Petersontravels

We had a few more photos from our perfect Antarctica day at sunset, I just couldn’t fit them into the prior post as it was getting a tad long.  As we cruised through the Gerlache Strait this spot on the Antarctic Peninsula stood out in the last of the days sun.

As did this spot.  It’s amazing what those last rays of the day can do to enhance a photo!  Impressive wall of ice here!

One more shot of the peninsula since this cloud started dropping over the mountain top.

That was it for “the perfect Antarctic day”.  We woke up the next morning to fully overcast skies.  Our luck had run out.  Still, the sights are beautiful, just not with the same level of clarity and the “blue” we have come to love in the glacial ice.  As we neared King George Island we ran across yet another beautiful iceberg (are there ever ugly ones?).

Upon entering Admiralty Bay we ran across another rather unique (I know they are all unique, but how did this shape happen?) iceberg.  Is it a bird?  A plane?

There are several glaciers advancing into the bay.  I was surprised with how tall this wall of glacial ice was despite there not being much of a mountain behind it.

It was cold again, so we were bundled up!

Admiralty Bay is home to several research stations.  This one looked pretty high end compared to others.  This is Carlini Base, another Argentine research station.

We only stayed in Admiralty Bay about an hour.  Even if the sun had been out it wouldn’t have come close to the beauty of Paradise Bay.  I know, we are spoiled!

One last look at this crazy iceberg.  It could be a float in the Rose Parade!

From there we exited the bay and started heading north back across the Drake Passage.  We were quite lucky as once again the seas were quite mild compared to what they can be.

On the downside, our Captain is either trying to save money on a port stop or is just extremely conservative, as we skipped our next port of Ushuaia due to it being a tad windy.  He was nice enough to cruise by it so we could see what we were missing!  Trust me, I was NOT happy!  Missing port calls has become quite the aggravating trend with Oceania.

Ushuaia lays along the Beagle Channel, named after Charles Darwin’s voyage of discovery through the area in 1833 aboard HMS Beagle.

Despite my disappointment in missing Ushuaia, at least the channel views are excellent.

Shortly after passing Ushuaia we entered the famous “Glacier Alley”!  The sun was popping in and out, making for excellent photos.

Several of these glaciers made it right down to the water.

Love the blue glacial ice!  This is Glacier Italiano.  A series of glaciers in the area are  named after several European countries (including Hollanda and Francia).

A closeup of Italiano glacier.

Inside the Beagle Channel there are several sections where the glacial water pouring into the salt water creates this unique and very obvious dividing line.

All of these glaciers feed off of the massive Cordillera Darwin Icefield, one of the largest icefields in the Southern Hemisphere outside of Antarctica.  This is Glacier Francia.  As this glacier recedes the naturalists have discovered several fully loaded rifles dropped by the French in WWII.  How they made it here from the Maginot Line is a mystery.

Glacier Alley saved the best one for last.  This is the stunning Romanche Glacier.  Named after the French Navy frigate “La Romanche”, which explored this area  in 1882/1883.

The sheer amount of water gushing out of this glacier required a video!  Amazing!  Unfortunately the video quality was just so-so without some sun.

After exiting Glacier Alley we headed north towards our next stop, Punta Areanas.  The Chiliean fjords are almost as spectacular as Norway.

One last shot before it got too dark and rainy for further photos.

Coming up next, our cruise ship actually docks, and we visit Punta Arenas, our first stop in Chile.

 

The next morning we woke up to sunny weather and no wind!  It was absolutely stunning!  Our first land sighting of the morning was Dallman Bay, where we saw these humpback whales.  Sorry, my camera’s lack of proper zoom comes in to play again!

This iceberg topped with Gentoo Penguins quickly came into view.  According to the naturalist talking from the bridge it’s fairly unusual to find an iceberg with penguins on top.

That’s icy Anvers Island in the background.  Anvers Island is also known as Antwerp Island, receiving it’s name from an 1898 Belgian expedition led by Lt. Adrien de Gerlache, who’s name also features prominently in this region.

As we were passing Anvers we saw these Chinstrap Penguins in the water.  This scene would repeat itself constantly during our time in Antarctica.  Again, sorry for the poor video quality from my phone.  Someday they’ll make a phone that can truly compete with the huge bulky SLR type digital cameras.

We then passed this awesome iceberg that our ship drifted right by.   We were literally this close.  Gorgeous!

It was interesting to watch the perspective change as we cruised by.

Looked far different than I expected it to at first glance!  It looks like the iceberg on the left is part of the same berg, as it wasn’t separating at all.

Yet another gorgeous iceberg as we continue to cruise by Anvers Island, headed towards the Gerlache Strait

There were Gentoo Penguins on this iceberg as well, so maybe its not that unusual?

Anvers Island is even more beautiful from Gerlache Strait. This straight separates these island from the Antarctica Peninsula.

This strait completely freezes over in the winter, and if you come to Antarctica in the early part of summer there is a good chance there is too much ice to cruise through.  This last shot of Anvers Island shows just how icy it is even in the middle February.

We then entered Paradise Bay, the most stunning spot we would see in Antarctica!  The beauty of this spot takes your breath away!  This is my favorite photo of the trip, so far!  Hard to understand how it could be topped.

Everywhere inside the bay is gorgeous!

I loved the reflections in the nearly still water, mingled with little remnants of icebergs called “bergy bits”.

It was so warm I had to take off my jacket.  I was not expecting that!

We kept a watch on the adjacent glacier in hopes that we would see a calving event, particularly with how warm it was.  While we did hear some cracking here and there, with a particularly loud crack and crash from somewhere out in the Gerlache Strait, we didn’t see anything during our two hours in the bay.

There are people who line up on the Starboard and Port sides of the ship adjacent to the pool area, and they are crowded in along the railing.  Meanwhile, on the stern in what is usually the cafe outdoor eating area, there was barely anybody.

I took a lot of photos in Paradise Bay, and it was just too gorgeous to not post a bunch of them!  The naturalists on the ship mentioned several times they couldn’t remember a more perfect day in this spot.

The reflections are just amazing!

Inside Paradise Bay is Brown Station, an Argentine research station.  It’s also home to a large Gentoo Penguin colony, a few of which you can see in the background.

There were plenty more adjacent to the station.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, as our two hours of paradise were over as we headed back out into Gerlache Strait.

One last gorgeous shot of Paradise Bay!  Ok, this photo may vie for #1 of the trip!

As we cruised the Gerlache Strait I saw this unusual island with a cloud obscuring the mountain in the middle, which gave it a mysterious look, like the Island of Dr Moreau.

As we were eating dinner I saw this iceberg out the window that once again had a bunch of penguins onboard.  Ok, this isn’t unusual at all apparently!

This post is long enough, so I will make a short post regarding our last photos of our perfect day as well as our last day in Antarctica, where unfortunately the weather didn’t hold, as we visited King George Island and Admiralty Bay.