Antarctica - Fish Islands and Prospect Point

Friday, 21 February 2020

Having gone as far south as was possible given our timeline, we headed north along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. In the morning we passed through the narrow "Gullet" between Adelaide Island and the Peninsula. In the afternoon we anchored in a protected bay in the Fish Islands and had an opportunity to kayak in the calm water.

Ice took center stage today. Wherever you looked, ice was there, and the forms went from mundane to unworldly.

Even though frequently it looked like a calving from a wall of ice was imminent, we never saw one fall.

A good example of ice tinged with green and pink algae.

Ice bergs have varying depths of blue.

Caves of blue in floating ice.

Wildlife, like these seals take advantage of the ice for a resting spot.

Adelie penguins take refuge on a berg.

To put the scene in perspective, this is a wider shot of the penguins above.

Killer whale fins below a well-carved iceberg.

A closer look at the killer whales (Type B).

In the late afternoon we got an opportunity to kayak. A kayak port was set up alongside the ship, and making it easy to enter and leave the kayaks.

Kayaking from ship to bergs.

Zodiac monitors made sure that we kept within our assigned area and could provide assistance if a problem arose (nothing happened).

Kayaks and icebergs.