20221224 Saturday December 24, 2022- Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands, Chinstrap Penguin Colony, Sea Elephants and Blue Eyed Shags

 20221224 Saturday December 24, 2022- Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands, Chinstrap Penguin colony, Sea Elephants and Blue Eyed Shag

We had to set another very early alarm to be ready for a 5:45AM Zodiac landing at Half Moon Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.  There are the splintered remains of an ancient whale boat on the beach, along with Chinstrap penguins.  There are also Gentoo penguins in the water and on the beach, but the penguin colonies above are populated with Chinstrap penguins.  The beach and island are quite rocky, forcing the penguins to do a lot of hopping from rock to rock.  This looks quite different from the usual waddling penguin gait.  

There is a lot more exposed rock in the South Shetland Islands, which are much further north than Anvers Island.  There is also noticeably more moss on the ground.  There were kelp gulls and terns on the rocks nearby, as well as blue eyed (Imperial) Antarctic Shags, which are a species of cormorant.  

There is an abandoned Argentinian research station close to the landing beach.  This landing was mostly walking on the rocky bare earth, although there were patches of ice and scattered patches of crusty snow.  The landing at Damoy Point felt more like a polar expeditionary adventure.  

As we were waiting to board our return Zodiac, we heard the loud CRACK, followed by a thundering roar.  We though that must be a glacier calving somewhere, but to our amazement, we saw a small shard of a small house sized iceberg in the bay near us shear off the iceberg and slide into the water. Then the entire iceberg flipped over, exposing a jagged and very blue underside.  It made a surprising amount of noise as it rolled over.  The kayak guide wasn’t kidding when they said ice bergs can be unpredictable.

Ciara and Tom did finally get to do a submarine dive and were fortunate to see an octopus as well as star fish, sea suns, sea pens, a nudibranch and they also saw a penguin swim by as the sub was ascending.  

The SOB rides were still wet and cold even though it wasn’t raining.  We were able to spot some seals on the beaches, but we were far enough away that you could really only see details by binoculars or through a telephoto lens.  

There were also some female sea elephants on a beach on the backside of the island where the Chinstrap penguin colony was, but again, you needed binoculars or a telephoto lens to be sure.  The ship does provide nice waterproof 8x36 binoculars with a floating strap for use during the cruise.  

The day started with calm at 5:45 so the first kayak excursions got off, but by the third session, the winds had picked up so all the later kayak sessions were cancelled.  All the excursions were done before noon, so we had a leisurely afternoon visiting the fitness center and spa. 

The ship launched a NOAA weather balloon which transmits data up to 18 miles in altitude as part of a network of weather balloon stations around the planet.  The crew turned that event into a deck party complete with dance music, hot Irish Coffee and Cocoa drinks and desserts.  

We even got to have our picture take with Torstein Hagen, the owner of Viking Cruises.  That’s the first and probably last time we’ll have an opportunity to stand that close to a Billionaire.

The captain did take the ship on a scenic cruise between Greenwich and Robert Islands where there are a number of stark rocky pinnacles with prominent basalt columns.  One stood in isolation like an Easter Island Moa.  The weather was poor for photography with moderately heavy rain and windy conditions and a very low cloud layer.  We then cruised down the southeast coast of Livingston Island toward Deception Island.  There are some very impressive and massive glaciers that line that coastline.  

During the daily briefing, we got the bad news that a weather system had moved in, and conditions at our next port of call, President Head, were expected to make it impossible to do a landing and perhaps even difficult or uncomfortable to even do scenic cruising in the area.  Winds could be in excess of 40kts and the channel between Livingston Island and Snow Island, where President head is located, is subject to constant ocean swells from the Drake Passage which make landings difficult in even calm wind conditions.  So basically, our last day in Antarctica is going to be a washout.  

So we took advantage of the free launderettes to wash all our clothes, including our expedition excursion wear, which we will not be needing any longer, unless the weather forecast turns out to be drastically wrong and we are surprised to find calm conditions at President’s Head in the morning.  The expedition leaders have preemptively cancelled all morning excursions, but our calendars still show a noon excursion, just in case.  But in all likelihood, that too will get cancelled in the morning.  

It looks like we will spend a quiet Christmas Day on the ship.  Hopefully, the eggnog will be flowing freely.