On to the Weddell Sea

Feb 1, 2023
After a very windy sailing the night prior I woke up quite tired. We receive the news that the morning outing, which we hoped would involve Astrolabe Island, cannot take place due to high swell. We continue north to round the trip of Weddell Sea, enjoying two interesting lectures during the morning, one about Shackleton’s famous expedition and another about plate tectonics. After lunch, we receive the news as well that the afternoon zodiac excursions around Gourdin Island will also have to be canceled due to high swells. So, we continue to round the cape into the Antarctic Sounds and towards James Ross Island in the Weddell Sea. I have to confess, while I did want to maximize my time down here, I am feeling very tired from the schedule we have been maintaining up until now and am grateful for a day of ‘nothing’, where I don’t feel like I’m missing out on excursions to just hang around on the ship most of the day.  We are lucky as we have a ship of fewer than 100 passengers, which means we get to maximize our time on landings. We have also been ‘lucky’ in that our fly-cruise sailed on time, and until this day, we’ve largely had very good weather for every landing. Out the window, we can see Hope Bay, an Argentina base that boasts the first recorded human birth in this region. We take a group photo out on the deck with a touch of sunshine before sailing on. We continue through to the Weddell Sea, ending near the opening to the Antarctic Sound where we anchor this evening.