This time The Drake Passage revealed its true self and made reason for its infamous reputation. We experienced strong gale during the night sailing out from Ushuaia, but it seemed to be short-lived and the weather calmed down to high wind during the following day, which was a relief for all of us.
We spent the following day with info-briefings, trying out our blue Expedition Jackets and getting the right sizes for our much comfortable muck boots, which we are going to use in Antarctica.
To our delight we had Albatrosses accompanying the ship towards Elephant Island. We had the Wandering, the Grey-Headed and the Black-browed, as well as Cape Petrels, aka Pintados, swivelling around M/S Fram showing themselves from their best side.
In early afternoon on the 18 January, we sighted the legendary Elephant Island and we were all eager to get out there to explore. We decided on a cruising around the absolutely stunning Point Lookout.
These rugged metamorphic rocks with a topping of iron-oxide and penguin-droppings was home to an abundant wildlife. There were Weddell, Fur, Elephant and Leopard Seals in the water, Cape Petrels in the air, Chinstrap Penguins on the rocks and to our delight we found the absolutely amazing Macaroni Penguins around the corner. All this in one place and it was all beautifully wrapped in by the surroundings of glaciers coming down the mountains. This is a truly special place and it will linger on for quite some time.
A great start to our adventures here in Antarctica.
