Our progress across the infamous Drake Passage had been aided by a tailwind. However the visibility was reduced by a thick fog. On the bridge we could see that by mid-morning we were approaching the South Shetland Islands—via the ship’s radar. But also first detected by radar we soon saw through the fog a large iceberg—our very first. The fog gave it a bit of mysterious gloom to the vertical walls of the massive chunk.
During the morning we were presented with a presentation on Antarctica visitor etiquette and also Zodiac operations from the ship. Then we went to the mudroom for our bio-decontamination process. A concern of all operations to Antarctica both tourism and science is inadvertent importation of foreign or invasive species. Vacuums and scrub brushes were armed by the staff to clean any equipment that had been used previous to the voyage.
Just before the lunch call was announced we anchored off a point of Livingston Island called Hannah Point. Everyone was anxious to get ashore for their first visit to Antarctica and to see some of the wildlife of the continent. The weather had improved to a certain extent as the fog gave way to a slight wind and drizzly clouds. But it was our first landing so everyone came ashore by the end of the afternoon.
At the landing we were intrigued by the number of penguins and their seemingly lack of interest in the Zodiacs landing and the disembarking people. Gentoo penguins were scattered over the landscape. We soon discovered just to stop and stand to watch the behaviors. Often well-grown chicks would chase the adults over the ground and rocks hoping to stimulate the adult to stop and feed them a wad of partially digested krill. All of us slowly walked in designated paths and areas especially because the light rain had created very slippery conditions underfoot. Along the route the staff talked with everyone about the penguin activity. We even had an opportunity to see an unusual penguin called Macaroni because of its golden ear tufts adorning the side of their head. At a designated overlook point we stopped to view a wallow of southern elephant seals. Maybe about 20 animals were all bumper-to-bumper in a depression.
At the end of the afternoon we were happy for hot showers and then the Captain’s Welcome address to the group before dinner. It had been a spectacular afternoon first experience in the southern ocean and continent.
