I woke early and opened the curtains to a grey day and sat in bed and watched as we passed the snow covered land mass, with an occasional grey peak or ridge sticking through; the cloud line was just above giving it a closed in feeling.
As we continued to cruise down the strait, in calm seas, to our next destination we still had to dodge the obligatory small and large icebergs.
Interestingly the mountains do not seem that high it's as if you have the tops without the bottoms - I don't know if there is more mountain below the sea??
We anchored off Cuverville island where there is a large gentoo penguin colony and for the adventurous a difficult hike up a snow covered hillside to a viewpoint at the top.
We disembarked first as we decided to do the hike along with about 40 others.
Franz had left early to make the path in soft deep and wet snow - the ascent of 250 metres over a step incline was fine it was when your foot disappeared into deep snow that it became interesting. As the line of red coats snaked its way up the hill we made regular stops to admire the views and to have your foot into someone else's deep foot print was quite reassuring as the drop, if you fell away from the hillside, was not inconsiderable. At the top we took in the sultry moody views caused by the layer of low grey cloud. In the sea below us we could see the ship surrounded by ice of various shapes and sizes. The iridescent blue surrounding the ice made them stand out and look stunning in the grey light - it was definitely a different view to the one we will have next Sunday!
The descent was interesting and as we snaked back to bottom I decided turning the corners were best done on my bottom!
Back at the bottom I decided to spend a little time watching the penguins come and go.......John went back to the ship to shower and get warmer. There were level penguin highways in the snow - tracks they made to go from their rookeries to the sea and back - today's photo is of two passing on a highway and neither really giving way! Most of the penguins in the rookeries were sitting on eggs - no new chicks yet here ( unlike yesterday) albeit somebody did spy one chick. There was also a Weddell seal cruising around the waterline - these are friendly to penguins as unlike the leopard seals they are not part of their diet!
For several days I have been coughing well - something is going round the ship - partly due to the dry air coupled with a bug so have been dosing myself with Robitusson - an unexpected onboard shop purchase. It definitely helps but I still get the odd coughing fit and had one onshore just before getting back to the ship! Hey ho!!
Back aboard - I had to have my second shower of the day as the ship relocated to Neko Harbour. The views of ice, mountains and snow were spectacular as we travelled through the channel over lunch - occasionally we would spy penguins on the ice flows and marveled at how they had jumped that high!
The sun was now out so the views were even more spectacular - we continue to realise we are really lucky with the weather by just watching and listening to the excited crew when they see things in such brilliant light!
Neko Harbour was enclosed by mountains and glaciers and another spectacular spot that words can not describe or do justice to.( see photo for 7/1/15)
The intrepid amongst us were off for another walk over more snow covered terrain to a viewpoint above a glacier and looking down over the ship and harbour.....no need for the gym today! Enroute we passed another gentoo colony - similar to this morning they were sitting on eggs. On the way back I did see the ritualized handover between male and female as one came back from sea and the other left, after first pottering around looking for more stones for the nest.
The other highlight of the day was having got to the viewpoint we had two options to return - walk back or slide down the slope.
John walked - I slid - the first bit was great and then you went over an almost vertical cliff so after bumping over snow and ice you quickly reached the bottom and had to wade back to the path through deep wet snow. It's amazing where ice gets - I could feel a piece sliding down the back of my trousers and to the bottom of my leg!!
I watched the penguins for a while and a hopeful leopard seal off shore ( which I understand did catch a penguin and one of the group has a picture to prove it) before going back to the ship for a much needed cup of tea!
Several whales - a couple of humpbacks and orcas passing through were seen off the ship today but not by us -never in the right place at the right time but that's life!
The ship relocated over dinner to Port Lockroy- tomorrow's first visit - and the scenery as we sailed across the Gerlach strait and through the passage to Port Lockroy was stunning - made even more amazing by the sun dipping in the sky.
Anchor down we had a peaceful nights sleep.