In January 2022 Peggy and I did our first extensive trip since the COVID19 pandemic began. We went big for this first trip to Antartica, South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands on the National Geographic Explorer with Lindblad tours. Because of the pandemic we had to be vaccinated and tested twice before we department from Miami on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina to embark on our home for the next 18 days.

National Geographic Explorer

Falkland Islands

South Georgia Islands

Elephant Island

Lemaire Channel

Penquins

Penguins are a group of flightless birds that live in the southern hemisphere other than one group the Galapagos Penguin. They are very adapted to life in the water with a diet of krill, fish and squid.

Adélie penguins

The Adelie penguin is one of the most common penguins along the Antartica coast. It is a medium size penguin approximately 3.6-6 kilograms and 18-28 inches tall. Adélie penguins arrive at their breeding grounds in late October or November, after completing a migration that takes them away from the Antarctic continent for the dark, cold winter months. Their nests consist of stones piled together. The parents take turns incubating the egg; one goes to feed and the other stays to warm the egg. The parent that is incubating does not eat and doesn’t even leave to defecate but instead projects feces away from the nest.^[27] In March, the adults and their young return to the sea.

King penguins

The king penguin is the second largest penguin generally 28 to 39 inches tall and between 27 and 70 pounds for the males and slightly less for females.

Chin Strap penguins

Arrival in Ushuaia

After a long 12 hour flight from Miami on Omni Aviation we arrived in Ushuaia in Argentina and rapidly cleared custom and immigration. The terminal had a Swiss chalet feeling open with large timber beams. We were greeted by the Lindblad group and transferred to a bus for a quick trip to the harbor where there is a large fleet of ships heading for Antarctica and well as a few larger fishing trawlers.

January 20th Second Crossing of Drake Passage

Early last night we received an announcement from the trip leader that one of the guests had fallen and possible fractured his hip. He was pretty elderly and not very stable on his feet complicated by mild rolling of the ship. They decided he needed to get back to Ushuaia for medical evaluation and possible evacuation.

We also took on some additional flue and water for the trip then we were off across the Drake passage again heade for Antarctica. He had an escort for white petrel and saw some Sei whales as we motored back out the Beagle channel.

January 22nd and arrival in Antarctica

Today we continue to cruise in a southern direction with any land in sight. Seas are still relatively calm with a mild slow rolling of the ship. Seas are a dark blue and skies are broken but mainly overcast. There has been a rare albatross but otherwise no signs of birds or sea mammals.

Today we had a lecture on oceanography of the southern ocean by one of the naturalist on broad. The south ocean is now a separate ocean with attachment to the Atlantic, pacific and Indian oceans. It is a very separate but connected sea. There is a circumference winds that are not inhibited by any landmass leading to very strong winds and wave.

There are significant connections to the various currents such as the Gulf Stream whereas the cold water off of Greenland and northern continents sinks downward and moves back to the Antarctica carrying nutrients the stimulate the phytoplankton and zooplankton at the base of the food chain.

This morning we entered the south Shetland islands off the Antarctica peninsula. Seas are calm with a light breeze but area overcast with low clouds. We were greeted by groups on Adélie penguin porpoising through the water. There a number of large Adeliie penguin colonies on the islands which are made of volcanic rock. We also spot a few south minke whales slowly cruising through water. The South ocean here is a deep blue color of sapphire. Are next stop is planned for Dexption Island and hopefully are first shore excursion.

Today we had are introduction to landing on the Antarctica peninsula and bio safety procedure to prevent the introduction of invasion species and plants. Important to prevent invasive species that could potentially out pace native life here. We cleaned backpacks, tripods and boots that my contain these organism.

We went ashore on Half moon island after a brief trip by the zodiac. There is a large colony of Adelia penguin . The adelies are incubated by both parents alternating going out get food. When babies are old enough they gather in the cache and both parents go out to hunt and continue to bring back food. This afternoon we had another rapid Covid-19 test and everyone still negative which is good news. In afternoon we motored,into the large bay from following a large volcanic eruption and the collapse of the maga chamber. This is the sight of a whale operation which now slowly crumbling into the volcanic sand.

January 23rd Deception Island

Deception island formed by major volcanic eruption which release of hugh amount of material. Also left the magma empty and collapse of the volcano and formation of the caldera

January 24th Wilhelmina Bay and Danco Island

Today we started our day at Wilhelmina bay. The bay is 15 miles across. We did a tour in the zodiac around the azure blue bay with scattered icebergs. We saw two humpback whale leisurely driving as they slowly traveled across the bay. They didn’t breach or fin slip as we had seen in Tonga but this might be something more common when they are mating or have new calves. We then cruised across the bay to see an old whale ship that was slowly rusting on the beach and extending into the bay. The ship was from 1915 and had caught fire which is not uncommon as they are processing the whale oil. The captain ran the ship aground and all 85 members of the crew were rescued. The ship Governor.

