Mikkelson Harbour, D'Hainaut Island

Paul came back from a stint on the Bridge and headed to bed. He was still asleep when I went out to go for a short walk on D'Hainaut Island.

As the zodiac left the ship, a hunchback whale surfaced and dived near the ship. It was wonderful but all too fast for me to take a photo. The zodiac went to the island and on our way we saw 2 humpback whales which were swimming in the bay, and some Gentoo penguins swam between us and the whales.

On the island there were nesting Gentoo penguins. A few had chicks (which were hard for me to spot even if the parent was feeding the chick below its belly), and a few penguins were still incubating their eggs.

One poor penguin fell flat on its face as it walked down a slope. Another penguin got in the line of fire when another penguin opened its bowels, squirting foul smelling guano which landed on the penguin's back, "ruining it's pristine dinner suit" 🤭. I saw other penguins stealing stones from each other's nests and sometimes the wronged penguin got irate and gave chase to the stone robber.

With my stomach muscles still being weak, I struggled to get into the zodiac for the return ride to the ship. The driver kindly tugged me up by my life jacket and I finally got in.

Paul was still sleeping 😴 when I got back. He woke up as I was about to head to dinner in the crew mess but we decided to go to the Colonnade restaurant for dinner instead.

Tomorrow is another day.Read more