Thursday 30th January A Snowy Zodiac Trip and Paddling with Penguins

We had an early start to the day as our ship had arrived at the Melchoir Islands and groups were to depart on Zodiac tours around the area from 7.30am onwards. The kayaking group that had missed out on kayaking yesterday were also heading out. It was quite calm on the water but what made it even more special was the fact that it was also snowing! We were taken around the area, enjoying seeing the birdlife and a group of small seals, playing on the snow and diving into the water. A much larger, Weddel seal was lazing around further up the bank of snow. This area was close to an old Argentinian research station that appeared to not be used anymore. The buildings were still intact but needed maintenance. This was a delightful excursion made more fun by the falling snow and our zodiac breaking down. Another 2 zodiacs came out straight away to rescue us and we had to do a zodiac-to-zodiac transfer. All 10 of us managed this without falling in the water! We completed our zodiac tour and returned to the ship to dry off and have a hot drink to warm us up. Once everyone had returned from the zodiac cruises and the kayaking group had returned (they said they had had a lovely time kayaking around in the snow), the ship moved, heading for Neko Harbour. We enjoyed a very interesting talk titled, “Titanic Wings: Albatrosses and their Oceanic Heritage”, presented by Emil, one of the expedition team members. Following this we had lunch and then had a little rest as we were still travelling to Neko Harbour. Upon arriving, we were called down to “Base Camp” as we were going out kayaking in the magnificent bay, surrounded by huge glaciers. The glaciers were “carving” and when this happens, the sound is like thunder. We dressed into our dry suits, and prepared ourselves, stepped on to the zodiac and then were taken out into the bay. Our kayaks were trailing behind us and once out in the open, we had to transfer ourselves from the zodiac to the kayak. This seemed to be one of the difficult steps but proved to be very easy! Our guide gave us instructions on the way out in the zodiac. There were 10 guests in 5 double kayaks and our guide. We had an easy kayak enjoying the beauty of the magnificent scenery, the wildlife (penguins and seals) and the various icebergs, bergy bits and kayaking through smaller growlers. We kayaked for nearly two hours, going around a huge iceberg and our guide then took us back closer to the ship where we did the next difficult task of getting out of our kayaks and back into the zodiac. We were then given the chance to complete the landing, where the rest of the guests were, enjoying watching the penguins all assembled in the huge rookery. We quicky changed back into our “landing gear and boots”, jumped into a zodiac and took off to the landing point on a small rocky beach near the rookery. A steep but short walk on the snow took us to the main rookery. We spent an enjoyable time observing the many penguins, their chicks and all their funny antics. Returning to the ship we showered, changed and then proceeded to the dining room for another delicious 5 course dinner. Each afternoon/evening, we have a daily briefing of the day’s activities and what is coming up for the following day. This briefing was meant to start at 9.30pm but was delayed due to the fact that a whole group of orca whales were frolicking around the ship. The captain manoeuvred the ship so we could view these amazing creatures up close. It was a wonderful experience to watch these apex predator whales who swiftly move through the water more like dolphins. Our meeting did not start until 10pm!