Astrolabe Island, Lindblad Cove, and the Parade of Icebergs

We’ve come back out of the Weddell Sea through the Antarctica Strait and steamed into the Bransfield Strait along the Trinity Peninsula.  First stop is a landing on Astrolabe Island (named for the French ship that discovered it).

Our group takes a Zodiac tour of the island while the albatross group makes the initial landing. There are grounded icebergs, seals, penguins and breathtaking scenery before the landing.

 

 

 

 

It’s a long walk to the penguins and seals once we land.  The seals blend in with the rocks.  Even with the telephoto lens its difficult to distinguish seal from rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today icebergs pass in review and it’s like we have box seats at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Some of them look like floats. We have one large deviation to avoid a huge iceberg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 They say you come for the animals and come back for the ice.  Maybe they're right.

 

 

 

 

 The teal blue when sunlight exposes the part of the iceberg beneath the surface is gorgeous.

 

 

 

 This was a particularly pretty and huge iceberg.

 It got caught up in a rain squall which luckily bypassed the ship.

 We finally got calm conditions contributing to reflective photography.

 

And then the humpback whales arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 How about a mob of penguins, high atop and iceberg chillin.

After lunch everyone gathers for a champagnes toast and group picture on the bow in Lindblad Cove. Once again I'm compelled to make notice of Carol without a headband.

 

After Lindblad Cove, we have more magnificent iceberg cruising,  First up was a humongous trapezoidal iceberg.

 

 Next we hit forms of pack ice.

 Up next were a group of penguins, hanging out on a small iceberg.

 As the sun sets, we're treated to blue ice.