Antarctica: Deception Island

An overview of the entire trip is available here.

I awoke as we approached Deception Island. This is an active volcano with a large caldera that has an opening to the sea and is flooded, creating a C-shaped island. We spent the day there. This place was unlike any other that we had visited: it was completely free of snow and ice.

The land at the entrance is very colorful, and we entered just as the sunrise was casting great light upon it.

Deception Island

The volcano is dormant, but still giving off heat. The beach is warm and steamy.

Volcanic Steam

There were several fur seals hanging around Whaler's Bay as we went ashore.

Fur Seal

After walking around among the ruins of the whaling station, we went back aboard and the ship repositioned to Telefon Bay. The wind picked up as we walked around the volcanic features at that location. The landscape is barren.

Deception Island

Antarctica: Cuverville Island and Neko Harbor

An overview of the entire trip is available here.

We went ashore among nesting Gentoo Penguins on Cuverville Island in the morning. This was the best landing by far, with great weather and active penguins all around.

Gentoo Penguins

The ship in calm water, among icebergs, with the mountains in the background made for a marketing-material-worthy shot.

Silver Endeavour

A pair of Chinstrap Penguins came ashore and hung around with the thousands of Gentoo Penguins.

Chinstrap Penguins

Midday, we entered nearby Neko Harbor under stunning mostly clear skies. We had an afternoon zodiac cruise among the icebergs. This was easily the most beautiful part of the trip, in a protected bay, with light winds, blue skies, calm water, icebergs everywhere, mountains, glaciers, porpoising penguins, and our only leopard seal sighting.

Neko Harbor

Leopard Seal

Antarctica: Prospect Point and Fish Islands

An overview of the entire trip is available here.

We arrived at Prospect Point in the morning under partly cloudy skies. We had a landing on the continent in the morning, with no wildlife nearby. This was just about scenery. There were some nearby mountains that were tantalizingly partially revealed through the clouds and I was hoping all morning that the sky would clear enough to shoot them.

Icebergs

Enormous Icebergs

Prospect Point

By the time we left, the clouds had cleared enough to shoot this panorama, stitched from several shots.

In the afternoon, we had a zodiac cruise in the same spot among the Fish Islands. There were filthy Adélie penguins and Antarctica cormorants nesting everywhere. The mountain that I’d been hoping to see finally cleared enough to make some stunning shots.

Filthy Penguins

There was a single Weddell Seal among the thousands of birds, trying to nap.

Weddell Seal

Antarctica Cormorant

Juvenile Antarctica Cormorants

Mountains Finally Revealed After Waiting All Day

Icebergs

Antarctica: Detaille Island and Hanusse Bay

A trip overview can be found here.

Overnight we left the peninsula and entered the ocean. The ship was back to pitching and rolling all night. In the morning, we reached Detaille Island, having crossed the Antarctic Circle. We had a zodiac cruise around the island, observing penguins and cormorants.

Detaille Island

Antarctica Cormorants and Adélie Penguins

Adélie Penguins

In the afternoon, we repositioned to Hanusse Bay for a zodiac cruise. There the highlight was the many whale visits.

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales and Mist from Exhaled Breath

Antarctica: Lemaire Channel and Petermann Island

An overview of the trip is available here.

Gloomy Lemaire Channel Transit with a Humpback Whale Blowing (Lower Right)

In the morning we arrived off Renard Island to do a landing. This was cancelled because of ice blocking the approach. We then transited the Lemaire Channel southbound in intermittent fog, low overcast and drizzle. This was an amazing place that I was looking forward to seeing, but sadly it was shrouded in clouds. I stood on deck in cold drizzle. I underdressed; my shoes, pants, and gloves got soaked. Even with the clouds and fog, I didn’t want to run back to my cabin to get better clothing because I was afraid I’d miss something great. I shot a few landscapes, but ended up rejecting all of them. I did enjoy watching a group of three Humpback Whales that stayed with the ship during the transit, surfacing as a group.

