I woke this morning at dawn, rubbed my eyes and sat up to the windowsill – land! Giant, sheer faces of ice surrounded the ship on all sides, and big chunks of ice floated past my window. The sun barely shone through the mist and clouds, giving the entire scene a feeling of twilight in a different dimension.
At 8:30 AM we geared up in ALL of our layers and headed for the mudroom for our first kayaking excursion. Anchored in icy Fournier Bay, we took off in our sea kayaks, encountering two napping humpback whales in the first few minutes! Sleeping at the surface, or “logging”, is a very common behavior for humpbacks, and allowed us to get very, very close to the leviathans without waking them up.
We all stopped paddling about 500 feet from the two black masses resting at the surface, and we listened. Every 30 seconds a huge, deep hiss would echo off the ice, occasionally from the two whales in front of us, but also from both sides and behind. there were whales everywhere. At one point it seemed we were surrounded by deeply breathing whales. We also saw crab eater seals lounging on various ice bergs as wells as two leopard seals, well over 15 feet long. We paddled farther into the bay toward Mt. Frances, while shrouded in clouds we were told it is the tallest peak on the peninsula, 9,628 ft coming straight out of the ocean. As we entered the brash ice, three minke whales popped out of the water, seemingly charging each other for sport. A crab eater seal became quite curious of us, and poked his head out of the water at the bow of one of the kayaks and then dove directly under mine, the water so clear that I could see his whole body gliding and spinning under the surface. This afternoon we visited Cuvervlle Island, the largest Gentoo Penguin rookery in the world.
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.