Packing Is Going To Be Tricky...
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡Day 7 ~ January 20 ~ Antarctica (Flandres Bay and Paradise Harbour)
The Zodiacs gather to take us on our morning excursion... If you look closely, you can see white dots: yes, it's a little light snow. It doesn't last, though.
As we head out, we're all well wrapped up, but it isn't as inclement as we might have feared.
We don't want to sound precious, but penguin guano is not the most photogenic. (Gentoos again.)
Not that there's any shortage of photogenic spots if you look around.
Amanda is on a small boat looking happy. If that doesn't tell you how amazing this trip is, you don't know Amanda!
Look at them gawping at that seal. We'd never do that.
Err, yes, err, well, moving swiftly on!
Back on board the ship, while we are having lunch, we sail to our afternoon mooring at Paradise Harbour. Then it's back in the Zodiacs again.
This is an Argentinian research base. “Brown”, though? What's that?
Yep, that's really the name of the place.
William Brown was an Irishman who served in the Argentine navy in the early 19th century. He did so well that he's now regarded as a national hero and “father of the Argentine Navy”. See what Wikipedia has to say. What with Bernardo O'Higgins in Chile, it seems the Irish have had quite a history in South America.
The base is now only used in the summer, but in the 1980s it was year-round. Then one year, the camp doctor decided that his contractual obligation to stay another winter made going to gaol a better option and he burnt the place down!
Just to remind you that nature isn't all sweetness and light...
More yachts: not the ones we saw previously.
These are not big ships with all mod cons: you have to be pretty hardy to sail one of these round here.
Not quite breaking through the pack ice as we return to the ship. We slow down a bit but push through easily enough.
Just as we're getting back to the ship, there's a seal in the water, not just lazing on the ice for a change.
Ah... he's not being cute, he's being somewhat agressive, coming right up against our Zodiacs and showing his big sharp teeth. We are all too busy watching (slightly nervously) to take any pictures! There's no doubt he could puncture the RIB skin if he bit it, but fortunately things don't come to that. This behaviour is uncommon, we're told: maybe we've upset him somehow.
Heading to tomorrow's location now, just watching these incredible ice cliffs from our balcony before dinner.
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