Brown Bluff, Antarctica, & Devil Island, Weddell Sea
This spectacular day began in Antarctic Sound, also known popularly as "Iceberg Alley." There were dramatic large icebergs scattered across the sea around us as we pulled into our anchorage near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. After breakfast, we headed ashore to a site known as Brown Bluff, our first landing on the Antarctic continent. Rising high above the landing site were towering, brown and rust-tinged cliffs dropping steeply down to snowy flanks before us. On the open ground down the shoreline were a series of Adélie penguin colonies numbering in the tens of thousands. There was also a small colony of gentoo penguins here.
One of the most delightful treats was watching groups of hundreds of Adélies moving en masse up and down the edge of the shore. In the freezing waters near the beach, a leopard seal was seen prowling, so these penguins were exhibiting their usual caution in finding a spot in which to enter the water. After much calling, walking and hopping back and forth, they'd finally get up the courage, and then a swarming mass of penguins would scurry quickly into the sea, soon reappearing offshore and porpoising away in search of food.
From Brown Bluff we navigated eastward into the Weddell Sea. Soon we were bumping our way through a mosaic sea of pancake ice. Heading southeastward, we slowly approached Vega Island and smaller Devil Island along its northern shore. A large colony of Adélie penguins on Devil Island was in view, but rather inaccessible with the snow conditions, so we opted for Zodiac cruising amongst the many grounded icebergs that dotted the waters around the island. The icebergs were sculpted in a delightful variety of different shapes and forms. A Weddell seal was hauled out on one low, flat ice floe, and a leopard seal was discovered on a more distant berg.
Back onboard the ship, with the sun slipping slowly towards the mountains and glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula to the west, we cruised southward, deeper into the Weddell Sea. We entered Herbert Sound along the west side of Vega Island, and soon encountered fast ice stretching across the entire sound. The ship slowly nudged into the ice, but it was too hard to continue, so we retraced our path back northward. During dinner we arced around the northeastern side of Vega Island, but there found dense pack ice. The Weddell Sea held us at bay as the final rays of the sun stroked the edges of icebergs and snowy hills with its touch of rouge.
This spectacular day began in Antarctic Sound, also known popularly as "Iceberg Alley." There were dramatic large icebergs scattered across the sea around us as we pulled into our anchorage near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. After breakfast, we headed ashore to a site known as Brown Bluff, our first landing on the Antarctic continent. Rising high above the landing site were towering, brown and rust-tinged cliffs dropping steeply down to snowy flanks before us. On the open ground down the shoreline were a series of Adélie penguin colonies numbering in the tens of thousands. There was also a small colony of gentoo penguins here.
One of the most delightful treats was watching groups of hundreds of Adélies moving en masse up and down the edge of the shore. In the freezing waters near the beach, a leopard seal was seen prowling, so these penguins were exhibiting their usual caution in finding a spot in which to enter the water. After much calling, walking and hopping back and forth, they'd finally get up the courage, and then a swarming mass of penguins would scurry quickly into the sea, soon reappearing offshore and porpoising away in search of food.
From Brown Bluff we navigated eastward into the Weddell Sea. Soon we were bumping our way through a mosaic sea of pancake ice. Heading southeastward, we slowly approached Vega Island and smaller Devil Island along its northern shore. A large colony of Adélie penguins on Devil Island was in view, but rather inaccessible with the snow conditions, so we opted for Zodiac cruising amongst the many grounded icebergs that dotted the waters around the island. The icebergs were sculpted in a delightful variety of different shapes and forms. A Weddell seal was hauled out on one low, flat ice floe, and a leopard seal was discovered on a more distant berg.
Back onboard the ship, with the sun slipping slowly towards the mountains and glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula to the west, we cruised southward, deeper into the Weddell Sea. We entered Herbert Sound along the west side of Vega Island, and soon encountered fast ice stretching across the entire sound. The ship slowly nudged into the ice, but it was too hard to continue, so we retraced our path back northward. During dinner we arced around the northeastern side of Vega Island, but there found dense pack ice. The Weddell Sea held us at bay as the final rays of the sun stroked the edges of icebergs and snowy hills with its touch of rouge.
