Recounting some of my adventures while not on the road. I traveled through Antarctica in early 2015. After a windy vist to Mikkelsen Harbour we have one more day on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Deception Island
This would be our last day in the Antarctic Peninsula, so it was a little bittersweet that we approached this day. We’d learned that everyday had something new to see or experience and today was no exception! In fact we had to get up extra early today so we could head outside to see the Akedemik Ioffe navigate through Neptune’s Bellows, a narrow 755 ft wide entrance into the middle of Deception Island.
Whalers Bay
After navigating through Neptune’s Bellows we landed on deception Island in Whalers Bay. The island itself is pretty unique in that it forms a ‘C’ like shape and is actually the caldera of an active volcano. This made for very unique (and warm) black rock beaches. A number of us took the opportunity to hike up to a elevated point on the south east corner of the Island to get a view of the Island and the bay.
When we got back down to the beach, it was a moment that many of us had been waiting for (or dreading) since we embarked on this cruise. It was time for an Antarctic Swim! So like any other beach goer we donned our swimming apparel and jumped in! It was COLD! I’m pretty sure I dove in and popped up right away before retreating to our towel offering guides to dry off and throw our winter weather gear back on! Nonetheless it was an experience I will never forget! It also didn’t hurt that we were treated to a pretty stellar brunch right afterward!
Half Moon Island
After brunch we made our final landing at Half Moon Island. This would be the last time that we would don our red jackets, be in zodiacs, and really be in Antarctica so we were all feeling a bit nostalgic at this point. Half Moon Island like everything we’d seen was nothing short of spectacular and it made for such a great place to simply reflect on the great adventure we’d all experienced together.
No visit would be complete without the customary penguin pictures! We got to get close to these guys again and scored some great photos of some of the baby penguins as well!
I felt like I neglected the seals we ran into throughout our voyage. There were a few good opportunities to see these guys on our last excursion so I was glad to spend some time watching these lazy guys simply “hang out”
One of the really cool (sad?) stories that we got to see was the story of “Kevin” (lovingly named by our expedition crew). He is a single Macaroni penguin on Half Moon Island. Not totally sure how he got here, but apparently he waits for a mate to come to this colony each season. Maybe one day Kevin will find love, can you spot him in this pic?
And with that we would say good by to this mysterious and beautiful part of the world. Stick around for next week as we wrap up this trip with a Drake crossing and a final day in Argentina.