Pleneau Island and Flander’s Bay Zodiac trips

Awoke this morning to an announcement that we had entered the Lemaire Channel. At first I was a little upset that the captain would wake up everyone before 7am just because we entered a channel. Then we looked out the balcony and understood why he woke everyone. The mountains surrounding this channel are amazing! Calm, clear blue water with incredibly dramatic mountains and glaciers is well worth losing a bit of sleep. Nothing like sitting on the balcony with a morning coffee watching this show! Even managed to catch a couple of seals hooking a ride on icebergs!

Entering Lemaire Channel

1st Glacier

Hitchin’ a ride

Sunrise

Today we’ll do another drive by in the Zodiacs. The reason we can’t land is due to an outbreak of Avian flu in Antarctica. This is the first time in history that Avian flu has reached this continent. Two cases were found at Pleaneau Island in 2 dead birds. To try to keep this isolated, landing on this island has been prohibited for the rest of this season.

Glacier sunrise

The island is small, only 1.5 miles long. It was first reported as a peninsula of Hovgaard Island by the French Antarctic Expedition of 1903-05. It was named after their photographer, Paul Pleneau. It was first shown as an island in 1957 on an Argentine government map. Global warming started earlier than Al Gore thought.

Frozen submarine

Caught a leopard seal relaxing on an iceberg. You can’t see it in the picture but just behind the seal was a large red area where it apparently had just finished a meal.

Leopard seal – #1 predator for penguins

Our second outing today is at Flander’s Bay. Again, we will be touring by Zodiac boat due to Avian flu being found in this area. Flanders Bay is a large bay lying between Cape Renard and Cape Williams, along the west coast of Graham Land. Yes, Graham Land is where the cracker was first found but it has since migrated to Keeblerville. The bay was first explored in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under the explorer Gerlache, who is believed to have named the bay after the historical Flanders area.

Gentoo penguin (orange beak)

The colony

Headin’ out for a swim

Aaahhhhh, refreshing.

Back on the ship it was Polar Plunge time. This insane idea is touted as a right-of-passage for those explorers reaching Antarctica. Maybe, but it isn’t for everyone. The water temperature is 30F (no, salt water does not freeze at 32F). To participate one must sign a waiver stating they know that this is a dangerous activity ad could possibly end poorly for them. Each participant must be in good health and know how to swim, duh! A harness is attached to the plunger, while a ship’s photographer stands at the ready to snap your photo as you enter the water.  The ships doctor is also standing by. You are allowed 10 seconds to play around in the water before the crew will pull you out. Collette and I chose to watch the entertainment from our balcony while enjoying a cocktail. No, neither of us were that eager to jump into very cold water, just to check the box.

More exploring tomorrow…