Danco Island - Our Last Excursion on the Cruise

 

Cruising through the narrow channels on our way to Danco Island

Friday, November 17 -  Danco Island, Antarctic Peninsula

From our daily briefing: “After lunch we hope to visit Danco Island, a small island in the southern end of the scenic Errera Channel. It was charted during the Gerlache 1897-1899 expedition. It is named after a geophysicist who perished during that expedition. There is a chance to go ashore to see a small gentoo penguin colony and a chance for a great hike overlooking the bay.”

We were back to our ship by 11:30 and leaving Neko Harbor by 12:30, heading to our next stop at Danco Island.  Travel was interesting and fairly slow, as we crossed through a beautiful channel to get to the island, and the ice  floes were fairly thick.  Again, there were mirror-still waters, so the reflections of the mountains going by in the channel were just spectacular.

Danco Island is our last excursion before we head out north tomorrow into the Drake Passage.  It’s about a mile in diameter and rises to 600 feet high.  At the top, and along the sides are a good sized gentoo penguin colony.  The afternoon excursion is to ride over in the Zodiac and climb the hill while visiting the penguins.  It was a nice offer, but sounded like a bit of a sloggy uphill rerun of what we had just done on Neko Island to me.  I decided to stay on the ship and relax; Michael chose to climb the hill.

Zodiac heading to Danco Island for a gentoo colony visit and snowy hill climb

You can see the line of orange jackets heading up the trail to the top of the hill on the far right

A group of humpback whales visited the Endurance while waiting at Danco Island

While enjoying the afternoon, I spend a good deal of time on deck, admiring the views of the island, the narrow channel and extensive ice surrounding us.  I also spied at least three humpback whales swimming near us.  And I indulged in the tasty sandwiches and sweet treats that were served on the 8th deck for tea time.  After that, I toasted the day with a glass of Chartreuse. All in all, a nice closure on our last excursion day.