Antarctica Day 12- Drake's Passage

Day 12
Back to crossing Drake's Passage.  This time it is Drake Lake!
.  39 degrees 14 knots  We will be passing by Cape Horn.

 A quick tour of the bridge. What I particular liked about this trip was I could go into the bridge at anytime, and I did,  except when the harbour pilots were on
.

                     This shows us on the way home but it doesn't show our passage by Cape Horn.

 My camera is really stretching to get these birds. They were just beautiful. Albatross with 12 foot wing spread and The Antarctic Petrels.

 Cape Horn.. This is Lake Drake.. It is much calmer than crossing before.. It is still very windy..

 

They gave us certificates because in reality, crossing the Drake can be dangerous and sickening!

 Our last lecture was on plastics.  It is quite alarming!!!!!  It is so disturbing. Please take a minute to really look at this chart. Let me help you.. a pair of wool socks will take 1-5 years to dissipate. fishing line 600 years-disposible diaper 450 years- plywood 1-3 years- cigarette butt filter 1-5 years- tin can.  50 years- aluminum can 20 years  You get the message.. which is don't use plastic if you can help it.
Use reusable products, glass, paper etc.  There are ocean dumps that are just swirling around and getting bigger.. This lecture turned my stomach..

      Our expedition crew. These guys were smart, experienced and a wealth of knowledge.our doctor                  on the right of the picture.

 This is our cruise director and she was fabulaous.. I often found her on the bridge . She was the one that made the decisions of where we could go next.

                      This is our team leader, Carlos.  He was a lot of fun to be with.- a Chilean..

                                                                  The motley eight!

                                                   My parting friend..found on my bed...

We fly out of Ushuaia  on our way home. 3 to 4 hours to Buenos Aires and another 12 hours home.
It was a great trip. If you can do it, do it now because the ice is melting.

Antarctica -day 11 Feb 8th- Whalers Bay and Half Moon Island

Day 11 Feb 8th off to Deception Island which is an active volcano. Next onto Half Moon Island. 63.08 S 60.36 W  39 F 10 mph winds-. showers today

We traveled through Neptune’s Bellows into Whalers Bay.  This has been used since the 1700 for whaling.  At first they only used the blubber and left the carcasses. It was estimated that over 3,000 of them were left here and the stink was unbearable.  The British made the law that the whole whale needed to be used.   They figured out how to use all the ingredients. Like grinding the bones for fertilizer, cook the bones etc.  Around 1922 there was a processing plant that started until WWII then it was a scientific station.

Deception Island was thriving till the volcano erupted in 1967 and destroyed the Hector Whaling Station and 21 sailors had to be rescued by plane.  The volcano erupted again in 1996 and again in 1997.  

                                   Whalers Bay. We climbed up to the opening that you see.

                                    You can see the ash . It is quite pretty against the snow.

As we come ashore we are greeted by our first real encounter with fur seals. They are known to come bite the visitors so we tried not to disturb them too much. If they decide to come see you,  we were told that is what are walking sticks are for....!!!

                                 This is the view from the opening that we climbed up to.

                           The whaling containers are still here.  They are tilting a little.

Right now there is a tent set up of Spanish scientists monitoring ash

Resting among the wood from the docks, boats, anything that was left..

Whale oil tanks.

                    The remains of the Norwegian whaling station.which was evacuated in 1969.

A site that I didn't expect to see..

                                                                kelp gulls

     Squa look like our seagulls . They can weigh up from 980 to 1900 grams and is about 55cm long.

 

last morning outing for our trip. We are leaving the narrow entrance to the caldera.

  Half Moon Bay  where the Chinstraps live. This Bay is crescent shaped 1 1/2 mile long island which lies between Greenwich and Livingston Island. The island has been known to sealers since 1821.

    Our first look at Chin Strap Penguins.Their diet is small shoaling animals,krill, small fish and other marine crustaceans. They lay two eggs in November or December and hatch 8 weeks later. For fedding both chicks are treated equally unlike the gentoo who will feed the strongest.They do not leave their colony,  Their big threat is the leopard seal and the brown squa for the eggs.

Trying to take his feathers off.. All the feathers need to be off before they can swim or they will drown.

         Being fed their parent.  They are so easy to tell them apart from the other species.A little bigger than the Gentoos and the famous chin strap!

             Just a couple of seals basking in the sun--which there was none..just clouds.

I am trying to get them to come to me but they walk right by!

 Our sunset was breath taking.  This lasted over an hour while the sun said good bye for the day.

                                                              It just kept getting better!

                                                              This my favorite one.

                          When we came back from dinner I had a little visitor waiting for me!

                                                            Our sleeping quarters.  it was pretty nice.