In the afternoon we cruised to Danco island and went ashore to visit a gentoo penguin colony. It is estimated to have 2000 individuals. The penguins nest on rockie areas where they build their nests of rocks and incubate them. Because they had been snow covering the areas later in the year we did not see any chicks. It may be to late in the year for them to raise the chicks if they to have eggs now.

January 25th Paradise Harbor and Neko Harbor

Today was overcast and a little cold 1C when we went out on a zodiac cruise of Paradise bay. Paradise bay is the sight of an Argentinian research station which is not currently occupied. There was a colony of Gentoo penguins. A group of them were marching down a rock and slowly diving into the bay to either wash off or out to hunt for some food. we also observed the beautiful icebergs floating through the harbor. Ninety percent of the ice is below the water level because the icebergs are less dense then the sea water. The icebergs also have beautiful blue colors because the ice in the glacier have been compressed over the centuries by the snow that continue to fall adding layers on top. The dense ice absorbs the light so nay the blue is seen. We can also see the base rock of Antarctica which is volcanic basalt. On the exposed rock we saw some of the rare plant life clinging to the rocks.

Neko Harbor

We motored through the brash ice on are way to land this afternoon in comfortable but overcast skies to the Antarctica peninsula via our trusty zodiac. We quickly got off the shoreline as glaciers were calving and the water would reach over our landing sight. We then trekked over the snow which had the consistency of a snow cone like trail giving way to the penguins who were also using the highways to get up to the bare rocky area of their colony. The gentoo have been more successful here. So a number had grey fluffy chicks about 1 month of age sheltering under their parents. Gentoo penguin have 2 chicks who they care for and generally survive.

January 26th Gourdin Island and Brown Bluff

This morning we are cruising northwest of the entrance to the Weddelll Sea with large icebergs scattered around. The seas are rolling today making loading and unloading the zodiacs impossible so we are continuing to cruise in a northwest direction towards Brown bluff.

Brown bluff, is at the eastern end of the Antarctica sound.

Brown bluff was initially overcast but later in the afternoon the sun broke out into a beautiful sunny day. Brown bluff is the sight of two colonies of penguins. It is the northern most of Adelia penguins who are the most southern of the penguin family. The Adelia chicks have a shorter incubation and time until the fledge probably because of their habitat. Many of the chicks are loosing their fluffy feathers as they get ready to leave land for their in water life. Their colony is much closer together.

The gentoo penguins also have a large colony on Brown Bluff. The gento are larger than the Adelia and fledge a little later than the Adelia. The gentoo nests are also more scattered the the Adelia penguins.

January 27th Elephant Island and sailing eastbound

The morning we headed into Elephant Island and the sight of the Shackleton expedition camp until their rescue. Elephant island is a rugged coast with strong katabatic winds coming off the glacier. There was stinging winds on our faces this morning as we stood on the bridge and looked into the mist.

Elephant island is the site where the Shackleton crew took shelter while they waited for Shackleton traveled to South Georgia Island over 800 miles of open sea. Twenty two of the Shackleton crew remained there while Shankleton and two members of his group sailed in a small life boat to South Georgia island during the Endurance expedition in 1914. Eventually they were able to return with ships from Chile to rescue all the remaining members of the crew.

Later we turned around and started to travel eastbound toward South Georgia island. As we transited the southern sea in the area of an under sea mount we spotted a large number of fin whales in the area. The ship was also circled by Cape Petrels and other seabirds.

January 28th South Orkneys Island

After cruising overnight we arrive at South Orkneys Island. Unfortunately do to heavier sea we were not able to go ashore or do a zodiac tour this morning. After breakfast we had a talk about Hurley who was a photographer on the Endurance Antarctic trip in 1914. We are now continuing on our 3 day crossing to South Georgia Island. We are planning on arriving tomorrow evening.

This morning we again spotted Cape Petrels and other seabirds. Amazing to see them soar over the ocean and quickly change course.

January 29th South Ocean

We are continue our heading east to South Georgia Island with relatively mild seas. We were able to see occasionally some seabirds circling the NP Explorer, mostly Cape Petrels and a single giant Wandering Albatross. During lunch up on the observation deck a small pod of Fin whales passed on our starboard side. We mostly saw their blow and a brief view of their small dorsal fin. We have not seen any flukes of breaching, although I don’t know if Fin whales do any of those. They same to be mostly on a mission to find food and get fat for further migration back north.

January 30th St. Andrews bay and Gold Harbor

This morning we arrived at st Andrew’s bay on the coast of South Georgia Island. The temperature is warmer here as we have move north and east of Antarctica. The beach at St Andrew is the sight of two glacier fed streams. It is the sight of one of the largest colonies of Kng Penguins and home to some elephant seals and fur seals. The King penguins have a different breeding pattern to the othe penguins we have seen so far. The colony had penguins at all stages of breeding. Some of the penguins were sitting on eggs and there were juveniles with fluffy brown coats before they mote and eventually head out to sea.

