Saturday 28 March 2020

Drakes Passage - Tierra del Fuego, 30th December 2019

We made surprisingly good time across the Drake Passage to reach Cape Horn by late afternoon. Cape Horn was first "discovered" in 1616 and was named after the hometown of the Dutch explorers who sailed around it. This "discovery" is an utterly bizarre concept to me considering that this whole area had been settled by indigenous Yaghan people for at least 8,000 years. These people have been virtually wiped off the face of the planet due to smallpox, measles, lack of food resources due to overhunting of seals and whales by Europeans and organised bounty hunting by gold miners and sheep farmers who settled the area during the proceeding centuries. The Yaghans themselves would have comprised of different groups each with their own language and traditions. Only one full-blooded and native speaker remains alive as of today, what a sad, sad state of affairs. As we sailed through the Magellan the following evening I was particularly struck at how empty and lonely the landscape appeared to be. Incredible to think that these same shorelines would have whole families and communities hunting and fishing here for countless generations, all gone now.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S62768067
https://ebird.org/checklist/S62785415
https://ebird.org/checklist/S62781240

Blue Petrel

Blue Petrel

Northern Giant Petrel

Northern Giant Petrel

Southern Giant Petrel

Southern Giant Petrel
Grey-headed Albatross

Grey-headed Albatross

Black-browed Albatross

Black-browed Albatross
Southern Royal Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross
Southern Royal Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross

Wandering Albatross
Chilean Skua

Imperial Cormorant
Cape Horn
Albatross memorial on Cape Horn.

Cape Horn lighthouse and research centre.

Tuesday 24 March 2020

Antarctica 29th December 2019



The weather today was more in line in what one would expect for the Antarctic. While the weather the previous day was a lovely crisp, clear day with blue skies, today we had snow showers, strong winds and clouded skies. This being the reason that I took hardly any shots during the day. The decks on floor seven were closed off for much of the day due to the challenging conditions (not the first time this happened on the trip). Our last view of land in the Antarctic was Deception Island which was shrouded in a snow shower. A few of the lads managed to briefly pick up on a brief Snow Petrel flying along the island shoreline but most of us couldn't get onto to it.
Another new tubenose addition to the trip was the first of the Blue Petrels as we steamed back north towards Patagonian. We had decent numbers the following day also. A little odd how we didn't have any on the way down?


https://ebird.org/checklist/S62727513
https://ebird.org/checklist/S62732526
https://ebird.org/checklist/S62758620


Snowy Sheathbill


Snowy Sheathbill


Blue Petrel

Blue Petrel
Deception Island

Wet decks.

Bioluminescence caused by agitation of ship propellers on phytoplankton in the water.

Thursday 19 March 2020

Antarctica 28th December 2019

Quite enough day on the bird front today.  The real highlight however were the large gatherings of Humpback Whales in the area of Paradise Bay and along the Neumayer Channel. There were at least fifty animals feeding in the former site. They seemed to be everywhere you looked. This once in a lifetime experience was however largely completely ignored by the rest of the ship guests. There were two "naturalists" onboard who pointed out the odd whale sighting here and there over the ships tannoy system but this spectacular gathering wasn't highlighted at all, bizarre!

https://ebird.org/checklist/S62689689
https://ebird.org/checklist/S62716795

White morph Southern Giant Petrel

White morph Southern Giant Petrel

South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua

Kelp Gull

Kelp Gull

Kelp Gull
Antarctic Tern

Antarctic Tern

Antarctic Tern

Antarctic Tern

Antarctic Tern

Chinstrap Penguin

Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins.
Gentoo Penguin colony.
Humpback Whale

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale with a significant old injury in front of the dorsal fin.

Humpback Whales feeding.

Humpback Whales feeding.

Humpback Whales feeding.

National Geographic boat.