As I begin to type this, we are on our final sea day returning to Ushuaia.  We have finished crossing the Drake Passage and are entering the Beagle Channel.  My last post covered our first day in Antarctica.  With this installment, I will recap both the second and third days of our time on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Neko Harbour

Monday morning we woke to find we were a little further south at Neko Harbour, located in Andvord Bay.  We were on the west side of the peninsula for all of our trip.  At this location, though, it was interesting to note that we were only about 20 miles from the Weddell Sea on the other side of the peninsula.

All of the passengers were assigned to one of four color groups in order to facilitate transporting everyone to shore in stages.  We were in the yellow group, which was the first to board the zodiacs on this morning.  So by 8:30 we were suited up and on the water headed for our landing.

Huge flakes of snow were falling fast around us!  It seemed quite appropriate since we would soon be seeing groups of Gentoo penguins everywhere!  Snow and penguins just go well together, don’t you think?  I took LOTS of pictures and videos of their exploits. Narrowing it down to just the two I’m sharing here was tough.

 

They didn’t seem bothered by us at all.  They would walk right across our path within close proximity!

It was snowing so much, that I took this shot of the accumulation on Big Eagle’s head and across his back:

The time went by so quickly!  Before we knew it, it was time to wave good-bye to the Gentoos and head back to the ship!

Our zodiac driver on the way back was Ross.  He will be taking over as expedition leader for the last two cruises the Eclipse does this season.

 

Back Aboard Ship

We had lunch at the restaurant called Azure.  All of the condiments on board were served in these tiny little jars.

 

That afternoon, I stayed on board because I was scheduled for a massage in the spa.  It had been 8 years since I’d indulged in a massage, and it did not disappoint!  Big Eagle did the afternoon excursion to Paradise Bay.

We went to see Danny’s briefing in the theater before dinner that evening.  Here he is presenting to the group:

 

Damoy Point

The next morning, we were at Damoy Point, which is close to Port Lockroy.  Port Lockroy is home to the Antarctic base of the same name, and the most southerly operational post office in the world is there.  Before our excursion, we were given the opportunity to each purchase one post card to have mailed from there.  Cool!

As we approached Damoy Point in our zodiac, off to the left we could see fellow cruisers climbing a steep slope.

 

Danny greeted our zodiac and gave us the rundown for this excursion site.  We could hike the slope to the left up to the viewpoint at the top, we could visit Damoy Hut, and we could take the path to the right to observe the Gentoo penguins that were there.

 

We chose not to do the hike up the slope this morning, but we visited the hut instead.  The hut was last used in 1993 and is now a historic site.

I was surprised at how large it was on the inside.  It had a kitchen with utensils and canned goods still there and sleeping quarters.

We also walked to where the penguins were and had fun watching them and just enjoying the surroundings.

 

Lunch

Back aboard the ship, Danny was able to join us for lunch at Azure.  As we entered the restaurant, I was entranced by the desserts on display!

 

I wish I could tell you how they tasted, but I had no room in my belly after eating my meal. 😥

As we ate, the ship sailed southeast to Flanders Bay where that afternoon we would be offered a zodiac cruise.

 

Flanders Bay

Danny had told us that he had never been to Flanders Bay, so he was particularly looking forward to seeing it.  After we had suited up in the mud room, we headed for the zodiac gangway where we had a big surprise waiting for us!  Unbeknownst to us, we were having our own private zodiac cruise with none other than the expedition leader as our driver!

 

And what an afternoon it was!  The sights were incredible!

Everywhere we went in the bay, this flat ice covered the water.  We learned that it is newly formed ice called pan ice.

The best zodiac driver on the Scenic Eclipse! 🥰

 

It wasn’t at all unusual to find seals lounging on icebergs.  See that fella over my shoulder?

 

I’m not real great at identifying the different seals, but I believe the one above is a Weddell seal.

Here’s a seal poking his head up, but I was intrigued with the ice hanging all around the base of this berg as it was bobbing up and down in the water.

 

I think this is the most dramatic iceberg we saw the whole trip!  We approached it from this side, and then we rounded it around the right-side end and got this viewpoint:

 

And here’s another shot of it with the ship in the background, so you can get an idea of the sheer enormity of it:

And when you consider that the majority of most icebergs is under the water, it becomes even more impressive!

I took SO many more pictures than this during the afternoon!  This was just a sample of the incredible sights.

Food!

What a day!  Just amazing!  I’ll close this post by leaving this right here:

That night we had dinner at the restaurant called Elements.  One of my favorite things about eating at Elements is that I started every dinner there with their shrimp cocktail. Exquisite!