Tuesday 7 February 2023

February 7-8 Balleny Islands and the Southern Convergence

 

Snow dusted our balconies and outside decks - very pretty
The Balleny Islands are an extremely remote, wild, inhospitable islands almost 300 km north of the Antarctic mainland. They are located around the Antarctic Convergence where the cold waters of the Antarctic meet the warmer subantarctic waters. That makes the water in the region rich in nutrients which come to the surface of the water as the waters mix. That in turn attracts lots of whales and sea birds.  We were supposed to zodiac cruise around the islands, but it didn’t happen. 

The weather was a little challenging (which is normal for this area) so the captain aborted that plan and sailed as close as he dared (we were sailing in an tough icebreaker and yet the captain was extremely conservative). Of course that didn’t give us much of a look but we did see some shadowy forms in the distance as well as some gigantic iceberg.
We watch the wave crashing over this iceberg - it was mesmerising.
It was thrilling being on the bridge crashing through these mighty waves. 

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