I woke up at 7. We were stopped in the Neumayer Channel across from Port Lockroy waiting for some of the staff from the Lockroy Heritage Site to come on board to talk to us about the site and their mission. After a quick breakfast we went to the lecture. There are 5 staff currently on site. The current head is also their medical officer. They maintain the site as a museum and also carry out scientific work such as counting the Gentoo Penguins at the site.

We continued north in the passage and then continued to circumnavigate Anvers Island

We then proceeded up the Gerlach Strait to Paradise Harbor and Wilhelmina Bay

After dinner we went to bed without doing the blog.

The following morning, I heard the announcement bell go off at 7 and we began to hear commentary on Deception Island. It was a harbor situated in an active volcanic caldera. There were 3 research stations located inside when they were mostly destroyed by an eruption in the late 1960s. Our ship was too large to go into the caldera so we just cruised around the island.

We had been seeing Humpback Whales, but all you see is a quick spout and the dorsal fin. It was difficult to capture a picture. Also there were lots of penguins in the water. It looks like a school of fish, but if you take enough pictures and are lucky and fast, you can capture a photo.

We spent the early part of the day steaming between Deception Island and Admiralty Bay on King George Island, both of which are in the South Shetland Islands, as is Elephant Island which we will see tomorrow. Admiralty Bay is quite large and has 3 large arms which are protected from much of the wind. There are multiple research stations, including ones from Poland, Peru, and Brazil.

Sorry guys, no food porn from tonight’s dinner. My phone needed charging.