I woke up to a Antarctica who showed its best side today. The sea was calm, the sky was blue while we sailed up Gerlache strait which is beautiful with its snowy high mountain peaks, wall of ice and glaciers. Our goal was Cuverville Island and their colony of Gentoo penguins.
Once we arrived we had to put on the snow shoes before we could start walking around, enjoying the nature and the animals. We also took a zodiac tour and besides impressing icebergs and ice formations we succeeded to see both Weddel seal, Crabeater seal and Leopard seal. Fun fact is that the Crabeater actually doesn’t eat any crabs, it eats krill but I guess that is what happen when you name something after how it looks only.
After lunch we went to Neco Bay, more icebergs, penguins and seals. My attention was however more on the glaciers who got a totally amazing blue color in the sunlight. They start far away inland and stretch all the way into the ocean and suddenly you hear a loud crack, bang and a following grumble, then you know that a new iceberg has been created.
The water is crystal clear, around zero degrees Celsius but that didn’t stop a few of us brave ones from taking a plunge. It was cold but not as cold as I thought it would be and with a good timing for my time to get into the water some penguins appeared. Totally a memory for life but I’m not sure if it counts as “I have swum with penguins”? Back at the ship the crew offered us some hot chocolate with rum, a really nice ending of a really nice day
You don’t believe me? Well some other passengers were actually documenting it so feel free to see for your self.
And of course, some classic pictures too
Credits Bill Smith