February 7, 2020

CRUISING ANTARCTIC WATERS DAY 4

Today is our last day of cruising the waters around the Antarctic peninsula. First thing this morning we started with cruising the waters of Antarctic Sound and Hope Bay. There was some early morning fog around the area. We managed to spot a few killer whales going by the ship while we were having breakfast. After breakfast we started crossing the choppy waters of Bransfield Strait towards the South Shetland Islands, in peticular King George Island. This is the largest of the islands. After a 2 hr crossing we came up to the Island. Meanwhile the Greenpeace ship had sailed up beside us, I guess they were keeping an eye on what we were up to. Greenpeace also has a base in the area. We spotted the Uruguayan base station. Surounding the station , there were thousands of Adelie Penguins on the shoreline and up on the hills. The weather had taken a turn for the better, the sun came out and blue sky’s and tottally no wind. Temp 4C deg. The scenery of the snow covered hills and the glacier green mirror like water was stunning. With the sun shining on the outside deck and no wind, it was pretty comfortable on deck. The boat’s dance team took this opportunity to take pictures in their swimwear. It was announced that 2 days ago, they recorded the warmest temperature ever in Antarctica 18.3C deg. We kept slowly cruising by the shoreline and several more base camps were observed. Polish, Equadorian, Peruvian and Brazilian camps were seen. All throughout the afternoon their was commentary from the bridge by the Antarctic experts informing us about the shoreline and wildlife details. After cruising by the shoreline of King George Island for the remainer of the afternoon and enjoying the sunshine, we set sail towards the Falkland Islands by 5 pm. One of the officers on board said that this was the 7th time he was at this island and today was the first time he seen the sun. (that shows how lucky we were today)

Today we visited the following waters: Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Sound, Hope Bay, South Shetland Islands.

Cheers

“South America” “South Shetland Islands” “Cruising”