Antarctica 2010 Summary
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2010 Trips   Antarctica Photos   Diana's Tale  

Antarctica: the “White Continent” - the aura of this magical place stems in part from its absolute remoteness, as well as the history of its exploration by those before us who battled such incredible hardships - for us surely the ultimate destination!

Our amazing voyage began in the port of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego Argentina where we launched among an array of Northern Giant Petrel, Dolphin Gull, Kelp Gull, and South American Terns.  It was the beginning of a relatively calm day at sea as we set sail for the Falkland Islands observing quite a few Northern Giant Petrels, Cape Petrels, Black Browed Albatross, Lesser Snow Petrel, Magellanic Diving Petrel, and Wilson’s Storm Petrel.

Our first landing of the tour was on West Point Island in the Falklands.  We hiked about 1.5 miles to Devil’s Nose.  Devil’s Nose overlooks the sea surrounded by cliffs and is home to several thousand majestic Black-Browed Albatross and several hundred rough and tumble tiny Rockhopper Penguins. The surprise for the day was a lone adult Macaroni Penguin in amongst the Rockhopper Penguin.

The afternoon landing was on New Island; it’s history is associated with Whaling and Sealing.  After landing at Settlement Harbor it was a level 1 mile walk to a colony of Rockhopper Penguins, Imperial Shag and Black-Browed Albatross. The colony offers a spectacular vista of soaring Albatross and bounding penguins along the cliffs.

Our last stop was in the East Falklands at Port Stanley.  Here we decided to have a go at it on our own, so we walked a good 10 miles throughout the course of the day.  We made our way along the shoreline past the wreckage of the Lady Elizabeth, continued along the harbor to the point, made our way to Gypsy Cove, continued along the sand dunes to the airport and circled our way back to the ship.  Along the way managed to come across all 6 of our targets for the day:  the views from Gypsy Cove, Two-banded Plover, Magellenic Penguin, White-bridled Finch, South American Snipe and Rufous-chested Dotterel.  

Upon leaving the Falklands we were to spend the day At Sea as we made our way to South Georgia Islands.  The lounge on the 7th floor allows us to do pelagic birding from the comfort of a warm room with panoramic glassed views.  This crossing provided our first sightings of Great Shearwater, Light Mantled Sooty Albatross, Wandering Albatross and Gray-headed Albatross. Along the way the Prions changed from Slender Billed to Antarctic.

South Georgia with its unique position inside the Antarctic Convergence yet outside the limit of the yearly sea ice provided magnificent mountain scenery, an abundance of glaciers, a rugged coastline punctuated with icebergs, and home to millions of breeding penguins, seals, seabirds, and reindeer.

Fortuna Bay in South Georgia is our destination as it is host to thousands of King Penguin and numerous fur seals.  The King Penguins prefer to nest at long, open beaches with large swell. Upon our arrival we certainly were not disappointed – King Penguins in large groups, groups of 3, groups of 2, single penguins, downy King Penguins, our only problem was deciding which to photograph. 

After a quick pit stop back onboard the Fram we packed up our gear and made our way back to shore in order to begin a 5.5 km hike from Fortuna Bay to Stromness.  Upon arriving on shore we made our way past the territorial fur seals to begin our ascent towards Stromness.  The hike was a moderate pace as the ascent was steep, the footing alternating between slick mud and rocky shale, the sun appearing making our layers peel away, and a howling wind that at times seemed poised to lift us off the slopes.  Vistas of snow capped mountains, dry barren land, patches of snow and waterfalls cascading in many directions.  The last half of the hike was made in the footsteps of Shakelton as he approached Fortuna Bay and realized he had not reached the whaling station at Stromness.  Overall it was about 2 ½ hours of memories.

Our next stop in South Georgia was Grytviken, the first whaling station in Antarctic waters and home to Shackleton’s grave.  Grytviken provided us a good opportunity to photograph seals while maneuvering around some of their aggressive behavior.  Upon leaving Grytviken we made our way to Drygalski Fjord, a picturesque fjord of shear cliffs, snow-capped peaks and glaciers.  A wonderful photo opportunity and a tease of things to come.  Interspersed among these smaller ice formations were snow petrels and Antarctic terns. 

