1st January (New Years Day) – Time 07.30 Paradise Harbour.
64 degrees 49.68’ South/62 degrees 52.51 West, air temperature 5 degrees, water temperature 1.2 degrees, Wind North force 5, force 2 or 3 later, overcast with prolonged sleet, snow and rain throughout the day, fog later also, Sunrise 02.38am, Sunset 11.53pm

Ice at Paradise Harbour.

Some of the passengers enjoying their visit to Paradise Harbour.

Today we went ashore again at the Chilean base at Paradise Harbour. Paradise
Our Expedition Historian David Harrowfield told me “it is a wide embayment between Lemaire and Bryde Islands. It was named by whalers operating in the vicinity and the name was in wide use by 1920. Waterboat Point is a low western termination of the peninsula between Paradise Harbour and Andvord Bay. The area was surveyed and mapped by Lester and Bagshawe who lived here in a hut made from an abandoned Norwegian waterboat and packing cases, between January 1921 and January 1922.”
Conditions were not ideal with prolonged showers of sleet, snow and rain for the five hours we were ashore. Despite this the bird activity there was brilliant. Since the last time we visited a lot more snow had melted and the place was very mucky. As the morning progressed lots of ice and icebergs began to fill the bay.

Marco Polo and one of the Zodiacs with one of the iceberg that came into the bay.

There were a number of Gentoo Penguins with newly hatched chicks those all seemed to be at a slightly earlier stage of development than those at Jougla Point at Port Lockroy. The usual Gentoo pastime of robbing stones from your neighbours nest continues to entertain us. It must be a game to relieve the boredom of sitting on a stone nest with eggs or chicks for days waiting for their partner to return from the sea. It was interesting to see the bright clean Gentoos returning form the sea greeting their partner who is covered in penguin guano with a memorable smell to match. The bird sitting on the nest always seemed reluctant to hand over the babysitting duties to the returning bird. It took one pair at least two hours to complete the handover with the newly arrived bird stealing stones from neighbouring nests and presenting them to their partner sitting on the nest as if they were presents.

Gentoo Penguin with badly fitted flipper band.

I also saw one Gentoo with a metal flipper band which are no longer used. It looked like it was badly put on, not closed properly. I managed to read the number on the ring – 6173. Once we were all back on board we headed north through the Gerlache Strait for Half Moon Island. On the way we came across a pod of at least 15 Killer Whales traveling in the same direction at a leisurely pace and spread out over a fairly large area. We also saw two Humpback Whales. After dinner I went out on the back deck for one last look at the sea before going to my cabin and almost immediately the captain announced over the PA that two more Humpback Whales were near the ship. Myself and a small group of dedicated passengers were rewarded with excellent views of two Humpback Whales surfacing a few times very close to the ship. I then spotted a third animal a short distance away. It turned out to be a Sperm Whale and we all saw it lying on the surface before blowing and raising its tail high into the air and diving into the waves of the Bransfiled Strait. Tomorrow is the last landing of this cruise with an early start, fist passengers due ashore at 6.30am so we will be going ashore to prepare at about 6am. Going to try and get to bed soon. Bye for now.

22.02(pm) – en route to Port Lockroy, 64 degrees 57.27’ South/ 63 degrees 31.77’ West, Air Temperature 5 o C,Water Temperature 1.5 o C, Wind North force 2.

Wild life seen today.


Birds
Giant Petrel 4+
Southern Fulmar 5
Cape Petrel 4
Antarctic Petrel 1
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 10+
Gentoo Penguin 1000+ **
( ** including at least 1 Leucistic Birds)
Adelie Penguin 1
Chinstrap Penguin 2
Snowy Sheathbill 6+
Antarctic Shag 3
Brown Skua 20+
Kelp Gull 15+
Antarctic Tern 7

Mammals
Humpback Whale 4
Crabeater Seal 3
Leopard Seal 1
Orca (Killer Whale) 20+ *
(* Including one pod of over 15)
Sperm Whale 1

Note: A + sign after the counts indicates that we saw at least that number but more may have been present