Antarctica, Cuverville Island
Day 5, zodiac cruise 1; near Cuverville Island
After breakfast, we squeezed back into the zodiacs for a scenic cruise: a last-minute re-arrangement of people was needed when Sergey's boat broke down. As the zodiac drivers nosed up close to the ice, many pieces seemed sculpted - some like white marble chiseled into uneven blocks, others like fairy grottos hung with polished blue crystal. Delicate blown glass icicle fringes showed how warm the weather had been for the last few days and characteristic golf ball markings from underwater erosion marked where an iceberg had overturned. We even saw one structure with an uncanny resemblance to Sydney Opera House.
Even the low, otherwise boring tables of ice were worth spending some time by since many fat, shiny crabeater seals were resting just at eye level. These seals live almost exclusively on krill (the name may come from early sailors who thought krill were a kind of crab).
Day 5, landing 2; Cuverville Island
The landing on Cuverville Island was very laid back - maybe due to the calming effect of all the beautiful blue icebergs, or perhaps because of the warm sun. We watched the gentoos up to all their usual tricks by their nests, then poked about on the beach for a while looking at old whale bones. A leopard seal lay on an iceberg just offshore, keeping an eye on things but disappointingly making no move to do anything much. The playful gentoos splashed about just in front of him and kept me amused for ages by hopping on and off tiny floating platforms of ice, with much theatrical wobbling in between.
Arjen pointed out the parhelion - an apparent ring around the sun caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere - and tried to photograph it with my head blocking out the sun. Unfortunately, my head was a) too small for the purpose and b) not nearly as scenic as the iceberg he'd used earlier.
After a very pleasant morning, we took the zodiacs back to the ship, first diverting for a real close-up look at the leopard seal on our way. He still didn't seem at all bothered by us and barely moved, except to glare rather menacingly. These top predators are over 2.5 m long: with an appearance usually described as "snake-like", they reminded me of the basilisk in the Harry Potter film. I wouldn't want to be stranded on an ice floe with one (especially without my magic wand)!
