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Antarctic Peninsula Basecamp, On board the M/V Plancius
March 3-14 2015 Trip Report

Escorted by: Cindi LaRaia

Page Nine

Day 9 – Wednesday 11th March 2015
Deception Island and Half Moon Island

GPS 08.00 Position: 062°59’ S /060°33’W
Weather: Wind: WNW 4. Sea State: Calm. Weather: Overcast. Temperature: + 2°C

During the night we had felt some increased movement on board the ship as we made our way across the Bransfield Strait towards Deception Island. This island is still classed as an active volcano with one side of the volcanic caldera rim collapsed allowing the sea to flood in over 10,000 year ago.

Once we had safely navigated through Neptune’s Bellows and the anchor was dropped in Whalers bay we began to make our way ashore. The mountaineers headed off along the beach with Andrew and Markus to climb up to Nipple Peak, a 200 metre peak on the edge of the caldera. The rest of us split into smaller activity groups. Ali led a walk up to the aircraft hangar and then up onto the top of Rowland’s Hill before walking back through the whaling station, along the beach and up to Neptune’s window.

Kelvin led a group through the whaling station explaining about then history of some of the buildings and whaling machinery as he went. The walk went as far as the hangar and then everyone could stroll back along the shore line. Beach combing was another fantastic Basecamp activity here at Deception Island with hundreds of Brittle stars, jelly‐ like Salps and prickly Sea urchins washed up along the tide line. Ali also found a few juvenile Krill as well as a still wriggling adult Krill. The beach was also home to hundreds of juvenile male Antarctic Fur seals that were sleeping, play fighting and generally acting like teenagers lounging around on the shore. These seals would have spent the early part of the season up in South Georgia, where the females and pups would still be, and are now in Antarctica to make the most of the Krill bonanza down here at this time of year. Their piles of pink poo was a sure indication of at what they had been eating!

It was a great morning here at Deception Island, a very different location from all our icy Antarctic Peninsula landings over the last few days.

Just before noon we set sail once again transiting the narrow gap of Neptune’s Bellows, made even narrower by the presence of Raven Rock, a large rock pinnacle just below the surface of the water in the middle of the channel. From here we had a 3 hour sail up to Half Moon Island where we would have our last landing on this voyage. Many people retired to their cabins for a post‐lunch snooze but only a short while later there was a call over the PA system informing us that we had a pod of Orca, Killer whales near the ship. Our initial encounter with them was fleeting but with plenty of binoculars on the bridge they were spotted again to our starboard side so the Captain took the ship towards them. What followed was an amazing, once in a life time encounter with these incredible animals. They were porpoising near the ship and playing in the wake that was created as the Captain made tight turning circles. We could see adult males and females as well as young animals and calves. They were jumping out of the water, swimming underneath the ship and spy hopping to see a nearby Humpback whale. This show lasted for around 20 minutes but in the end we had to leave them and continue on our way to Half Moon Island. What an incredible experience.

By the time we got to Half Moon Island the weather conditions had deteriorated in terms of visibility and with sleet, snow and rain it wasn’t the best weather for our final landing. Once we were ashore, we were able to follow the flagged trail that took us to the Chinstrap penguins that make this small island their home. Most of what we were seeing were scruffy, moulting adults but with a few mature chicks amongst them there was still a chance for a pristine penguin photo. With such wet conditions it was muddy and smelly underfoot but most of us made it out to the main colony where Ali was on hand to point out the single Macaroni penguin that has been coming here to breed with its mate for a few years. This island is at the southern limit for this particular species so we were really lucky to see one, even if it was looking a little scruffy as it began its annual moult. All too soon it was time to make our way back to the landing, clean our boots and board the zodiacs for the final shuttle back to the ship where Andre was on hand to hose us down and make sure that every piece of penguin guano was removed from our boots.

Back on board we began to warm up and dry out before we were invited to the lounge for a short Re‐cap of our exciting day and our plans for the sea days ahead. It was a very quiet night in the lounge as most people headed straight to their cabins after dinner. So much for a relaxing vacation on board Plancius!

Mountaineering

For the last outing of the trip the mountaineers would tackle Nipple Peak, a rocky buttress overlooking Whalers Bay. After an energetic walk along the foreshore we turned inland and carefully chose a path between the numerous Fur seals who were resting amongst the ruins of the former whaling station. Markus led us up into a barren valley over varying terrain before we stopped to take a short break while looking out over the crater rim at the spectacular views back towards Neptune’s Bellows.

Markus set off again and once gaining a gentle ridge we climbed higher over the frozen terrain, thankful that the layer of snow meant the ground was not frozen solid and afforded some purchase as the slope gradient increased. As we climbed higher the exposed ground meant that the wind increased, stripping what little warmth we had built up on the ascent. After rounding the rocky summit of Nipple Peak we had climbed as high as we could for this trip (230m) and spent some time taking photos and putting on extra layers before going on a short walk to look further out over the outside of the rim and down onto Bailey Head. Andrew led the decent, following our established tracks as we gradually made our way further down the hill, out of the wind and back into the shelter of Port Foster. Some of us took the option of joining Ali for a quick climb up to Neptune’s Window before heading back to the landing site to board the zodiacs. ****this was an easier hike and we never did use our crampons, however the wind howled here up to at least 40kt. Gorgeous views but bloody cold!

*****ORCA’S!!!!! After all week, me asking each expedition leader when on our zodiac ride,,, can we find Orca’s? they want to ring my neck… Then we would get the Minke’s surround us. Next day I ask again, can we see Orca’s??? They want to kill me, there she goes again, seeing Orca here is rare and fast. Then we are surrounded with Humpy mom and spy hopping baby next to our zodiac! Soooo I did not give up hope. I would visualize Orca every day and night. ON the last day before heading out into the Drakes Passage, they arrived!!!! In full splendor!!! They kept coming and more and more, up to 15 to 20 and they stayed and played in the wake where the propeller stirred up the krill! About 4 different small pods of the same family with the baby and mommy and big daddy. This experience and sighting was BEYOND all we could hope for!! They have never had this many Orca ever nor had they stayed this long! My long awaited prayers were answered!!!!

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