Antarctica 7: Lemaire Channel

Today's plan was to go to Petermann Island in the morning and then Cartou in the afternoon. Unfortunately, as already announced in yesterday's recap, the weather conditions were too rough to have any outdoor fun there. And you could really see the waves building up with whitecaps 🌊 But the icebergs we passed were an absolutely stunning sight. Each unique in form, colour and structures. And there were soooo many of them!
As we couldn't do any activities in the morning we got a lecture about the race to the South Pole between Scott and Amundsen. It was told in a very interesting way and we were hooked to the story. Even though I've known some parts already, it was still great to get a short summary. We continued on to the spot for the Plan B but it was the same conditions. Going there we passed the narrow and difficult to navigate Lemaire Channel which was luckily free of icebergs otherwise we would've needed to turn around. The wind was blowing heavily through the channel and made filming difficult 💨 But at least it wasn't very cold and we got some fresh air ☺️

In the afternoon we had another lecture, this time about Pinnipeds 😍 That's the name for all the kinds of eared and non-eared seals 🦭 The lecturer was really passionate about them and explained their specific properties. One of the most interesting ones is the Leopard Seal, a highly intelligent and curious apex predator. Shortly after the lecture we got the confirmation that we're good to go out on a landing/zodiac cruise at Rocky Point, a little rock island in the Paradise Bay. Our group was the first to get ready and arrive at the landing zone. All of it was covered in ice and snow ❄️ From the landing zone you could do a 10 minute walk up to the snowy top with amazing views over the whole bay. It had started to rain quite a bit and we got a little soaked (my parka isn't waterproof, also Julia's ski pants aren't). Especially when we got in for the zodiac cruise it got colder and wetter.
Right after the start of the cruise we passed some Gentoo Penguins resting along the shore. Then we passed some beautiful icebergs close by with the zodiac, seeing the intense blue shining in the crevasses. Then we visited a Weddell seal peaking out of the water at the landing site. It was curious to investigate our zodiacs 🦭 Then we got a radio that a humpback whale is feeding nearby, so we went to see it. It came up close to us, rolled over and showed fins and fluke 🐳 While taking videos with my phone the battery died from the cold 🙈 Afterwards we wanted to check out some pack ice but there were two leopard seals in between the ice 😍 They were peaking out of the ice and making rounds around the zodiac, looking at us intensely. We spent half an hour watching them before returning to the ship and then having a hot shower afterwards.

Before dinner we just had a short recap. Tomorrow we're going into the Drake Passage again and some really rough weather is s waiting there for us. High winds and high swells 🌊 But in the morning we are planning to have time for a stop at Deception Bay. This will also be dependent on the weather though.Læs mere