The Gathering of the Penguins

There are at least five brand new elephant seal nursing on elephant rocks. They are hard to take photos of from a boat, but we could hear them making silly baby seal noises. 

The bird scientists won't be able to come down this season because the construction crew will need all the beds available. Because they are missing so much data this year they decided to set up game cameras to take hourly photos of the penguins season while the scientists are away. I had to go out and change the batteries in preparation for the summer season. 

They are just starting to group up and gather rocks for their nests. There colony sites are still mostly covered in snow and ice. It's not quite egg laying time yet. 

There is a fun arch on the glacier, so far it's held for a week, we'll see how much longer it lasts!

 

Arrival to the Peninsula

We left the sun in the open ocean and entered the clouds that were clinging to the Antarctic Peninsula. 

The clouds conveniently lifted for a few scenic hours before a thick fog, heavy snow, and high winds made for a very rocky last night at sea. 

Cool shapes.

Big berg in the fog.

All the mountains still have their winter rime, it's not quite spring here yet. 

This is a slushy snow ice mixture that was starting to form baby pancake ice. This forced the ship to slow down to 3 knots (down from our top speed of 10 knots). The ship needs to go slow so the water intakes for cooling the engines don't get full of ice and seize up. 

The wind calmed down. The ice, fog, and glassy water made for an eerie evening. 

The wind moves the new sea ice faster than the larger chunks of ice. These chunks are referred to as "ice of land origin" meaning they fell off a glacier somewhere. 

An island with bands of aptly named "grease ice" in the fore ground.

A lovey ice berg. 

This is Dayne, it's one of my favorite mountains in the area. IT is 2395 feet high and was first climbed in 2000. 
 

Engine Room and Departure

I have crossed the Drake nine times now, and this is the first time I have been able to get a tour of the engine room! 

It was very interesting to get a look at a whole new section of the ship, especially the section that makes it go!

Here is the crank style phone, so that the bridge and the engine room can talk to each other in the event of a power outage.

The silver clamshell labeled number two to one of the two flash desalinators that the ship using to make fresh water. 

After two weeks in port, we are finally under way!

Exiting the west side of the straights of Magellan is more scenic than the east side, but we hit the open ocean sooner, and stay in rough seas almost a day longer. But the pilot doesn't need to guide the ship for as long, keeping our bubble safe.

The southern most tip of the contiguous Americas continent.  

Here is the bridge. This is where I spend most of my time during the crossing, knitting, listening to books, and talking with the mate on duty. Best views on the ship.