Up and down the slopes

The weather was a bit grey, cloudy and it snowed, it looked almost “mystical”, when MS Fram passed through the narrow opening called Neptune’s Bellows at Deception Island. 

We made our landing at Whalers Bay, once the southernmost Whaling station in the world. The hikers were set on land, and set off towards the other side of the caldera. The slope was steep, but the slide down on the other side towards Baily Head was worth the exhaustion. 

A natural amphitheater packed with ten-thousands of Chinstrap Penguins was awaiting us, what an amazing view. After a break and a stroll between the colonies, we headed back up again. 

It was hard to find our path back in the snowdrift, but we reached the other side all well, and some of us might got a little bit of a taste of an Antarctic explorer’s life. The rest of us wasn’t bored neither, there was lots to see at Whalers’s Bay: the remains of the Norwegian whaling operations, the stunning view through Neptune’s Window and even the Hangar, where the first Antarctic flight took place! And last but not least: the brave Antarctic swimmers! Some fearless passengers jumped into the icy waters from Deception Island and went for a polar plunge.

In the afternoon we had a little rest before we arrived at Mikkelsen Harbor, a small rocky islet located in the Palmer Archipelago. And what a small but fine place: the views on all directions were – once more – stunning. 

We were surrounded by huge glacier fronts and the evening sun made beautiful horizons over the Gentoo rookeries. It was a coming and going on the penguin highways up and down the slope. On the landing side the Weddell seals had a rest on the snow and it was a very peaceful ending of the day. 

Happy Hikers & Penguin Heaven!

This day started early for some of us. Short before 8 am the hikers went on land at Maiviken. The beach was – once more – packed with fur seals, but the shore team managed to keep a little passage “free” and 55 happy hikers set off to walk to Grytviken, a former whaling station on South Georgia. 

We walked steep uphill trough tussock grass, passed by the beautiful Crean Lake and up to the viewpoint. As the wind picked up together with a bit of snow, we proceeded after a short break down towards the church in Grytviken. 

As the hikers arrived, the other passengers came ashore as well and visited Shackleton`s & Frank Wild`s grave while walking towards the center of the settlement, looking for a good route between the fur seals and elephant seals which literally “plastered” the path to the museum. Two “local” guides from the place gave us a nice guided tour through the remainings from the station.

In the afternoon we headed for St. Andrews Bay – the biggest King penguin colony from South Georgia was breeding here, over 200`000 pairs! Can you imagine? Already from the boat we could see them and note the scent – penguin-smell was in the air! And for the first time, MS Fram made a landing at St. Andrews Bay. Thousands of elephant seals were lying around the beach area, mostly weaners but also some adults which lay close together while they are moulting. 

After passing two rivers and up green meadows we stood on the top of a hill and looked down to – Penguin Heaven! We hardly couldn`t believe what we saw, thousands and thousands of King penguins and their chicks were trumpeting and whistling! Unbelievable… 

We just sat, looked and enjoyed. It was hard to leave this amazing place in the evening, so much to see! The weaners (young elephant seals) at the landing site didn`t make our leave easy – they were very interested on the safety gear, cones and flags from the expedition team! But it was time to go, off to Antarctica, ready for new experiences, seals, penguins and whatever we might encounter on this beautiful voyage..