A day at sea to unwind and relive the memories of South Georgia as we set off for the South Orkney Islands.  Early morning the ship was encompassed by hundreds of Cape Petrels and dozens of Southern Fulmar interspersed with Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, Blue Petrel and Antarctic Prions. 

By late morning we arrived at Washington Strait between Powell Island and Laurie island, an area known as “iceberg alley”.  Iceberg alley did not disappoint as we had our first experiences of the massive ice formations with the next more impressive than the last – if that’s possible.  By this time Snow Petrels had joined in by circling the ship – upwards of 20.  The seas were filled with chinstrap penguins and a fair amount of Adelie penguins and a couple of Gentoo penguins. 

We made a landing at the Argentine station Orcadas, the oldest continuously running research facility in Antarctica. Upon arriving the beaches were filled with Chinstrap penguins and Adelie penguins.

After some time at sea we had now reached Antarctica and the perimeter islands of the mainland.  The scenic settings are as magnificent as any on earth, and the scale of nearly everything is grand to say the least. Complimenting these astounding vistas are vast colonies of penguins, skuas, petrels, sheathbills, seals and whales that all add life to the region’s stark and amazing beauty.

The morning we made a rare landing at the Chinese Great Wall station located on King George Island, which is the largest of the South Shetland Islands. This station normally does not receive many visitors, but a passenger’s father had been stationed there at one time, so we were able to make the stop.

This was our first opportunity to visit a Gentoo Penguin colony that was interspersed with Chinstrap Penguins as well as Brown Skuas and Antarctic Terns. Our first sighting of Weddell Seals occurred with them sleeping on the beach along with some Elephant Seals.  In the late afternoon we arrived at Yankee Harbour on Greenwich Island. It is home to a terraced Gentoo Colony numbering around 4000 pairs. Nearby Glacier Bluff offered a dramatic backdrop and on this clear day, we could see across the McFarland Straight to Livingston and Half Moon Island.  We also observed an immature Macaroni Penguin that the ornithologist called a floater, a bird which is non-breeding but scouting various spots. Overall an incredible spot!

As we made our way through “iceberg alley” in Antarctic Sound, which lies between the very tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and D’Urville, Joinville, and Dundee Islands, huge tabular icebergs from the ice shelves in the Weddell Sea were brought here in the Weddell’s gyre-like currents. It is an astonishing assortment of floating ice formations both large and small; some with small groups of penguins, leopard seal, Crabeater seal and Weddell Seal. The intention was to land on Brown Bluff – the mainland of the Antarctic peninsula – but the ice and wind forced us to abandon that plan. Instead we endevored to land on Joinville island - a new landing for our crew - it was home to thousands of Adelie and Gentoo Penguins, many still on nest.

Only in Antarctica could one hope for three things to start the morning – land on the Antarctic peninsula, see Emporer Penguin and take a polar circle boat through the icebergs – strike out on all three accounts, yet it was still arguably one of the most fascinating days of our lives.

Our Last Day in Antarctica – the first stop of the day was at Deception Island.   A portion of the wall of the volcanic caldera of Deception Island has collapsed, flooding the interior and creating an amazing natural harbor.  Access to the interior is through the 660 feet entrance known as Neptune’s Bellows, so named for the winds which howl through.  We did a 4 mile roundtrip hike between Whaler’s Bay and Baily Head which took about 4 hours in order to see a Chinstrap Penguin Colony high up in the mountains.  It was a relatively steep hike that alternated between snow, ice and mud, it was the snow fields however that provided us the opportunity to slide down the hillside penguin style.  Upon returning from the hike, Paul decided to join a few members of the crew and passengers on an Antarctic Plunge.  The water was so cold it was literally paralyzing.

Our late afternoon stop was at Half Moon Island - a 1.2 mile, crescent-shaped island in the shadow of the picturesque mountains and glaciers of nearby Livingston Island. It is a favored expedition stop for its large chinstrap penguin rookery. The serrated and crevassed cliffs are also home to Antarctic terns, kelp gulls, snowy sheathbills, and Wilson’s storm-petrels.

This journey to Antarctica was a once-in-a-lifetime experience – except of course we loved it so much we may have to return!

2010 Trips   Antarctica Photos   Diana's Tale