Damoy Point

 We awoke this morning to see it snowing, not a good omen for the rest of the day. It has obviously been snowing all night as there was a good build up of snow on the decks and all outside access is cancelled until the crew can clear it all away.

There is a nasty weather system passing through the Drake Passage and we are experiencing some of the outer edges of it down here, hence the snow. Within an hour the snow has stopped and the decks are opened mid morning, largely cleared of snow by the crew.

 To our great surprise, a yacht appeared out of the fog and motored past us.

We went to the morning briefing about plans for tomorrow and were given an update also that the weather balloon launch had be a success and it had reached 28km before exploding. A complete download of the data captured was on display in the expedition central centre.

An iceberg with a few penguin passengers passes by as we head for  Damoy Point.

Along the way the skies are still pretty gloomy and there is still te odd light snowfall.

But soon we see some blue patches in the sky, and hope that the afternoon will be fine.

Once we arrived the toys were progressively offloaded and everything began at around 2 pm. We had a zodiac landing booked for 2.30pm, to go ashore and visit a penguin rookery. Whilst we were waiting we were surprised to see a Princess Cruise ship appear from behind some icebergs/mountains.

The submarine is on its way 

A Princess Cruise ship appears from nowhere

The landing point for the shore landing was near an Argentinian Base Station that didn't look like it had been used for some years. The expedition crew had been ashore earlier getting everything prepared for zodiac disembarkation and climbing up the sloping ice face from the shore. Steps cut into the ice and crew there to assist those who needed it made this relatively straight forward. They had marked out a path, with flag posts, to guide us to the rookery making sure that we had minimum impact on the area.

Once ashore, we trudge off along a track of pretty soft snow after last nights falls, to the area where te rookery is located.

Taking into account how cold it was this morning, when it was still snowing, everyone layered up in warm clothes for the excursion this afternoon. By the time we got halfway along the path to the rookery, layers were being peeled off, as it was actually very warm. A crew member was located along the path helping people open up their parkas etc to cool down.

The penguins are Gentoo Penguins and the rookery not a pretty sight, as they seem happy to live in their own excrement. 

Getting back into the zodiacs was interrupted by curious penguins who decided to come over and investigate what was happening. Hanging around the ice stairway down to the boats, the crew patiently waited for them to leave before recommencing boarding.

Heading back to the ship

Back on board we were ready for a nice hot shower.