Neko Harbor / Cuverville Island
Who could possibly ask for a finer wake up on Christmas morning than what our happy little ship experienced today! Expedition leader Lisa Kelley’s gentle voice was coaxing us awake with the promise of a humpback whale breaking the mirrored surface of Andvord Bay. Andvord Bay is arguably one of Antarctica’s most spectacular fjords. Dozens of tidewater glaciers cascade down steep valleys between almost vertical mountains spawning rafts of brash ice. Many large icebergs drift among the brash, brought into the bay from faraway ice shelves. Our morning activities were focused at Neko Harbor, a gentoo penguin colony near the head of the bay with a spectacular overlook. Our captain dropped the anchor on the steep sloping bottom and rested the ship’s bow in the sand a few meters from shore.
Perfect weather conditions afforded us the opportunity for both a second continental landing and another chance to go kayaking. During the morning we all were able to witness both avalanches and glaciers calving in the dynamic landscape that surrounded us! Many of those who hiked up to the overlook chose the rapid exhilarating return toward the landing by sliding down a steep part of the hill on the seat of their waterproof pants. When all the kayaks were stored back aboard, their launching platform was used by a majority of our guests as a swim platform for a chilling Christmas Day polar plunge.
During lunch we left Andvord Bay and moved a short distance northward through the Errera Channel to Cuverville Island. Here we chose between going ashore to visit the Peninsula’s largest gentoo penguin colony or exploring the shoreline and surrounding grounded icebergs by Zodiac. By 5:30pm we were all back aboard for an early recap of the day’s events and a delicious Christmas dinner followed by a sing along of some of our favorite carols in the lounge. A wonderful end to an idyllic Christmas Day!
