Deception & Half Moon Islands (South Shetland Islands)
This was our last day of landings before heading back to Argentina. We landed in Whaler's Bay on Deception Island, known for massive whale slaughters in the 1900s. There were huge metal barrels originally used to store whale oil. It is said that some days the waters would be red because of all the whale blood. You can still find lots of whale bones on the beach. The beach is black from volcanic ash & soot. If you look closely you can also see boiled sea urchins and other tiny ocean invertebrates that got cooked by volcanically warmed waters. This is also the beach where we did our polar plunge! The running into the frigid water was the easy part...wading back out & putting your clothes back on when you're wet was the hard part! Hosea also did a second plunge back on the ship - he jumped off the gangplank with a rope tied to his lifevest so the crewman could haul him back up. He got a shot of vodka and the captain blew the ship's horn in praise of his courage! (I had already showered & was warm from our first plunge...no way was I doing it all over again!)
After lunch (and a long hot shower) we landed at Half Moon Island where we finally got to see...Chinstrap penguins! There are around 3300 Chinstrap pairs on this island as well as one single Macaroni penguin that has been living with this particular Chinstrap colony for the past 2+ seasons.There are also many large birds that breed on this island. You could see the carcasses of penguins lying around from where the larger flying birds had attacked them. We also saw a group of young male fur seals fighting with each other.
Half Moon Island was our final landing on this expedition and home to 3000+ Chinstrap penguins (and one single Macaroni). These are the last of our photos from this trip as we spent the last 3 days in our bunks as we sailed back through the notoriously rough Drake Passage back to Ushuaia. The end of our once in a lifetime adventure!
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
1 day ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.