When you are sailing in the Southern Ocean you desire the perfect combination of calm sea and wind in the hope to have a smooth passage to the Falklands, but also wildlife flying nearby. Fortunately, during our first day of expedition we had both conditions.
We are expecting to anchor tonight in front of New Island in the Falklands and to start our excursions tomorrow. It’s going to be great!
Maria Intxaustegi is an internationally awarded maritime archaeologist, naval historian, commercial diver, professional offshore sailor, and expedition guide from the Basque Country.
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With a gentle following sea astern, we set our bow to the shores of Antarctica. Gentle breezes pushed us past towering tabular icebergs as seabirds streamed alongside our ship. The horizon was full of the blows from fin and humpback whales, some passing close to National Geographic Explorer , giving us incredible views of these stunning creatures. Much to our surprise, cryptic animals such as strap-toothed beaked whales and a southern bottlenose whale were spotted from the bridge to the delight of all present. Calm seas in a breathtaking landscape lay ahead on our course to the seventh continent.
We awoke as the ship navigated towards Cooper Bay. As we approached our anchorage, we watched king, chinstrap, gentoo and macaroni penguins porpoising toward their rookeries. The morning was spent cruising around the macaroni colony in the snow before we repositioned for more cruising under mountain reflections and sunshine in Drygalski fjord.
Today we awoke to a snowy day in South Georgia. We had already arrived at our next destination of Gold Harbour by the time we were called to breakfast. We loaded into our Zodiacs and our expedition team landed us on a beach filled with king penguins and elephant seals. Huge male elephant seals chased each other around trying to steal females from each other and our expedition team made sure we stayed safe as they charged through everything in their path. We were even able to view some of the fluffy king penguin chicks as the weather started to clear and the sun started to shine. Some of us took a hike up to higher grounds to overlook the colony. Everyone came away with beautiful photos and memories. We returned to National Geographic Explorer for a quick lunch while the ship repositioned then headed back out. Our next stop was Moltke Harbour. The landing was challenging, and our drivers and expedition team expertly landed us all onto the beach. Once there, we enjoyed the incredible views of the mountains, the elephant seals, fur seals, and king penguins resting on the beach. Some of us hiked up the stream. It was the perfect ending to a beautiful day.
