Waking up at 7am on the 15th of February, it felt a lot like Christmas morning. There were eager smiles on everyone’s faces as we queued to board our zodiacs for our first Antarctic outing.
Our first landing was Mikkelson Harbour on Trinity Island and we landed slap-bang in the middle of the Gentoo penguin colony beside a small abandoned research base. A few of the penguins had young chicks but since it was late in the season most of the chicks were larger and were beginning to moult.
They were relatively indifferent to our presence and also the presence of a half-dozen fur seals lounging on the beach. The fur seals would give a bark if you got too close but were more concerned with fighting between themselves and having a sleep. 
Further round the island, among the fur seals perched on the intermittent rocks dotted around the snow was a solitary Weddell seal. Larger, shinier and with dappled white spots on his coat, he was happy lying directly on the snow. Nearby there was the wreck of a water-boat from the times of whaling ships with masses of whale bones littering the area. 
In the early days of whaling, before ships could take a whole whale on deck, the whales would be cut up on shore and then the blubber taken aboard, leaving the huge bones where they were. Flying around the penguin colony were numerous Skuas, large birds that prey on penguin chicks and will pick at any carrion they can find.
The weather was really nice with blue skies mingled with cloud and after a rapid 2 and a half hours on the island we reluctantly clambered back in the zodiacs and back to the Nova.
After lunch we had a Zodiac cruise around Cierva Cove. Early in the cruise we detoured over to an insignificant break in the colossal ice wall where we could get onshore. We all jumped out and celebrated setting foot on the Atlantic continent proper for the first time. There would hopefully be further chances but given the unpredictable weather of the region it was good to make sure.
With ten in each zodiac, we plowed through the water weaving in and out of icebergs searching for seals. We saw many crab-eater seals ( which apparently don’t eat crabs) lazing on the icebergs and we were able to get uncomfortably close to some of them. As interesting as the seals were the icebergs themselves. Huge silent chunks varying in size from Tom Thumb to Tom Cruise to a cruise ship! The fact that 90% of an iceberg is hidden underwater only added to the awe we felt seeing these floating works of art in colours ranging from brilliant white to crisp blue.
The ice cliffs that extend out from the land were also impressive, dwarfing our little boats as we pulled up close to them, or as close as we dared. Ever so often a ‘school’ of penguins - or a solitary one - would swim past. Diving in and out of the water as at home in the water as fish.
It was a brilliant introduction to the 7th continent and only whetted our appetites for the days ahead.
On the 16th of February, our second day truly in Antarctica we began with our second landing on the mainland, this time at Neko Harbour. There was a sizeable Gentoo penguin colony here too who’d made their home in a particularly muddy area near to the shore.
Behind this was a snowy hill with a good view of the natural harbour. The Ice wall forming a side of Andvord Bay was quite active with pieces regularly calving off and falling into the sea accompanied by a loud crash and mini tsunami. Having climbed to the top of the hill and admired the view we had to get down again, the only sensible way of course was to slide down on our bums. It was fairly steep so we could pick up some good speed and it was very enjoyable.
Our afternoon landing was at Port Lockroy which is split into two islands, Jougla Point and Goudier Island. On Goudier Island, there is an old British Research Base from WWII which has been restored as a museum, post office and gift shop. The post office has use as it supports Britain’s sovereignty claims to the Peninsula. We were lucky to have Rick Atkinson as one of the members of our expedition team. He was one of the team who restored the abandoned base in 1996 and was able to entertain us with his experiences there.
The museum gave a good idea of what life was like on the base back in the day and the current staff were able to explain what life if like there now. We were able to send postcards from there and purchase presents as well as having our passports stamped there. It was very interesting to see this outpost and get an idea of how humans fit into Antarctic history.
Nearby we spotted the Royal Navy survey vessel, HMS Scott prowling around and some of it’s crew were also stocking up on gifts at the giftshop.
Jougla point had a decent population of Gentoo Penguins (as did Goudier Island) as well as more whale bones from the whaling days a century ago. There was a reconstructed whale skeleton using bones found there which indicated the size of the whales.
I’d been told by my ever unreliable travel agents that the extra activities were sold out, namely camping and kayaking. At $800 the kayaking was over my budget but the $200 camping seemed too good a deal to miss. It was almost cancelled due to the high winds in the early evening but thankfully the Captain and Expedition Leader gave it the go-ahead. 20 of us wrapped up warm and hopped in the zodiacs after dinner heading to Dorian Bay on Wiencke Island.
My tent-mate was Jim, a jolly American gentleman and together we made pretty good work of pitching our tent in the driving snow. 
Not long after everyone finished making camp and had said hello to our Gentoo neighbours, the wind died down and the sky began to clear. By 11 o’clock it was an absolutely perfect night with the moon breaking through the clouds and shining on the bay The whole place was very serene as we stood looking at our home for the night.
I waited to be the last person up and then finally succumbed to tiredness and cold to climb into bed. I slept like a baby in our warm tent and woke up refreshed at 5am ready for another day of adventure.
