Series 3 : EP10 : Baby Elephant, Sleepy Whales, Last Trips - Danco Island and Melchior Islands

It's the 2nd of April, 2025 and today is our last day in Antarctica. We have our last shore trip and our last Zodiac cruise today. We have moved even further north along the Antarctic Peninsula to Danco Island, a tiny, snow and ice covered bump tucked in the channel between the Antarctic Mainland and the outer barrier islands. Its main claim to fame seems to be that its in another spectacular location. The energetic can walk to the top for the view and/or do the Polar Plunge, a quick dip in the chilly waters of the Antarctic.

I opt for the 'go partway up until it get so steep I'm worried I'd go on may ass on the way down' plus the 'stand and watch people scream as they find out how cold the water is' package. Although I have to say that if the Polar Plung had been done from the ship I would have done it. Doing it on shore and having to dry off as well as you can, then get a Zodiac back to the ship didn't sound like a good idea to me. I do have to admit that I wish I had done it.

Not that there would have been much video. The camera started to act up again here so today I lost a lot of video. I'm sorry I trusted my 'rugged' camera to be rugged. To be fair it generally is but Antarctica seems a bit too much for it. My non ruggedised camera seems to have worked better but I left it on the ship so I didn't have to take a backpack.

There was the usual delegation of penguins here plus a juvenile male Elephant Seal. He was old enough to fend for himself but not yet big enough to start growing the trademark bulbous nose. Big lad though but not a patch on the giant beachmasters found further north. He'll get there. He put up with us for about an hour and then humped down to the waters edge, giving us the big hint to go. When we didn't he left, but I suspect that he returned not long after we departed.

Then over lunch it was off to the Melchior Islands, about 50km away. We found a spot up on the bridge to watch for whales as there were a lot. It's also a good spot to view the last of the Antarctic scenery and still be in the warm. The need to look out for whales is very real. A collision with a whale would be bad for the whale and for the ship so there is a formal watch by a crew member and a 'casual' watch by the passengers. The ship travels quite slowly but the whales can be asleep or they just cross in front of us although they seem to be 'ship aware' and don't come too close while we are under way. We hope we see more whales at the Melchiors.

The Melchior Islands are at the edge of the Drake Passage and is the perfect departure point for our crossing back to the 'real world'. There is a summertime Argentinian Scientific Base there but the staff went home a couple of weeks before so we have the place to ourselves. We park up and suit up for our last Zodiac cruise. The weather is very pleasant and our guide takes us out to the open ocean side of the islands where we spot some whales right up along the shore. It must be deep there even though there are only a hundred metres off the shore. I manage to get some underwater shots of them. The water seems clear but its not as clear as you would think so even a whale close by is obscured by the gloom. I also discovered that the overlap between the lenses of the 360 degree camera is affected by immersion in water due to the change in refractive index. Even though I got some weird effects I'm happy with the footage I got on the first try.

The wind dropped to nothing and the sea went glassy calm. We have been so lucky with the weather. I don't think we would get it so good if we ever were lucky enough to go again. The camera really began to throw a tantrum so I was limited to still pictures only. I did get some poor video of some fur seals here, a species that doesn't go much further south than this. There were also some Weddel seals but no video of them.

Then it was back on board after using up our entire three hours. Given the lack of sea ice, the groups diverged more than usual and had different experiences. We saw whales feeding while others saw breaching whales and whales spy-hopping to check out seals and what was going on in general. Some good photos were swapped over dinner.

The captain waited until after dinner before we ventured out into the Drake Passage. We had been warned that the forecast was for 5 metres seas and it was right. Angela and I dosed up with seasickness meds and went to bed. With the ship moving in those kind of seas its a pain even just to walk around or sit at a table so bed was the best option for us.

So have a look at the next video, which will be the last in this series, to see how we get along heading back to Ushuaia. Two more days across the Drake as winter closes in. I hope you enjoy this video, sorry about the lack of quality, and see you in the next one.

#travel #antarctica #cruise #adventure #drakepassage