Joinville Island

This morning at about 09:00 we started our landing on Joinville Island. It was a little chilly at -4˚C and with the windchill it felt like about -10˚. Save for the colonies of penguins, the island was completely covered with snow and ice. Just above the landing site was a busy colony of Gentoo Penguins and further up the hill was a very large colony of Adelie Penguins. Most of the penguins were boasting two chicks but we could see penguins with single chicks at many nests. This was most probably the result of predation on an egg or chick by the ever present Skuas and Kelp Gulls. There is a lot of open space to walk around on Joinville so it was great to be able to stretch our legs after being on the ship for two days. The last Polar Cirkle Boat left the shores of Joinville at 13:40 In the afternoon we cruised by huge tabular icebergs and were lucky enough to spot Killer and Humpback Whales while Fram made her way towards our landing sites for tomorrow.