Antarctica - Intercurrence Island, Palaver Point, Drake Passage

Our last day in Antarctica started out with a cruise around Intercurrence Island, one of the largest islands in the Christiania Islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctica Peninsula.  Apparently the Expedition Team had never been able to visit the island because of weather conditions so this was a first for the ship.  It turned out to be an interesting cruise with lots of neat landforms and icebergs around the island.  The most spectacular was the dome-shaped iceberg we first encountered with penguins sitting on top.  

The zodiac took us through a narrow opening between steep rock faces and there was a more sheltered part of the island.  There were Weddell seals and some penguins.  There were giant icebergs around the island.

After lunch we made a landing at Palaver Point which has many Chinstrap penguins. Palaver Point was so named because of the ceaseless chatter from the penguin rookeries on the site.  It was fascinating watching the penguins who seem to be in conference all the time.  The Chinstrap penguin is so named because of the thin strip of black feathers under its chin from ear to ear.  They nest on rockier and steeper slopes than other penguins and are known to be the most aggressive of the penguins.  They typically lay two eggs in November and both male and female take turns incubating the eggs.  The visit to Palaver Point turned out to be a productive end to the last day with photo ops of the penguins in action.

Dome-shaped iceberg 

This opening took us to a more sheltered part of the island

Weddell seal

Curious where this tunnel leads to

Giant icebergs around the island

Such clowns!

This chick with light grey down is probably less than a couple of weeks old as a second darker grey down appears at two to three weeks.



View of the bay from Palaver Point

The first vegetation I'd seen in four days - Antarctica Pearlwort(?)

That's where all the palaver came from

Penguins in conference

So how is the water condition??

This iceberg reminded me of pigs

Last look at Antarctica before we head into the Drake Passage that evening

 The return crossing of the Drake Passage was uneventful.  We were told that a storm was approaching but we would have made it to Ushuaia before it hit in the following days.  Lucky escape!  There were lots of birds around the ship as we crossed, including the black-browed albatross, blue petrel, Southern giant petrels and blue-eyed shags - all lifers for me!

Black-browed albatross



Southern Giant Petrel

Blue petrel

Blue-eye shag

We disembarked in Ushuaia after two days on the Drake and was sent off by a beautiful rainbow at the airport.  What a great end to an amazing adventure!

This wraps up my posts on Antarctica.  Thank you for joining me on this trip of a lifetime.

Antarctica - Lemaire Channel, Port Lockroy

 The Lemaire Channel, a strait off Antarctica, 11 km long and only 600 metres wide in its narrowest spot, is a challenge to go through and not every ship can get through it depending on whether the ice has cleared.  So I had picked high summer in the Antarctic with hopes of seeing the Lemaire with its iconic steep cliffs on both sides complete with reflections and all.  Well, we did see it, kind of, but in fog - it was not the postcard perfect Lemaire that had it nicknamed the Kodak Gap.  But we all know how unpredictable the weather can be and the ship on a tight schedule had to go through it when it did.  The irony is after we passed through and headed north, the weather cleared and the afternoon was sunny.  🤷

 

Excitement on deck as we approached the south entrance of the Lemaire

Impressive rock face

We like to console ourselves that it is lovely even in fog, which it is...

It didn't take long to get through the channel and to keep us entertained, the inevitable Polar Dip was scheduled that same morning.  It was cold and windy but many brave souls took the plunge nevertheless.  Cold enough for the photographer from the upper deck - but it takes a different kind of spirit to take the plunge!

Our afternoon destination was Jougla Point at Port Lockroy.  Port Lockroy is the first continuously occupied British base in Antarctica with a year round presence.  It has the only post office in Antarctica so it was a ritual for us to write our postcards and have them mailed at the post office where they will be sent to the Falklands then to the U.K. before they get sent to the address on our postcards - a long journey that we were told could take months, perhaps years?  We shall see...meanwhile making sure we send the postcards to someone likely to outlive us...

Beatufiul landscape at the bay at Jougla Point but not so pretty on landing - lots of penguin gano and slippery rocks plus the strong wind gusts made photography very difficult.  We were ferried over to the Post Office by zodiac.  

Chinstrap Penguins at Jougla Point in Port Lockroy

First sign of human habitation we saw on Antarctica

This is the Post Office at Port Lockroy.  It must take the stamina of a hermit to stay in a place like this for long months in the year.  The staff was invited on board for lunch - a nice break for them from the monotony.

We went on a short cruise around Jougla Point and saw some more chinstraps and blue-eyed Antarctic shag along with a South Polar Skua in the air.

Chinstrap Penguin

  

Blue-eye Antarctic shag

South Polar Skua

We wrapped up the day with a scrumptious barbeque dinner where we stuffed outselves.  I've had these dinners out on deck on three arctic trips but obviously not advisable on this cold and windy Antarctic day.