Tuesday 19 January 2010

A day in Paradise


Today we really call ourselves lucky. We started out in the morning with a cruise in the Neumeyer Channel and some of the surrounding bays hoping to find some whales: and how lucky we were! A good number of humpback whales made an appearance all around the ship and we were privileged that these awe inspiring animals allowed us to watch them closely. On board the excitement was running high and everybody was on their feet trying to get the best shot with state of the art cameras down to cellphones.









In the afternoon we came to our last landing site on this cruise in Paradise Bay, and the weather was clear enough for us to see the spectacular scenery. Everybody enjoyed our second contact with the Antarctic continent. The birdlife was abundant and some of the animals were really getting friendly with one another, even though it is already late in the season. Two sheathbills were courting and two penguins were definitely well past the first stages of courtship. Well and truly, it was a day in Paradise for everybody; many of us got infected with the “Antarctic virus”. And, oh yes, good bye Jean Louis, you will be sorely missed, and Happy Birthday Frieda!