Our crossing of the Drake Passage went without any incident and the seas remained reasonably calm for us. We crossed over the 60° latitude around the 2:00pm mark which then meant we had reached the Southern Ocean which is the body of water that surrounds Antarctica.
We retired to bed at around 10:30 and it was still daylight outside.
Because of our location there were only a few hours of darkness and despite drawing the curtains we both came round at 5:30am. Our ETA for entering the Schollart Channel was 7:30 so we both tried to doze for another couple of hours because we anticipated today was going to be a long one.
At just after 7:00 we were alerted over the public address that we were about to enter the Schollart Channel.
The next 4 hours were a bit of a blur with so much to take in. We sailed through the channel before finally getting to Paradise Bay. So many photos to choose from as there were opportunities a plenty. The landscape was just incredible, we even had loads of whale sightings to add to the excitement. It truly is a wonderful place to see.
At 1:30 we started our exit from the bay into the Gerlache Strait to begin our return leg of the journey. Paradise Bay is as far south as we would go.
We have seen so much today and it’s difficult to pin down and log each particular thing, it’s been one amazing day. The fog has come down this evening and the ship is sounding is horn every few minutes. I think our biggest peril is hitting an iceberg. Over night we continue north towards Elephant Island so all being well I’ll see you tomorrow.