TravelBluebird

This morning we were at Charlotte Bay bright and early. Woke up 7:15 to first narration sounds. Grabbed quick coffee in Lifo and we’re on Bow. Was lightly raining and snowing at first but not cold AT ALL comparatively speaking due to no wind! This was supposed to be a great spot for humpback whales feeding. We didn’t see a single whale. 😭 A few were spotted at 6am but that was it. However it was BEAUTIFUL. Five glaciers feed into the bay. The mist and low clouds slowly lifted although only a few high rays of sun came out. After bow I went up to front of ship in 6 for different persoective

Thank you! I’ll try to be in line—or ready to scramble— with my Kindle at 7am!

Thank you @Heidi13 for all your detailed information on binoculars_I’ve learned a lot and thus will help me when I purchase a new pair for my travels.

@AroundWithMAPTravels Thank you! I have been savouring every moment! Stayed outside in Charlotte’s Bay long after I was done with photos so I could just drink it all in!

@NorbertsNiece Sounds amazing! I think I’ve asked you this in your thread, but can’t remember exactly what you said. The excursion company wants us off the ship on as early a tender as possible. SO, how did you navigate that—how early were you in line for tender tickets at Rolling Stone lounge, and were you able to get on a tender at a reasonable hour? As of yesterday, the forcast looks like rough seas heading over to Falkland Islands on Sunday…if it doesn’t change, I’m a little worried about if we’ll make it there, but weather changes and fingers tightly crossed!

OMG that is crazy that the aroma lingered that long. My mother in law has severe Alzheimers so her memories are not great. When we told her we were coming to Antarctica, a trip she herself made many years ago, all she said was “penguins stink” 😂

@Hogladyrider Ugh, that is a bummer—I hope that it can be fixed soon. I hate when that happens.

When I first got out on the bow for the penguin rookery, it was PACKED. I mean packed; I couldn’t even get within 4 people of the railing. I ended up going down to Promenade for a while till the initial rush was over (that was also packed). Went back after 20 minutes, asked people if I could get a few shots, and was able to. You say PENGUINS on the Oosterdam in Antarctica and the Bow turns into a Mosh Pit! OK, not really, people were very nice about letting you get a chance at the rail, but you can see what I mean:

So many penguins!!!! The penguin rookery // colony at Cuverville Island was amazing! Just a couple of photos…Internet is very slow for me tonight. Penguins everywhere—on rocks, on snow, in water! And WOW when a gust blew our way from the penguin colony, the odor was….um….unique 😂 I had to compress the Nikon photos since I was shooting in 20mb to retain the most detail, so I’m not sure you’ll be able to blow these up to really look at the individual penguins, but its something else to really look at what all the penguins are doing@

@NorbertsNiece Estancia Excursions.

@FLCruiser97 We’ve had 2 so far, and I understand there will be 4 in total but I’ll update to confirm after the cruise.

@NorbertsNiece Your photo is amazing! Great color and action and WOW those babies are furry! I hope we make it to Port Stanley; I have an independent tour to Volunteer Point planned.

Just so dang adorable. Very windy on the bow at Neumayer; was out for a short while; couldn’t hold any cameras straight (gusting now to 30 knots—I can see on the bow cam that about 4 people are left there. Sun was out for about.1 minute On our way to Cuverville Island, where this a large rookery of Gentoo Penguins. Hope we can see some from the ship! The penguins above were also Gentoo Penguins.

Oh I almost forgot! There were penguins frolicking in the water today! Could actually see them on the bow cam when we were in the room…I caught a few coming by starboard side after that. This is my favorite one, mid jump!

Not so much after the wind dies down and a couple whales have been spotted

A couple photos to show the ship experience today. If you come out early and in bad weather, you can have the bow to yourself almost:

I will ask customer service to see if they are familiar with the boarding process at the terminal.

Also saw humpback whales and another ice flow with 3 penguins. We are on the way to Neumayer; snow and rain, bow closed again for wind. Hope the visibility improves when we get there; glad I got out and about all morning.

WOW penguins on an iceburg! Just floated past my balcony; nearly vaulted over the bed to get my camera 😂 I think this is one of the best things I have seen in my entire life.

What a beautiful morning in Paradise Bay! We saw penguins swimming, sea lions swimming, humpback whales (those photos to follow later). The scenery was beautiful—gorgeous, mountains down to the water. Snowed a bit. Another cruise ship was in the bay, and there was a research base (I believe Argentinian). Also a CHilean base which we are now passing. Bow got very crowded so I went to our balcony and then to promenade for a bit. On our way to Neumayar channel.

@FLCruiser97 and @justlivin Our binoculars are 4 x 18s, Vixen field binoculars purchased in Japan. They do let in good light, but I’m going to look at the ones on the ship and let you know how they compare.

Saw penguins swimming by (no photos; happened fast!) and a whale—may have a photo of the whale tail on the Nikon. Some people on port side this morning saw penguins going by on an iceberg. Not as windy as yesterday on the bow but they say winds are picking up so decks 5,6 and 7 front is closing as a bit of a wind comes through. Heading to Paradise bay for a brief stop.

Bow will be open shortly!

Couple of shots from port side of ship, plus one of a little iceberg that just floated by—you can see the blue in that!

We sheltered in Bismark strait last night. Graham said we saw Humpback whales including one breaching (not me) and the cute Adelie penguins—seriously thinking about buying one of those stronger binoculars from photo shop in case we run into penguins at that distance again.