January 1

Days 5-8  Antarctic Peninsula (cont'd)

Welcome to 2026!

Our southern journey along the Antarctic Peninsula continues.  We sailed overnight and pulled into our destination about 8am.  I was in bed well before midnight, so was up early enough to hit the gym this morning.  The room has big windows to the outside, so as I plodded along on the treadmill I saw quite a few whales cruise by and countless penguins 'porpoising'.  

This is the view from my room upon dropping anchor.

Cuverville Island with our landing site in the foreground

Once we drop anchor the expedition team head out on zodiacs to mark the walking route.  Once that is done they come back and load the guests onto the zodiacs.  Before and after every outing we need to wash our boots and lower pants in a special solution to ensure we're not transferring any matter from one site to another.  The kayakers, paddlers, snorkellers, and snowshoers all travel with their own groups.  

The island has been identified as an "Important Bird Area" (IBA) because it supports a breeding colony of about 6500 pairs of Gentoo penguins, perhaps the largest for this species on the Antarctic Peninsula.  There certainly were a lot of them!  Our wanderings are pretty limited, but it's pretty entertaining to watch them go about their lives.  There seemed to be quite a few very young chicks and lots of adults still on the nests, presumably with eggs under them.  Not a lot of building materials around here for nests - rocks and pebbles.  The area between our ship and our landing site was filled with stunning little icebergs; Mother Nature is an incredible artist.  BTW - the weather is looking a bit brighter and warmer today.

The snorkellers are ready to head out.

A good look at the nests

The Weddell seal blends in well

Some humpbacks spotted during lunch and a whole pod (probably several pods) of orcas visible during our sail to Neko Harbour.  And the sun is out this afternoon!  Although - still low-hanging clouds over the glaciers.  Neko Harbour will be our first landing on the peninsula itself.  There is (was) an Argentine refuge there, opened in 1949, destroyed by a storm in 2009, and rebuilt in 2011.  It was then washed away by a tidal wave a few years later.  There is a breeding colony of several hundred pairs of Gentoo penguins.  Smart birds, though.  They nest on the hill near the beach to avoid being washed away by the large waves generated by the frequent calving of the nearby glacier.  And - in fact - there was some calving going on shortly after we dropped anchor. 

I'll keep posting in this blog, but looking back through what I've done so far I realize that the photos do very little justice to the magnificent grandeur outside my window.  Even with the low cloud cover we've had so far, the views are other-worldly!

Some scenery on the way to Neko Harbour.

Our landing site.

Penguin highways up and down the hill.  I have some really entertaining videos.

Weddell seal

Leopard seal down by the water

We have two "penguin counters" on board.  They are the only ones allowed to go this close.

Some already had chicks of varying sizes.  Some were still on eggs.

Snowshoers heading out

One lonely chinstrap penguin.  I didn't see any others.

And thus ends another great day.  Turns out that this is as far south as we are going.  We'll be heading back north overnight.  The forecast (winds) look good for tomorrow, but it could be a really rocky crossing to South Georgia.  I'm glad I have a few Gravol left.  Once again we had a few whales entertaining us during dinner.