Location: Hope Bay
During lunch the Silver Wind moved around the corner to Hope Bay. This was our first zodiac-only tour, and we started at an Argentinean research base, Esperanza.
Seems every research base in Antarctica has a unique “bright” color scheme. With all the white and brown landscape, I totally understand. The newest building is the one painted like the Argentine flag. Of note, it was here where the first person born in Antarctica occurred in 1978.
I love how the orange buildings jump out from the surrounding landscape.
Along the water’s edge there were more Gentoo penguins. I got an “action photo” of one of the penguins with Argentine Air Force insignia behind them.
And then some normal nature shots.
Then it was penguin lunch time, and many went into the water. What followed was 30-minutes of near frustration as I tired to get decent photos of the hopping out-of-and-into the water, or “porpoising”, as the penguins swam around us. I have a good camera that can continuously take a dozen-or-so pictures, but had no luck. I finally got a few useful shots, but at max lens range.
In the distance there was a very large, flat iceberg. Our zodiac driver/guide explained this was a “tabular” iceberg, not calved from glaciers. It formed on the sea during the winter, so does not have the crinkled look of other icebergs.
Oddly, as we looked another cruise ship emerged from behind it – the MS Marina of the Oceania cruise line. It carries about 1250 guest, so is too large to launch zodiacs or dock in Antarctica. It’s just giving it’s guest a drive-by of the sights.
We found two more seal species. I could not get a good shot of the Leopard Seal, as it never left it’s cover next to an iceberg. They eat penguins, and there were many in the zodiac rooting for the penguins. As we returned to the ship we did spot a Weddell Seal taking a sun nap. It had that cute, puppy-dog look.
We then returned to the ship, but I had enough time of other contrast-with-nature shot.
A good day. The weather stayed great, and all the guides said it was the best weather day of the entire tour season. So then things are going downhill from here, I guess. We travel north and then south-east tonight, and start with a zodiac tour. I’m in the last group going out, so I get to sleep in!