Saturday 22nd December - Cruising Deception and Cuverville Islands.
05.02am - 62 degrees 58.17' South/61 degrees 08.58' West. Light clouds and mist at first, snow later clearing gradually, Air Temperature 2 degrees, Water Temperature 0.7 degrees, Wind Southwest force 3. Firstly I was looking at the blog and noticed that some of the dates for the entries are incorrect. I hope you have been able to follow them in the correct sequence. I will try and have a look and see can I clarify them over the next few days. Today was yet another amazing day (sorry!). We sailed into the centre of Deception Island, a caldera (flooded extinct volcano), it was enormous. We had Humpback Whales at the entrance and thousands of Chinstrap Penguins on the sea and at the rookeries near the entrance. The volcano is still active and in the 1990's the Chilean base there was destroyed by an eruption. Steam could be seen coming from hot springs at the waters edge. A strange sight in the freezing cold of Antarctica. It's hard to think that a lot of the antarctic land is volcanic in origin and geologically not that old. It was a great feeling to be at Deception which was discovered by Edward Bransfied, a native of Ballinacurra, a village just 10 miles from my home. He is so famous in Antarctic exploration that the strait we travelled to get there is named after him. We then sailed to Cuverville island passing Icebergs of all sizes and shapes on the way. We saw two Orcas and a feeding group of 5 Humpback Whales close to the boat. I also added a few new species to my Antarctic list (see below). Cuverville was mind blowing. Towering dark peaks all around with glaciers running into the sea from them on all sides. Icebergs everywhere. I spent the afternoon guiding passengers around the island by zodiac. The colours in the icebergs were amazing. Our geologist Tom Sharpe said the blue ice could easily be as much as 25,000 years old. He also said that because of the compressed air bubbles in it if you put a cube of it into water is fizzes loudly as the compressed air is released. The largest Gentoo Penguin colony on Antarctica is found here with over 4,500 breeding pairs. Also one of only two flowing plants in Antarctica, the Antarctic Hair Grass, is found here. The day was topped off with a leopard Seal on an Iceberg just next to the ship and three fantastic Snow Petrels. It is bright also all the time getting like dusk for just a few hours between midnight, when the sun sets and 3am when it rises again. I will try to upload more photos soon.

2211.58pm - 64 degrees 40.41' South/62 degrees 59.77' West, overcast but dry, Air Temperature 4 degrees, Water Temperature 0.7 degrees, Wind South West force 3.

Thanks for all your coments and Christmas wishes, very much appreciated!

Bye for now.

Wildlife seen:

Sea Mammals
Humpback Whale 10
Orca (Killer Whale) 2
Weddell Seal 6+
Leopard Seal 3
Antarctic Fur Seal 5

Birds
Southern Giant Petrel 25+
Black-browed Albatross 2
Southern Fulmar 60+
Cape Petrel 40+
Antarctic Petrel 3 *
Snow Petrel 3 *
White-chinned Petrel 5
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 30+
Black-bellied Storm Petrel 2
Gentoo Penguin – many at Cuverville! (hundreds if not thousands)
Chinstrap Penguin –many at Deception Island (hundreds if not thousands)
Snowy Sheathbill 7 *
Brown “Sub Antarctic Skua 10+
South Polar Skua 1 *
Antarctic Tern 40+

* New Species for the Cruise.