Wil­hel­mi­na Bay – Water­boat Point – 27 Janu­ary 2018

Sat
27 Jan
2018

We lea­ve the love­ly bay with the wha­ling ship Guver­noren after two nights and con­ti­nue to the south. The water in Wil­hel­mi­na Bay is lying like a mir­ror, the sun is warm­ing us through a thin cover of clouds and ice­bergs are drif­ting sil­ent­ly. The only thing that is moving is us – and Hump­back wha­les. Ple­nty of them! Soon we dis­co­ver the first litt­le group, and many more are to fol­low during the next cou­ple of hours. The­re are groups form 2-3 to 6-7 ani­mals, most of them pret­ty acti­ve. Whe­re­ver we look, the­re are backs and flu­kes brea­king through the sur­face of the water. One is even jum­ping some­whe­re. Later, we have wha­les direct­ly next to the boat. A very impres­si­ve expe­ri­ence, for all sen­ses – inclu­ding the smell 😉

Later in Ger­la­che Strait, it is quite win­dy, and Errera Chan­nel is not the world’s best place today eit­her. The­re are many Cra­bea­ter seals res­t­ing on ice floes, and once, a rare Snow pet­rels flies past the ship. More flu­kes of more Hump­back wha­les.

Gal­lery – Wil­hel­mi­na Bay – Water­boat Point – 27 Janu­ary 2018

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

We drop anchor at Water­boat Point at the nor­t­hern ent­rance to Para­di­se Har­bour („Bay“), with addi­tio­nal shore lines so we should have a sta­ble posi­ti­on for a good and calm night here. And we have a chan­ce to visit Water­boat Point with its Chi­lean sta­ti­on and the Gen­too pen­gu­in colo­ny whe­re we see one of the famous leu­ci­stic pen­gu­ins (they are most­ly white, but they do have some pig­ment so they are no albi­nos). The chicks are still much smal­ler than in the South Shet­land Islands fur­ther north. Here, they are most­ly still tog­e­ther with one parent on the nest.

The­re was a remar­kab­le adven­ture at Water­boat Point when two young Bri­tish men win­tered here in 1922. They were not maroo­ned after a ship wrecka­ge or so, it was they decis­i­on to stay here alt­hough con­di­ti­ons for their expe­di­ti­on were any­thing but ide­al. Ever­y­bo­dy knows Shack­le­ton and Scott, but hands up – who knows Bags­ha­we and Les­ter? Well, may­be not quite the same league of explo­rers, but still, a gre­at sto­ry of bra­very worth remem­be­ring.