This afternoon we made a landing at Gold Harbor on South Georgia Island. A number of glacier have been receding here leaving hanging glacier and water falls. The is also plentiful tussic grass here and a group of Gentoo penguins have there nests and chick scattered among the grasses. There is also a large colony of King penguins on the beach. There are young bird who are almost molted there brown coats and ready to fledge. There are also a large group of adult that are molting and get ready to breed. The molting penguins seem to like to stand in the river to cover their feet. This maybe a why to thermo-regulate their body temperature. King penguins have a longer period where they are cared for by their parents so do not breed every year.

There was also a large group of elephant seals lying as a group on the beach. They are huge although the really large males have already left the shore here. There are also a few fur seals going into and out of the water.

January 31st Hercules Bay and Stromness

This morning we did a zodiac cruise around Hercules Bay home to a colony of Marconi penguins and groups of fur and elephant seals. we also saw South Georgia Pipet bird and Antarctica Terns. Back on the ship we saw a group of Humpback who appeared to have found a school of Krill as they repeatedly would surface and do shallow dives.

Stromness bay is the sight of one of the former largest whale oil operations in the south Atlantic. The factory is abandoned now but the structure and oil boiler are still in place. Stromness is a site of a large population of fur seals as well as elephant seals. The fur seals have there pups then remain with them for a short time then leave them for the ocean. Even the young seals head out to sea to make their way in the ocean. There was also some king penguins who were moulting in the river. Stromness is a long valley made from the residing glaciers.

Today we hiked up the valley to the waterfall where Ernest Shackleton rappelled down a waterfall to find the whaling station during his epic rescued during his Endurance expedition. Shackleton’s ship the Endurance became trapped in the sea ice as they tried to approach the Antarctica coast for a trans Antarctica expedition. The ship was eventually crushed by the ice forcing the crew to drag and sail their life boats across the ice eventually arriving at Elephant island. Their Shackleton reinforced one of the boat to make an eight hundred mile voyage to try and reach whaling village in South Georgia Island and make their rescue.

February 1st At sea around St. Georgia because high winds

Morning lecture by Carl Erik on Reindeer removal project. Between 2013-2015 6500 reindeer were eradicated by herding and shooting by sharp shooters.

This afternoon we entered the bay with the former large whaling operation at Glykcik. The whale factory is abandoned but a large number of boilers and other metal structures remain. This is also the site of a British administration and research facility. Approximately 20 people live here in the winter and it expands to 40 during the summer. We saw a large number of artic terns as well as a number of king penguins who were moulting there feathers. The are also a large number of fur seal pups and elephant seal.

February 2nd and 3rd At sea on route to Falkland island

Winds have picked up and we did not think we would be able to make any additional landings in South Georgia so we started to head to the Falkland island. The winds have continued today leading to moderate swells. In spite of,winds it is sunny today. With rough seas they have more breakfast and lunch to the bistro area with less movement of the ship.

The blue wave are being whipped the surging winds driving sheets or mist off the crest. Along the hectic wave Wandering Albatross scrim just over the water weaving between the crests and avoiding getting wet.

February 5th Carass Island Falkland Island and Steeple Jason

Today we finally were able to take the zodiacs out and get on land. We had a longer than usual crossing from South Georgia Island because of high winds and seas. We were greeting by a group of Magellanic penguins. They are different than other penguins we have seen as the burrow in the earth for their nests and smaller size. Weather is much warmer here about 50 degrees and sunny today.

In the afternoon we did a challenging landing on Steeple Jason in the Jason group in the Falkland Islands in a narrow cove. The zodiacs had were driven up on the rock so we could climb out. We then took an uphill climb then down through Huge Tussac plants where you could hardly see the person in front of you. We then got to the largest colony of breeding black brow albatrosses. The chicks were all sitting on their nest while their parents were out looking for food. Within the colony of albatross were small groups of Rock hopper penguins. They were using the albatross for protection from other bird. The albatross were wheeling and skinning over the water almost dipping the tip of their tremendous wings in the water.

February 6th Falkland Island

Dry landing today and a hike across another island to a large albatross colony with a few rock hopper penguins mixed in. The albatross chicks are almost as large as their parents. Still have fluffy down coats and not ready to fly for awhile.

February 7th Falkland to Ushuaia Beagle Channel

Today we have started our trip back to Arizona. We have left the Falklands and heading southwest to the coast of Argentina. Beautiful rocky cost but no cities or towns. Later we will enter the Beagle channel for the last time and slowly make our way past scattered islands with bird and sea mammals into Ushuaia our disembarkation port.