Cuverville Island/Recess Bay

After the wild weather yesterday we awoke to a calm bay with flat seas. We landed on Cuverville Island with a gentoo colony - it was snowing and some of the new chicks were trying to catch the snowflakes in their beaks.
Later we moved to Recess Bay and for the first time actually had landfall on the Antarctic continent instead of islands.
At both sites we had humpback whales of varying sizes feeding in the waters all around us - we actually had the best sightings whilst on the boat as opposed to the zodiacs.
Then we ended with the mandatory polar plunge into the freezing -1 degree water - it wasn't as bad I thought - helped by the vodka shot when you were hauled out! Then straight into the jacuzzi and sauna to warm up.
We finished with a BBQ on the back decks on what is now our last night in Antarctica due to another storm front approaching the Drake passage with the potential for 9m waves! So we are cutting our trip short by a day and heading to the South Shetlands tomorrow before heading back over the passage before the main storm hits (only 3.5m waves apparently!)
It has been an amazing experience and impossible to describe in its impact as the landscape here is so vast and majestic in its wildness. Pictures can't do justice to it.Lue lisää