We had an incredible day in our exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula. We started the day on the shore of Danco Island, which was the site of Base “O” (UK) until 1959. We landed on the island and explored the place, enjoying the activities of the different gentoo penguin colonies there. Some of our guests hiked up to the summit of the island, being rewarded with wonderful views.
On our way to our next destination, we encountered a big group of killer whales off Errera Channel. There were three calves in the group and they moved around our ship, surrounding us, we enjoyed this incredible encounter from the bow and the observation deck of National Geographic Orion. During our sail to Neko Harbour, our National Geographic photographer onboard, Ronan Donovan, gave a presentation of his latest assignment in the field working with Arctic wolves for 3 months during the boreal summer. We spent the afternoon on land at Neko Harbour, our first landing on mainland Antarctica! We walked to the viewpoint of the bay, on the edge of the massive glacier, which has been very active in recent years. On our way back to the shore, we enjoyed sliding down the hill, having fun in the snow. Before our daily recap in the lounge, we had several humpback whales around our ship, feeding and moving all around us. We had about eight of them in sight, displaying their flukes and blows.
After dinner, we enjoyed a lecture by Ella Potts, one of our naturalists, in which she shared with us her knowledge of killer whales in the South Sea. This was definitely an action-packed day with many sightings of different wildlife, another incredible day on the white continent.
