Time 13:59, 60 degrees 38.01' South, 61 degrees 32.29' West, Dry, cloudy at first clearing to sunny spells later, Air Temperature 6 oC, Water Temperature 1.4 oC, Wind Northwest force 3.
Black-browed Albatross on the Drake Passage
Up at 5am this morning and ready for our landing at the Chinstrap colony at Half Moon Island.
While eating breakfast in the restaurant we were told it was too windy to land and we were instead heading for Drake Passage and Cape Horn. David Harrowfield, Expedition historian gave me the followig information on Half Moon ISland and Drake Passage - "Halfmoon Island -
A crescent-shaped island lying in the entrance of Moon Bay on the east side of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. The island was known to sealers in the area as early as 1821.
Drake Passage - The body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. It is named after 16th century English privateer Sir Francis Drake, although he never sailed through here." While still in the restaurant I saw a blow from a whale and everyone there got to see two Humpback Whales passing close to the ship. I spent the rest of the morning in my "office" on the back deck and had a great selection of birds and sea mammals.
Passengers looking at an Iceberg
Shortly after loosing sight of land we once again came across a long line of very large Icebergs looking like a flotilla of alien ships. We had a couple of great albatrosses during the day and I noticed they seem to always approach the ship by slowly flying up along the wake of the ship and they never came very as close as the other seabirds. We had only a handful of Cape Petrels following the ship after we lost sight of land but picked up a flock of over 30 at the Antarctic convergence.
Sunset over Drake Passage
So far our crossing has been fairly smooth. Thanks to everyone leaving comments on the blog, they are very much appreciated and sorry I cannot reply. Best of luck to everyone taking part in the Great Island Birdwatch Race next Saturday. Bye for now.
Time 22:54, 58 degrees 35.56' South, 64 degrees 11.11' West, almost completely clear sky, Air Temperature 6oC, Water Temperature 1.7oC, Wind Northwest force 5.
Wildlife Seen leaving Half Moon Island and in
Drake Passage
Mammals
Antarctic Fur Seal 1
Humpback Whale 4
Sei Whale 5
Birds
Wandering Albatross 2
Royal (Northern) Albatross 1
Southern Giant Petrel 10+
Northern Giant Petrel 1
Black-browed Albatross 10+
Southern Fulmar 5+
Cape Petrel 150+
Antarctic Prion 200+
Thin-billed Prion 1
White-chinned Petrel 15+
Black-bellied Storm Petrel 5+
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 10+
Gentoo Penguin 5+
Chinstrap Penguin 200+
Brown Skua 2
