Volcano hike, whaling history and birders delight.

I wont use the "p-word" again, although it still feels like being there. Our visits to Whaler's Bay, inside of Deception Island, and Half Moon Island were a great mixture for our last day with landings on this trip. In Whaler's Bay one part of the passengers visited the old whaling station.

Another group went on a hike from Whaler's Bay across the ridge of the volcano crater towards Baily Head at the long straight Costa Recta on the Northern side of the island. Some snow was drifting in a strong wind. A slide downhill took us close to the Chinstrap penguin rookery. All in all a real Antarctic experience. Same had the penguins. Some of them were covered with snow or even a thin layer of ice, while they were still breeding their eggs.

The second landing in the afternoon was on Half Moon Island where the sun and more Chinstrap penguins were welcoming us.

Enjoy the photographs and have your own impression. I should add that the "p" is not related to today's penguins but more to the feeling to be at the right place, as all the previous days of this trip to paradise.

The other side

We normally visit places on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula because the ice conditions are usually favourable. However, if you are very lucky, like we are, you may get to visit the eastern side, AKA the Weddell Sea side. Early this morning we approached Paulet Island in idyllic conditions of sun and calm winds. Paulet is famous for its huge Adélie Penguin colony and it did not disappoint! Almost everywhere we looked we could see Adélies laying down incubating their eggs, standing and singing to each other, carrying stones and generally doing what Adélie Penguins do (note the flying penguin below!). On one corner of the colony and in several other places, Blue-eyed Shags were breeding. We had a chance to hike up a hill on the island for a great view of the penguins and the beautiful, though stark, landscapes below. Although the wind picked up a little through the morning, it remained pleasant, and the sun was strong. Towards the end of the landing the wind picked up.

After returning to the ship we sailed towards Brown Bluff, our next landing site. The winds which started at Paulet, increased and we were soon in raging 60 knot catabatic winds from the nearby mainland icecap. We instantly understood how fickle the Antarctic weather can be- from a lamb to a lion. We anchored at Brown Bluff and the Expedition team suited up for the landing but it was clear from the conditions at the tender-pit that we could not continue (the tender-pit is where we get in and out of our Polarcirkel boats). We closed the doors and sailed on through the Antarctic sound, admiring the incredible tabular icebergs that seemed to be all around us.

An action-filled day!

We made the very best of our stay in Punta Arenas, Chile. Four different excursions took passengers to various places in the vicinity of Punta Arenas. Another group had already left for Torres del Paine National Park yesterday. They will return later tonight- too late for the blog deadline so we will talk about this tomorrow!

There was so much action today that your faithful bloggers have decided to again let the images tell the story.

Punta Arenas city

Estancia Fitz Roy

Magellanes Hike

Seno Otway Magellanic Penguin colony

At the end of this great day we had a Chilean group come on board to perform a folklore show. It was a special way to end a special day in a special part of the world.