We got up early to see if we would make it through Lemaire Channel. It is very narrow and the ship has not been able to get through the past 2 times due to ice and icebergs blocking the channel. We watched and waited anxiously. Yes, we made it. Then a group photo was taken off the bow of the ship. We had breakfast and then headed onto our zodiac to Petermann Island to hike up to see numerous penguin colonies and lots of chicks in various stages of growth. The female and male are very attentive to the new chicks and take turns sitting on the rock nest and keeping the chicks warm. The hike was on crusty snow that caused our feet to sink quite deep, sometimes up to our knees. This time at least there were walking sticks available. We each chose one and off we went. We walked to both sides of this particular area to see different scenery and penguin colonies. We did see the most chicks here and some may have been about 2 weeks old. It was more difficult for the parents to keep the bigger ones covered and protected.
The Lemaire Channel.
Large chunks of ice in the channel. We made it through just fine. :-)
Here are some Adelie penguins with some chicks that were on Petermann Island, which is our last land stop in Antarctica.
We then cruised among the icebergs that are called The Iceberg Graveyard. It was so serene and eerie with the dark lava mountains covered with snow, the overcast sky and all of these large pieces of ice. There were also lots of smaller chunks too. There were some unique shapes and one that was a very intense blue color. Just beautiful as it stood out in the gray sky. We were quite chilly by the time our zodiac cruise was over since it is windy out on the water.
It was quite eerie to cruise around these massive pieces of ice.
We had lunch and the ship went a little farther down the channel to Pleneau where we did our final zodiac cruise. We saw additional large and unique icebergs along with a lazy Leopard seal that was chilling out on a large ice flow. The Leopard seal is the only seal that eats the penguins. This one must have already had his tummy full, since he/she seemed very content. This seal is called the Leopard seal because of its large head and sharp teeth. We returned after an hour of cruising. It did not seem like there were as many folks out cruising this afternoon. There were also some kayakers that went out for the last time also but that number was smaller too.
Later this afternoon there were some folks who did the polar plunge from the 3rd deck level. The victims are tethered since sometimes the current is quite strong and can take you out fairly far from the ship. Needless to say, there will be no photos of us participating in this event.
Our ship headed out very slowly and precisely out into the Lemaire Channel one again as the ship was carefully maneuvered through. There were numerous large icebergs as well as large sheets of ice and lots of good sized ice chunks. We did hear some clunks but these were not huge icebergs but larger chunks or sheets of ice. The Bridge was very serious about their duty when we were up there. That is something different also, since passengers can go up on the Bridge just so long as we stay off to the side and not touch anything or bother the captain and his crew.
Here the ship is heading out of Lemaire Channel to return to open water.
We had a recap of the days events and updates as to what we may expect for our journey back. The entertainment from the staff at 9:30 pm was rather silly but enjoyable. The Dr. was standing at the exit to hand out seasick meds just like Halloween candy. It is already beginning to be quite rocky and will get worse as we enter The Drake Passage once again. It could be 2 very long days to get back to South America. :-(
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