Brown Base and the Yellow Submarine

 This morning we arrive at Brown Base, not Stony Point as previously planned. Apparently this is a better spot and they have managed to secure a time slot for us here instead of Stony Point. It also seems popular with yachties. As we were having breakfast we witnessed the arrival of an 80 ft Oyster Yacht, "Firebird".

I checked their website and it appears to offer private charters allover the World. It has previously been to the Arctic Circle and am not sure if this is their first trip to Antarctica as their website says they normally spend summer in the Caribbean.

Whilst I was photographing the yacht, a bird landed on the railing and commenced preening itself.

There is an impressive glacier just off our starboard side, it is bit more defined than the many others we see.

Anyway it is time to get prepared for our dive on the yellow submarine. A zodiac takes us out to the location where the submarine is located and 6 of us are loaded on board.

We tied up alongside and received instructions from the pilot on the boarding procedure, before loading commenced in a predetermined order to keep the submersible balanced. we were all given a number prior to boarding so the seating was optimised for weight . We were all weighed at the check in procedure when we signed up for this. It is pretty tight to get in.

There are 4 submersibles in the Viking Fleet, each named after one of the Beatles. Today, we are diving in John.

After a series of cross checks with the support boat, we are ready to dive. As we descend the seats we are sitting in are rotated so we are facing the front of the submersible. Each side of the pilot are 3 seats surrounded by a transparent bubble giving great visibility.

On descent, the pilot turns on some of the external lights, so that we can see the phytoplankton in the water column.

After a short while, we can just start to see the bottom.

And then, with all external lights on we start to explore the sea floor.

Sponges and Starfish are plentiful

Sea Lemons

More sponges

So many types of starfish

Ice Fish

Another fish ? We think a Snail Fish

Sponge with feather like protrusions for feeding

Sea snail

Sun Starfish

A lonely octopus

A small jelly fish swam past our dome

Sea cucumber

Salps

Our dive was 120 m deep and we spent most of the time moving along the bottom before we reached a cliff face that we began to ascend. Total dive time was 45 minutes and it was an amazing experience in a very cleverly designed submersible.

 On the way back to the ship we notice another yacht has arrived, this time a ketch. We have seen him before a few days earlier.

Another stunning iceberg

After lunch, we have a zodiac landing, taking us to Brown Base, located on the peninsula. This will be our first landing on the continent, as our other landings have been on islands in the archipelago.

Approaching Brown Base in the zodiac

Welcoming crew waiting to help getting off the zodiac

It was time to take a few touristy shots to prove we had been here before hopping back in the zodiac to explore some of the wildlife along the shore.

A couple of gentoo penguins 

Main Base settlement

The temperature is around 0 C, which it has been most days. As we approach the main buildings of Bases Brown, it is clear that a larege gentoo penguin colony has taken a liking to this location.

Not far from the base was a major nesting site for Antarctic Cormorants, a few of which had chicks.

Antarctic Terns nested nearby higher up than the Cormorants 

The unique shapes of floating ice continues to amaze

We were very fortunate to be able to spend the full day at this location as the vessel that had booked the afternoon slot, The Greg Mortimer, was running late and agreed to let us stay until they arrived. We also saw the Scenic Eclipse pass by this afternoon. The Seaborn Pursuit is also in the area according to marine traffic.

It has been a long but very interesting day.