Antarctic Cruise Diary : 18 December 2006

Antarctic Cruise Diary, December 2006

Antarctic Excursions, Danco Island and Wilhelmina Bay

18 Dec 2006
Position: Lat: 64°.40' S Lon: 62 °.00' W
Air Temperature: +0.9 °C

As we poked our bow out of the Errera Channel and into the Gerlache Straight in the early morning hours it was obvious that the high winds and building seas would not be conducive to exploring Orne Harbour as scheduled. The captain noted winds of 40 knots in the straight, and other ships reported 60 knot winds. The decision was quickly made to turn the ship and head for a more sheltered location.

The small island of Danco was a well-sheltered choice, and a trip to land was immediately launched upon setting anchor. We climbed up to a large colony of Gentoo Penguins nesting on the exposed rock of the island. Numerous "highways" between breeding sites and the ocean proved to be an excellent location to sit and observe the comical actions of the birds. Graham and Sharyn struck out on a hike to the top of the island, leading us over snow and rough shattered rock, to the summit where we played at being conquering heroes by displaying our national flags at the summit.

Our afternoon excursion to the picturesque Wilhelmina Bay was spectacular. We spotted a whale as we were anchoring and the zodiacs were launched into the water with the speed of a hungry Leopard Seal. Scott was immediately able to find the two Minke Whales and all zodiacs gathered in a quiet but excited group as we waited for them to resurface. A sudden ripple in the water, a loud snort and there she was, right amongst us, close enough to see her eyes as she looked over the strangers in her domain. Down she dived, with her dorsal fin surfacing a short two metres from the nearest zodiac, swimming underneath and twisting to see us from below. In the crystal clear water we could see her every movement until the distance got too great. Scarcely time for us to breathe and she was back, circling the group, like a trained performer coming to say "hello" to every boat in turn. All of us got plenty of photos of that black dorsal fin.

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