Two Humpback Whales, Scars Visible on Left Whale's Back

Humpback Whale Trio

The Lemaire Channel transit was all too brief and unsatisfying in the poor weather. We spent the rest of the day off Petermann Island. Initially we were to make a landing, but there was too much brash ice clustered at the landing site, so we had a zodiac cruise under overcast skies and intermittent drizzle. There we visited a Gentoo Penguin colony and saw the only 2 other ships of the whole peninsula cruise.

Gentoo Penguins

There were a few Adélie Penguins mixed in with the Gentoos.

Adélie Penguin

A Chilean icebreaker passed by while we were out on the water, a rare sighting of another ship.

Icebreaker

Intended Landing Site on Petermann Island

Antarctica: Portal Point and Wilhelmina Point

An overview of the trip is available here.

We had a morning landing at Portal Point on the Antarctica Peninsula in beautiful weather. As we approached the site, I went out on deck to take the views in, with snow-covered mountains in all directions, icebergs in the bay, whales blowing in the distance, and lenticular clouds clearly visible.

Humpback Whales were Active All Morning

Lenticular Clouds over Snow-Covered Mountains

This was our first landing on the continent of Antarctica: a rocky beach, some seals sleeping nearby, sparse penguins, and an icy/snowy mound to climb to get an overview of the landscape.

Portal Point Landing Site as Seen from the Ship with an Iceberg Between Us

One of Many Icebergs at Portal Point

After I got back aboard, I spent some time on deck. I heard a whale blow, looked down, and saw a humpback whale lingering near the ship. I've seen many whales in Alaska; usually all you get to see is a cloud of mist from their exhaled breath, maybe a dorsal fin, sometimes a fluke. It's really hard to photograph a whale because nearly all of its body is under water. I got lucky here: it came near the ship, I was on an upper deck able to look down into the clear water, it got my attention when I actually heard it blow, and I had my camera ready.

Humpback Whale Close to the Ship

The ship repositioned to Wilhelmina Point and the weather became overcast and snowy. We had an afternoon zodiac cruise to visit icebergs and see the seascapes. Instead we found ourselves surrounded by whales. We lingered the entire time in the steady snowfall among these giants as we heard them blow and saw them surfacing all around us.

Birds Feast on Krill Stirred Up By Whales

Sometimes the whales were so close that we could see the barnacles on their backs and the tubercles (bumps) on top of their heads. For scale, tubercles are about the size of a person’s fist.

Humpback Whale Lunge Feeding

Most of the time when viewing whales, this is about all you get to see: a dorsal fin and some of its back. The snow was heavy enough to interfere with my camera’s autofocus at times.

Typical Surface Appearance with Dorsal Fin and Spine Bumps

Near the end of our zodiac cruise, we happened to see a whale at the end of a feeding lunge with seawater spewing as it filtered krill out to eat.

Filtering Krill

This was our routine for the duration of the cruise: wake up someplace new, having sailed there overnight, have an outing, go back aboard for lunch, then back out for something else in the afternoon. And the weather can go from sunny and wonderful to snowing and strong winds in an amazingly short time.

Antarctica: Fort Point and Yankee Harbor

An overview of the trip is available here.

Fort Point

This was our first day in Antarctica. We stopped at Fort Point on Greenwich Island, where the expedition team surveyed the landing site, only to find a lot of fur seals right where we would come ashore. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has a set of rules to which the member cruise lines adhere. One of the rules requires distance from wildlife that was not possible here; the seals were too numerous and too close to the landing site. This landing was cancelled.

Fur Seals at Fort Point

After leaving Fort Point, we sailed a short distance to Yankee Harbor, which is also on Greenwich Island. The wind was driving light rain so hard that it stung my face. This was easily the most uncomfortable outing of the entire trip. We landed amid a colony of Gentoo Penguins, with a trio of Elephant Seals resting among them. This being the very first landing, I clumsily handled my camera and the dry bag in the wind and rain. Not knowing whether we'd see anything better in the coming days, I shot more than I needed to.

Elephant Seals

Gentoo Penguins

Gentoo Penguins

We landed here in marginal conditions because we had been aboard for 3 days and the expedition leader really wanted to get the first excursion done. After so much time planning for the trip, flying so far, and enduring the Drake Passage, I was glad to finally set foot in Antarctica, even if it was an island, not the continent.