Saturday Feb 10, 2024
Hi Folks! Just another day in paradise today! We started the morning off with a landing expedition to Valour Island. It was discovered and named by the French Antarctic Expidition from 1903-1905 under J. B. Charcot. It was named for Lieutenant Jorge Valour, an officer in the Argentinian Navy, who rescued the shipwrecked Swedish Antarctic Expedition in November 1903. They say there are over 8,000 pairs of Adelie Penguins that nest on Valour Island. I think we saw all of them!
So we landed on the island and got to walk along a path they had laid out for us thru a foot of snow! We saw many different Adelie rookeries. While those little penguins are cute, if you get too many of them together in one place they really stink!
After that we got back onboard we went up to the top deck as we were traveling thru the Lemaire Channel. That area was just spectacular! It’s a very narrow passage and our ship had to navigate tons of icebergs. Parts of it were snowy, parts were windy and parts were foggy. We saw some humpback whales, some leopard seals and several schools of penguins swimming by. There were times when we could see a mirror image of the high cliffs reflected in the water below. So beautiful!
We then sailed to Truant Island. It is sometimes referred to as Vazquez Island and was first charted under Charcot from 1903-1905. We had to climb up a fairly steep bank to see a colony of Gentoo penguins. They look like the Adelies but have a white marking around the back of their heads that makes them look like they’re wearing headphones.
We got back to the ship late and went for a late dinner. Once again it was a great meal. After dinner we listened to our favorite sax player Kevin.
Tomorrow is another fun day of exploring! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
PS: It’s official! They gave us our certificates for both the Polar Plunge and for crossing the Antarctic Circle!
The Wandering Italian 