Antarctic Sound and Paulet Island

This morning we woke up at 6am to grey, calm waters littered with incredible icebergs and growlers ( low, small chunks of ice that K still laughs at because she can be a 12yr old boy at times!)
Breakfast was at 7.30am and by 8am we were done so we went up to the Observation Lounge to take in the panoramic views.
After sailing through Antarctic Sound (named after the ship Antarctic and not the continent) we dropped anchor in the lee of Paulet Island.
Surprisingly we were the second group to board the zodiac so we got to go ashore with the first half of passengers whilst the other half went zodiac cruising.
We had an hour on land on the extinct volcanic crater where we viewed the Nordenskjolds stone hut built during the Swedish 1901-1904 Antarctic Expedition.
There was also a huge Blue eyed cormorant colony on the triangular slopes that promptly flew off in their droves so sadly the second lot didn’t get to see the collective thousands.
Aswell as enjoying the general view we managed to photo a couple of the Adelie penguins that were v late leaving their colony.
At 10.15am we swapped groups and spent the next hour zodiac cruising along the shore spotting Weddell seals and large icebergs grounded in the bay.
We were treated to one of the icebergs half collapsing which was a real treat.
Back on board by 11.30am it was rest and relaxation and warming up before lunch.
After lunch we pulled up anchor and were sailing for our pm landing of Browns Bluff but it was too rough to land so we continued motoring south. On the way we were treated to huge ice blue, tabular icebergs, feeding humpbacks and general beauty.
K spotted an orca from the cabin window whilst we were also watching the second half of Shackleton the movie- there was just too much excitement!!!
After this we went up to Observation Lounge and spotted 10-20 fin whales, more feeding humpbacks and hundreds of penguins sitting/shitting on huge icebergs floating by.
Dinner was spent pleasantly with Diane and Carl learning about poor Diane’s wife swapping friends ..... and husband!!! Now ex husband!!
Before we knew it is was 10pm and K was snoring gently. Another fantastic day

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