the zodiacs took us for a short cruise through the icebergs. Awesome!! We saw a number of crabeater seals and got to appreciate the size and shape of the blue-tinted walls of ice. The area we were cruising is completely ice covered in the wintertime. The icebergs were sitting on the ocean floor - with only a portion exposed above the water.
Once back at the boat, we had some lunch and then were put on a holding pattern - as the weather began to turn bad. The ship made its way through the Neumayer Channel on the way to Port Lockroy. Our goal was to disembark at Port Lockroy in the afternoon, but this was delayed a day.
First day post race - the majority of the crew ended up at the bar on the 4th floor. It was a pretty festive bunch. We had a great late afternoon and evening. It can get a little crazy when 100+ marathoners and adventure travellers get together with celebration on the mind.
Today we awoke to the most spectacular scenery of the trip. Blue skies, sunshine, and icebergs/mountains surrounding the ship. We were able to step out on the track from our 4th level room and be awestruck We were anchored just off the shore of Cuverville Island.
Cuverville Island lies in the Errera Channel, between Ronge Island and the Arctowski Peninsula. The island was discovered by Gerlache's 'Belgica' expedition of 1897-1899, and named after a vice admiral in the French Navy. This small rocky island has vertical cliffs measuring 650 ft in elevation and has extensive moss cover. Culverville Island is home to the largest gentoo penguin colony in the region (4,800 breeding pairs), along with southern giant petrels, kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, snowy sheathbills, and south polar skuas.
We spent a couple hours on land walking amongst the penguins and capturing the amazing sites. This island had smaller chicks and even had some still on the nest. The gentoos make their nest on the rocky shore. In a couple weeks, they will return to the ocean for feeding. We saw a number of penguins going through the molting process - where they shed their feathers, resulting in the slick, black coating we're familiar with seeing. Some of the mothers were feeding the chicks by regurgitating krill to give to their young.
Before returning to the boat, the zodiacs took us for a short cruise through the icebergs. Awesome!! We saw a number of crabeater seals and got to appreciate the size and shape of the blue-tinted walls of ice. The area we were cruising is completely ice covered in the wintertime. The icebergs were sitting on the ocean floor - with only a portion exposed above the water.
Once back at the boat, we had some lunch and then were put on a holding pattern - as the weather began to turn bad. The ship made its way through the Neumayer Channel on the way to Port Lockroy. Our goal was to disembark at Port Lockroy in the afternoon, but this was delayed a day.
First day post race - the majority of the crew ended up at the bar on the 4th floor. It was a pretty festive bunch. We had a great late afternoon and evening. It can get a little crazy when 100+ marathoners and adventure travellers get together with celebration on the mind.
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