Antarctic travelogue

Errera channel and Wilhelmina bay

Day 7

• Position: Errera channel
• Hour: 7:00am
• Latitude: 64°53’S
• Longitude: 62°52’W
• Distance: 867Nm
• Air temperature: 3°C
• Water temperature: 1°C

This morning the weather is lovely. The expedition team prepared a three hours zodiac cruise so as to explore the richness of Errera channel in terms of sceneries and wildlife. We are divided into several groups ans there is a possibility of steep climbing... I volunteer!
I 've been on the zodiac for one minute and am already enchanted by the landscape. We have to go round a 500 meters mountain peak as the bay we were supposed to enter is still ice-bound. On our way we spot a curious humpback whale whose head surface the water vertically as if to check what was going on in the quiet bay.

We cruise along the shore and spot for the first time chinstrap penguins. After a while we hop off the zodiacs and start the climbing in the snow complying with the number one rule: everyone must walk in the same footprints so as to create only one path to minimize the impact of our presence. While climbing we passed close to a chinstrap penguin colony that we observed a few minutes

Up there the view is enchanting on the ice-bound bay on the one hand and Errera channel on the other. Skuas are flying above our heads, becoming aggressive, probably scared that we might harm their chicks. Back to the zodiacs we cruise close to the glaciers and observe whale bones on a beach, Gentoo penguins, antarctic sterns, fur seals etc.

Back to the icebreaker we set sail to Wilhelmina bay...

[Continuation] Huge and amazing icebergs of Wilhelmina bay