Antarctic Adventures #11 - Drake Passage to Antarctic Waters - 23 Dec 2019

Antarctic Adventures #11 - 

Drake Passage to Antarctic Waters - Monday, 23 Dec 2019

Up at 7:20am.  Slept good, but could tell that it was quite rough.  Haven’t heard the wave size, but splashing over the rails of Deck 3 & totaling covering the portholes at times on Deck 2 in the restaurant.   Apparently this particular location is the "Arntarctic Convergence!    Could feel the drop in the temperature due to the ocean's temperature change! Made it through the Drake Passage - moderate seas - about 10' with long swells.  Crossed the 60th Parallel into Antarctic Waters.  

Had breakfast & then had the mandatory IAATA meeting by Claudia.  Assigned our numbers – I’m 54.  George is 53.  Did our little flip of the numbers on the board as a training exercise for going ashore.  It's a manual system to keep track of who leaves & returns.  They don't want to leave anyone behind!!  At least they never have yet, according to Claudia!!  They showed us how to put on all our equipment, like our life jacket.  Learned a lot of dos & don’ts for the wildlife/birding.  Interesting that all the countries could come together & make some good regulations to protect Antarctica!

 

Had a break & supposed to have the Disenfectant “party,” but had to cancel due to the weather conditions.  Closed off the decks. Waves are over the 3rd deck rails, but not up to the 5th deck where our cabin is.  I was feeling a little queasy – mostly sleepy, so back in cabin, I lay down.  Skipped Dani’s Geological lecture.  Went to lunch at noon.

Back to cabin – then supposed to have the Ice-Breaking party, but it was delayed until tomorrow due to weather.  Tried to get caught up on computer, but very very slow internet.  A little blowing snow, fog, & still very rough waters.  Started seeing tiny little icebergs.

They called us to a meeting for our next plans & turns out we are ahead of schedule & we’ll try for a Zodiac tour tonight at the Melchiar Islands.  Yippee!  Normally we would have headed towards the Shetland Islands, but due to the placement of a storm, we headed more straight south & straight to the Antarctic Peninsula!  Lucky us!!! 

They continued with the plan for tomorrow, we'll head Danco Island & then on to the mainland we'll try for the Polar Plunge!  Yipes!!!  Not sure we're ready!!!

Back to our cabin to wait for them to call us for the equipment inspection & to get our boots.  I was the first to call in that had spotted an iceberg.  Has to be larger than the ship to count!  Marlyn & Michele were looking at them too, but thought they were too small to call in!  But was we watched, there was a HUGE one behind the flat sheet.  It was too foggy to clearly get a picture, but it was definitely there!!  Have seen tons of Black Browed Albatross  & Giant Petrels.  I think I just saw a Cape Petrel, but no one available to confirm it! 

It was a magical change as we went into the sheltered cove of the Melchiar Islands.  No waves at all.  Just amazing.  We anchored among beautiful glaciers & ice/snow covered islands.  Water was crystal clear & gorgeous.  We had our meeting to check all our gear for foreign materials & got our boots.  Our cabin helper, Dima was also our helper to fit the boots.  He is wonderful.  George had brought his hiking stick from Machu Pichu, but it wouldn't lock, so just tossed it!  

Got a perfect fit & back to cabin to quick put things up & then on to dinner.  Almost too excited to eat! (I did say almost - take a look at that leg of lamb!!!  The windows in the dining room were not clear, but we could see the snow covered cliffs as we neared the Islands.  Couldn't skip dessert either!!

Back to the cabin, we got into our Arctic Gear for the first time while looking out the windows!  We were to be in the second wave of groups to load the zodiacs.  Tonight was just a cruise around the bay.

  

 As we waited inside, we were snapping pictures of the amazing scenery awaiting our first discovery!!!

 Finally it was our turn to load into the zodiac to cruise the bay.  This is sooooo exciting!  Dani (another of the Expedition Guides) was our zodiac driver today.

 Our first penguins!!  They were mostly Gentoo, but if you look closely, you can see that the black back is actually a Chinstrap!!  We were really really lucky!!! 

As we were cruising as close to the shore as possible we noticed how clear the water was.  Then Dani spotted a Weddell Seal!  It was as curious about us as we were about him!!  How awesome! 

We weren't done yet either!  Besides just the unbelievable scenery surrounding us, we saw Antarctic Cormorants, Brown Skua, Antarctic Terns, & even Crabeater Seals hauled out on the shelf ice in the corner of the bay. Even Kelp Gulls were flying above us.

The deep blue crevices in the glaciers was just unbelievable.  A couple of  Chilean yachts were hidden away in a protected corner - can't imagine what it would be like to cross the Drake in one of them!  Too tiny!!

Got close to another zodiac & managed to take a picture of Rich & Georgeianne while they snapped a picture of us!!

All too soon, we had to head back on board.  We shed our Antarctic gear & headed to the lounge to celebrate our first truly Antarctic experience.  Everyone was on a high, dancing, chatting, & all smiles!  The views outside the lounge were still stunning!  Enormous icebergs that looked like oil tankers floated by & the coastline was Awesome!!!  Headed to bed with hearts & heads just singing with excitement!