Recounting some of my adventures while not on the road. I traveled through Antarctica in early 2015. After a perfect day in Antarctica we press on for more natural beauty.
Orne Harbour
Our morning excursion saw us visit Orne Harbour. Our boat anchored in the harbour and we Zodiac’d around the mouth of the harbour to make landfall on the other side. Once on land, we took a bit of time to hike to the crest of a hill that would overlook Orne Harbour and our ship. At the top was also a Chinstrap penguin colony.
They’re called Chinstrap penguins because they have this distinct black marking along the bottom edge of their face which looks like a chin strap from a helmet. It was great to see them and some of the baby penguins with their mothers as well!
What goes up, must come down! And instead of making the hike down through snow, we all got on our backs, pointed downward, and slid down! It was a thrill and another neat thing to have done in Antarctica!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRvTHT1Rn3Y
After a little more penguin watching, we got back in the Zodiacs and cruised around the waterway outside of Orne harbor to do a little Whale watching. We were lucky enough to catch glimpse of a few!
Bancroft Bay
After repositioning during lunch, we anchored in Bancroft Bay. There wouldn’t be a landing this afternoon, but we were content to simply cruise around and enjoy more scenery and unique icebergs. While the sun was out, our luck of perfect weather was starting to run out and the wind was picking up. We eventually had to cut our cruise short because the chop in the water was getting a bit rough for the Zodiacs. Nonetheless it was an amazingly clear and beautiful day to enjoy this part of the world!
More Sunsets!
In the evening we were treated again to the magnificence of an Antarctic sunset. I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing these, the sun simply lights up the sky and the pink and golden reflections off the white mountains is beautiful!
Our Antarctic journey is nearing an end, we only have a few more days on this side of the Drake Passage, and we aim to make the most of it!