As mentioned last night we planned to take the Leemar Passage to today’s destination, which is seven miles long, but as there was too much ice we had to go via the long route back into open sea, this took all night and it was very rocky, the worst we’ve had on this cruise so far.
By first light we were in place alongside Petermann Island, right at the other end of the passage. Zodiacs started at 08:00 but we were in the penultimate group today so plenty of time to get our laps done before preparing for our outing, it’s a short hop over to the island but once there the fun started - there’s no beach so we (well, the driver) have to push the Zodiac’s nose up onto a granit slab and the crew pull us even further up until we we’re stable (but angled precariously) and then the passengers can make their ungainly exit right into the adjacent rock-pools and then scramble up onto land.
Then it was a trudge through old but very deep snow to one or the other of the colony areas we’re here to see. On this island three species of penguin all happily cohabit, not fuss or arguing, so we saw chinstrap, gentoo and adelie, the latter two with chicks, sadly we didn’t see any chinstrap chicks here.
Also present are cormorants, also breeding, and finally the evil scuas, which menacingly cruse round looking for an unguarded chick - they have their young to feed too.
This was the first time we have seen adelie chicks, and their all-black look is extremely cuddly, if one can look past the matted guano and regurgitated fish meal they tend to be covered in!
There’s also an (originally) Argentine shelter here, I make this distinction because anyone can make use of a shelter if necessary, indeed all groups ensure that supplies are always checked and replaced as necessary.
One such group was a three strong team of British scientists who got trapped on the island for over a month in 1982, only to perish when they eventually decided to make a break back to their base - a cross remembers them, as their bodies were never recovered.
Back onboard, the internet is more stable whilst we’re not being thrown around, so I get yesterdays photos uploaded - there is a pattern, email and blog is fine in the evening whilst we're moving, but photos just can’t get through, so for the next few days the pattern will probably follow this. On that subject, there were loads of complaints because we had no signal yesterday, people have no appreciation for the fact that mostly we do have we signal in the most inhospitable place on Earth - get a grip!
Later on the scheduled caviar and champagne party takes on an extra special turn when Captain announces we’re now further South than any other Seabourn ship has ever gone, and what’s more we’re trying to head in further overnight. With a hugely experienced Captain AND a second dedicated Ice Captain onboard, this is not a reckless decision, we’re confident the conditions are right - so watch out for tomorrow’s update.
Dinner was excellent, the violinist was back for a second show, and after all that it’s time to dispatch my blog.
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