Today we were up and off the ship by 5:30am for our first landing
at Whalers Bay on Deception Island, which is an active volcano and an old
whaling station. To this day whales will not enter the bay, very
sad. A few random penguins show up on the beaches (Gentoo and Chinstrap)
Winds and swells caused us
to leave Deception Island, we ended up with Plan D this afternoon, – a zodiac
landing on Halfmoon Island – where a colony of Chinstrap penguins live.
The water was rough so getting off and on the zodiac was definitely an
adventure!
As we started leaving
Halfmoon Island, we were escorted by a few Humpback whales, including a mamma
and her calf – the captain idled the ship so we could all go outside to take
pictures.
This afternoon we started
heading North toward Ushuaia. Our expedition leader let us know that the
first day crossing the Drake will be a typical conditions rough but not like we
experience on the way to Antarctica. The second day crossing is supposed
to be worse than what we have already experienced. I’m so excited!
Our expedition leader just
provided an update Drakes Passage – “everyone needs to Drake proof your cabin –
the ship is definitely going to be moving! Yikes!
We have thousands of
pictures to go through, two days crossing Drakes will give us plenty of time to
work on them… as long our motion sickness patches work and we can keep the
laptop stable.
We forgot to update you – we
are not the only Americans on board – turns out there are six of us. (A
couple from Texas and two women traveling together (Cheryl & Colleen) We’ve
been having fun hanging out with Cheryl & Colleen and sharing great travel
stories.
OMG! We just left
Halfmoon Island and the swells are already huge, the ship is moving all over
the place –this is going to be a long 2 ½ days! It’s definitely back to
one hand for the ship and one hand for you!
Wish us luck crossing Drakes
Passage!
- Deception Island is a volcano whose one wall collapsed and filled with sea water, creating what is called a caldera. It looks like the letter C.
Casualty Report:
- had internet issues on Saturday and was not able to send the Saturday blog to our publisher.
Good luck and safe travels!
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