Cuverville Island, Neko Harbour & Lemaire Channel
After a hearty breakfast, our expedition leader Tom Ritchie announced that we were offshore from Cuverville Island. Unfortunately, the wind was howling at gale force, but Captain Phillipp Dieckmann circled to the lee side where we could land in a little harbor that is seldom visited. We shuttled ashore amidst drizzle and falling snow and were instantly greeted by two large southern fur seals, which hissed and snorted as we passed, sometimes taking a bite at one another. All around them were thousands of nesting gentoo penguins, many fending off relentless attacks by skuas trying to steal (and eat) their chicks.
Even though conditions were relatively miserable, especially for photographers trying to keep their lenses and electronics dry, it was very hard to leave a scene of so much life and beauty. All too soon we reboarded the ship, motored into Andvord Bay, and anchored off of a spectacular beach called Neko Harbor, where a massive glacier hundreds of feet thick pours off a mountain on the Antarctic Peninsula. Here, for the first time, we actually set foot onto the continent and most people took a sturdy hike up onto the glacier to overlook the ship and Zodiacs, bobbing amidst icebergs below the huge, calving ice front, rent with deep blue crevasses. Now and then we heard and saw avalanches from the icefall, but were fortunate that no seracs launched into the ocean next to our beach. It would have been miserable – even dangerous – if we were soaked by any resultant waves.
Between that panoramic overlook (below which some hardy souls glissaded back down) and Cuverville Island earlier in the morning, it seemed like we had already had more than enough excitement for the day, but much still lay ahead.
After embarking again, the Captain steered us back out of Andvord Bay and into Paradise Bay, where stunningly beautiful mountains and glaciers rise straight from the ocean seemingly to Heaven, which is how the setting got its name. By this point, many of the group’s photographers were beginning to worry about their memory cards bursting, but more still lay ahead.
Shortly after dinner, we steered into the Lemaire Channel, which some people jokingly call “Kodak Gap” for all of the pictures that have been shot there since Lars Eric Lindblad brought down the first expedition travelers in the late 1960’s. Here, some of the most dramatically pointed mountains on the entire Antarctic coast tower overhead and the clatter of shutters was almost deafening. Better still, stray bits of sunlight lit up the peaks at moments, and behind us, Anvers Island was bathed in a golden glow.
I can’t imagine a better day anywhere than what we experienced today on the National Geographic Endeavour.
After a hearty breakfast, our expedition leader Tom Ritchie announced that we were offshore from Cuverville Island. Unfortunately, the wind was howling at gale force, but Captain Phillipp Dieckmann circled to the lee side where we could land in a little harbor that is seldom visited. We shuttled ashore amidst drizzle and falling snow and were instantly greeted by two large southern fur seals, which hissed and snorted as we passed, sometimes taking a bite at one another. All around them were thousands of nesting gentoo penguins, many fending off relentless attacks by skuas trying to steal (and eat) their chicks.
Even though conditions were relatively miserable, especially for photographers trying to keep their lenses and electronics dry, it was very hard to leave a scene of so much life and beauty. All too soon we reboarded the ship, motored into Andvord Bay, and anchored off of a spectacular beach called Neko Harbor, where a massive glacier hundreds of feet thick pours off a mountain on the Antarctic Peninsula. Here, for the first time, we actually set foot onto the continent and most people took a sturdy hike up onto the glacier to overlook the ship and Zodiacs, bobbing amidst icebergs below the huge, calving ice front, rent with deep blue crevasses. Now and then we heard and saw avalanches from the icefall, but were fortunate that no seracs launched into the ocean next to our beach. It would have been miserable – even dangerous – if we were soaked by any resultant waves.
Between that panoramic overlook (below which some hardy souls glissaded back down) and Cuverville Island earlier in the morning, it seemed like we had already had more than enough excitement for the day, but much still lay ahead.
After embarking again, the Captain steered us back out of Andvord Bay and into Paradise Bay, where stunningly beautiful mountains and glaciers rise straight from the ocean seemingly to Heaven, which is how the setting got its name. By this point, many of the group’s photographers were beginning to worry about their memory cards bursting, but more still lay ahead.
Shortly after dinner, we steered into the Lemaire Channel, which some people jokingly call “Kodak Gap” for all of the pictures that have been shot there since Lars Eric Lindblad brought down the first expedition travelers in the late 1960’s. Here, some of the most dramatically pointed mountains on the entire Antarctic coast tower overhead and the clatter of shutters was almost deafening. Better still, stray bits of sunlight lit up the peaks at moments, and behind us, Anvers Island was bathed in a golden glow.
I can’t imagine a better day anywhere than what we experienced today on the National Geographic Endeavour.
