Hans Hansson – Full Display of Wildlife

Our day started an hour earlier than usual with breakfast being served at 7am. By 8am the crew had the zodiacs in the water and we started our journey to Spert Caves. Initially when leaving the Hans Hansson we thought he water was calm but when we arrived at Spert Island and the canal that lead to the caves we greeted by a swell that effortlessly tossed our zodiacs so much that we felt like we were in a washing machine. We quickly snapped a few photos and took some wild videos to capture the moment then retreated to safer waters. On the way home we had an out-of-schedule landing at a seal colony. The some Antarctic Fur Seals entertained us with playful behaviour on the land and a couple performed like acrobats in the water but most happily slept as we photographed.

We spotted one very well camouflaged  Weddell Seal who appeared to be dreaming and totally in her “zen” space. We waited patiently for what felt like 30mins for her to briefly look up at us with her beautiful eyes before deciding we were of no interest and promptly returning to her dreams.

We ducked back to the Hans Hansson for a hot drink and warm banana bread to warm up before Jared took us out again in the zodiac. Our journey to  Point Brungus was eventful. We saw a huge grounded iceberg that was was slowly being cut in two as water rushed through the centre and caused a mini waterfall with each wave. Next we spotted a Leopard Seal who appeared to be out hunting and watched it for quite a while. We saw Blue Eyed Shags and porpoising penguins venture scarily close to the hunting mammal and had visions of wildlife photographer, Paul Nikon’s, incredible TED Talk of his experiences with Leopard Seals going in our heads. We thought we might witness a catch but this did not happen on our watch. Perhaps the Blue Eyed Shags knew there was danger around as they came right over to the zodiac and almost seemed to want to hop in.

When we reached Point Brungus we saw a majestic scene of the penguin highway which led to jump rock all in front of an enormous glacier. With 2500 pairs of Chinstraps in this colony it was a truly special place. Again, we waited patiently to see the brave little penguins tentatively walk to the edge of jump rock the dive into to ice water. The conditions were rough but there were some very happy photographers who some how managed to capture the penguins in focus as they jumped.

We were all relieved to get back to the boat to get dry and have some lunch. We devoured Naomi’s pizzas and we had an in depth conversation about what makes the best pizza and where they can be found in the world. One of the joys of spending so much time with well-travelled people.

After lunch the anchor was raised and we started on our eight hour transit to Deception Island. Captain Jared had advised taking sea sick medication for this journey, if needed, and we were very grateful for the early warning. Although the crew said we had great weather and the wind was behind us, it still felt like returning to that washing machine from earlier in the day. But this time we rocked and rolled for 8 hours! I lay snug in my bed wondering how Naomi could possibly be preparing any food and how early travellers like Shackleton had everything much tougher.  At 7pm Naomi amazingly served a lamb roast, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and cabbage with apple crumble and custard for dessert. Most of the guests chose to delay dinner until about 9:30pm with we had entered the safe harbour of the volcano at Deception Island and we could eat without having to hold your plate so it didn’t slide off the table.

We were pleased a major transit was over and that we’d witnessed some wonderful animal behaviour.

Words and photos Bernadette Vincent