South Shetland Islands
Our travel time during the second day spent plying the waters of the Drake Passage would be shorter than expected as the following swell helped push us closer to the South Shetland Islands. Our first iceberg was spotted almost instantaneously by two guests vying for a bottle of champagne, although one was a little young to enjoy the prize. Our late morning approach through English Narrows put us close to another grounded berg that the Captain, with great skill slowly approached. Estimates were made as to its size only to be impressed with the true answer; there was about 200m (600 feet) of water below us and about 40m (120 feet) of ice above the water line for a total of, well quite a lot. It would have supplied enough water for the ship on an order of a few thousand years!
The afternoon was spent landing at Barrentos Island in the Aitcho group where our first walk amongst penguins was enjoyed. The two species usually found here, the gentoo and the chinstrap were joined by a third-the king penguin. It is very rare to see the second largest penguin species on a beach this close to Antarctica. Their usual area is the sub-Antarctic waters of the Falklands and South Georgia where they number in the millions. With its 1m height, grayish back and colorful orange neck, this one was a juvenile who turned south in search of food and ended up among a group of dwarfs (penguins) and giants (humans).
As the weather turned grey we returned to the ship for a nice drink, warm dinner and quiet night at anchor before the next adventure.
Our travel time during the second day spent plying the waters of the Drake Passage would be shorter than expected as the following swell helped push us closer to the South Shetland Islands. Our first iceberg was spotted almost instantaneously by two guests vying for a bottle of champagne, although one was a little young to enjoy the prize. Our late morning approach through English Narrows put us close to another grounded berg that the Captain, with great skill slowly approached. Estimates were made as to its size only to be impressed with the true answer; there was about 200m (600 feet) of water below us and about 40m (120 feet) of ice above the water line for a total of, well quite a lot. It would have supplied enough water for the ship on an order of a few thousand years!
The afternoon was spent landing at Barrentos Island in the Aitcho group where our first walk amongst penguins was enjoyed. The two species usually found here, the gentoo and the chinstrap were joined by a third-the king penguin. It is very rare to see the second largest penguin species on a beach this close to Antarctica. Their usual area is the sub-Antarctic waters of the Falklands and South Georgia where they number in the millions. With its 1m height, grayish back and colorful orange neck, this one was a juvenile who turned south in search of food and ended up among a group of dwarfs (penguins) and giants (humans).
As the weather turned grey we returned to the ship for a nice drink, warm dinner and quiet night at anchor before the next adventure.
