Surrounded by Ice? Then Let's Go Play in the Zodiacs!

Endurance in the ice fields of Neko Harbor

Friday, November 17 -  Neko Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula

This morning we woke up to true Antarctica weather, about 24 degrees, grey and snowing, with snow and ice on the decks.  We are heading into Neko Harbor for a morning excursion to see a colony of gentoo penguins.  The harbor is deep in Andvord Bay and allows us to walk on the continent of Antarctica.  We arrived at the end of the harbor by about 7:30 AM, with the sun filtering weakly through the clouds.  The waters of the bay are mirror still, creating beautiful reflections of the surrounding mountains and glaciers.  And the bay is filled with ice of all shapes and forms, including some very thin coverings of ice which roll, but don’t break with the waves.  The glacier nearby the penguin colony is known for its frequent calving, so the ship is harboring on the more protected side of the peninsula hillside where the colony is located.  

As the Endurance enters Neko Harbor, it leaves a clear parting of the ice field in its wake

So still and pristine - mirror perfect reflections in Neko Harbor

From our daily briefing: “In the morning we plan to explore Neko Harbor in Andvord Bay. This area was first discovered by Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache during the early 20th century. It was named for a Scottish whaling boat, the Neko, which operated in the area between 1911 and 1924. Neko Harbor has been classified as an important bird and biodiversity area by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of more than 250 breeding pairs of gentoo penguins that nest on the hill near the beach to avoid risk of being washed away by the large waves frequently generated from the calving of the nearby glacier. Southern giant petrels and south polar skuas also nest here. The area has been also used by Weddell seals, which occasionally haul out to rest.”

The gentoo penguin colony is on the small hill to the left of the ship - dangerous glacier beyond it

Starting the morning with a crazy cruise in the Zodiacs through the ice fields in the harbor

We began our morning’s excursion with a delightful zodiac ride through the ice fields.  We tumbled around all the growlers and bergy bits and brash ice, and whatever else we want to call it.  We spent about 45 minutes enjoying the fun of pushing through, with occasional stops to unclog the propellers, when they clogged with ice bits and balls.

Playing follow the leader through the ice bits

A cold and snowy morning - we were overdue for some Antarctic weather

Perfect mirror reflections 

Amazingly deep blue ice - maybe centuries old

Are we having fun yet?  You betcha!

Kayaking again! Antarctica's weather has been balmy on this trip!

 

Happy to be out for a second kayak in Mikkelson Harbor

Thursday, November 16 -  Mikkelson Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula

We were so happy to kayak again. We're in Mikkelson Harbor, on Trinity Island.  We headed out to a large overhanging cube of a glacier on the left side of the bay.  There were fairly large stone beaches around the bay, which made getting swamped from a calving glacier less of a danger in this location.  We paddled by a small island with 2 Weddell seals, then kept on going to the far shore of the bay to see terns. Next, we returned along the back of the small island, and saw even more seals that weren’t visible from the other side.  We kept following the shore, heading back toward the island with the penguin colony, marveling at how clear the water was, and watching penguins swim and shags diving all around us.  As we turned to head back to the ship, we heard a loud noise behind us.  I thought it was the Zodiac coming up behind us, but as we turned around we could see it was a small avalanche, off the high slope behind us! An adventuresome day and so much fun!

Cruising along the shorelines of the large, arching bay of Trinity Island

More Weddell seals - lots to be seen on the various snowfields in this area

Gentoo penguin

Kayaking to the small island with penguin colony that we had visited via Zodiac

Lot's of opportunities for up close and personal experiences with the ice

An avalanche on the snowfield - you can see the powder puff right above the yellow kayak

A Blue Royal at the end of a satisfying, adventure filled day

Mikkelson Harbor - home to gentoo penguins

 

Gentoo penguins cruising the rocky beach

Thursday, November 16 -  Mikkelson Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula

You can see the gentoo penguin colony at the top of this island in Mikkelson Harbor

This afternoon, we moved to the southern end of Trinity Island where there is an arching bay at the end of the island called Mikelsson Harbor. There is a small island in the middle of the bay with a large colony of gentoo penguins and a good Zodiac landing site. We also will be able to go kayaking in the bay depending upon the wind and ice conditions.

Out for a stroll with the penguins, and a sleepy seal, laying on the snow over Michael's shoulder

In the afternoon, we had two options for excursions. We would visit the gentoo penguin colony, and would be able to kayak in Mikkelson Harbor as well.  First, we took a Zodiac ride and landed on the island to visit the penguins.  We climbed a short, snow covered hill to reach the colony. There was a small, abandoned rescue hut on the island. At the landing site, close to the beginning of our climb were 2 Weddell seals, sleeping peacefully.  We asked MacDuff, our Nat Geo photographer to take some pics of me and Michael - one of them is posted above  We didn’t have a lot of time at the colony, because the second half of our afternoon was for kayaking, and we wanted to maximize that opportunity.

Sleepy Weddell seal

Abandoned research station on the island

Gentoos are recognized by the white patch of feathers above their eyes

Cruising the Icebergs at Spert Island, Antarctica

Crazy, intricate blue iceberg near Spert Island

Thursday, November 16 -  Spert Island, Antarctic Peninsula 

From our daily briefing: “This morning we hope to offer a Zodiac cruise around Spert, an island lying off the west extremity of Trinity Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. This was charted by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Nordenskjold, 1901-04 and named in 1960 for Sir Thomas Spert, Controller of the King's Ships in the time of Henry VIlI, founder and first Master of the Mariners of England.

We are now heading to Spert Island for a Zodiac cruise.  It’s very cavy, with high bluffs and crags and crazily carved ice bergs.  We had Gail for our boat leader again.  She traveled way to the right of our ship's position to go see a lone chinstrap penguin (while everyone else went right to explore the caves….) So we watched the penguin for a while, then saw 2 Weddell seals sleeping on the rocks, then went past some terns nesting on the high cliffs.  Finally, she headed over to the cove/cliff areas, where we got to drive the Zodiac through small channels of big ice and see many impressive icebergs that were carved like castles with arches and spires, and one really tall skyscraper berg.  It was like a Disney land ride!  The water was so clear, you could see the bottom in many places.  To enhance our experience, it was a beautiful sunny day with almost no wind.  The weather made for easy Zodiacing between the bergs and the channels, as it wasn’t rough.  We also saw an arched rock with a cleft opening. Some of the icebergs were as tall as Chicago skyscrapers. It was a really spectacular experience, and one that I will remember for a long time.

A lone chinstrap penguin has left this crazy maze of footprints on the snow slop

One busy bird!

Careful, a leopard seal is lurking in the surf below the chinstrap penguin

A Weddell seal stretches on a sunny rock

A second Weddel seal naps near by

Massive cave with large cleft

Bigger than an office building!

This iceberg looks like a fairytale castle

Extremely tall icebergs - so impressive

Humpback whales in the bay near the ship