Seabourn Venture Antarctica Feb 12 to Feb 22 2024 Noahdidnt

Ushuaia, Argentina. The end of the world. It's where our journey together begins. We say goodbye to this landscape and sail away as we embark on our adventure. The final voyage of the season to Antarctica. We make our way across the Drake Passage and have our first glimpse at a new landscape. One that will become more familiar on our voyage, but also one that never gets old with so much more in store. Welcome to the Great White Continent. My name is Pierre Pistorius. We're currently at Half Moon Island off the South Shetlands. We've had the crossing of the Drake Passage, which was expected to be rough conditions, but it was actually very pleasant. And we've got a wide range of wildlife here. It's the first landing for the guests of Seabourn. It was unanticipated, so everyone's very happy that we could come ashore and see a lot of Antarctic fur seals. There are a lot of Antarctic fur seal males around here being very playful. It's a really interesting species in that they recovered really well from overexploitation. So one of those really neat recovery stories for Antarctic fur seals. Fur seals are very much like dogs. They've got this fur. They're very playful in their behavior. Very unique. Each individual's got its own personality. And then we've got a bunch of our penguins as well among the seals. Overall, a fantastic experience and a lovely first landing for the voyage. After our first surprise landing in Antarctica, the next day we take a zodiac cruise around Hope Bay. Home to the Argentinian Esperanza base. As well as a whole lot of wildlife. a young Adélie penguin. Luckily for us, this little Adélie escaped and lived to see another day. We then spend our afternoon doing another zodiac cruise around Brown Bluff. A beautiful start to our adventures along the Antarctic Peninsula. I'm an archaeologist and historian here on the Seabourn Venture. This morning we were in Sierra of a Cove, which is always a favorite of ours. And we got to see the chinstrap penguins going about their business. Going out to eat. Coming home to feed their chicks. We also saw a few Gentoo penguins once again raising their chicks. Soon everyone will be leaving as winter comes. Lots of icebergs. Lots of movement of the ice. We could hear cracking in the distance. There was a lot of brash ice in the area as well, which made it a bit slow going as we were traveling around. But I think everyone got the feeling of what the explorers felt like when they were stuck in the ice. Took a long time to get anywhere and they didn't know if they could always get through. This afternoon we were at Mickelson Harbor. We got to see the Gentoo's once again going about their business. Fighting with the neighbors. Stealing rocks from each other. And their chicks are getting quite old as well. So it's fun to watch them grow throughout the season. We also saw some skuas harassing a kelp gull. And quite a few seals having naps on the rocks. Once they're out of the water they're not worried about anything. We also got to see the water boats that were used by the whaling captains. They would have hauled it behind their ships. Collected ice for fresh water for drinking and boiling down the blubber. And we also saw a lot of the remains of the whales that they took. It's great to see the whales in the wild doing well down here in Antarctica. Of course we can see from history the impact that humans had on them about 100 years ago. Mickelson's just got a little bit of everything. Plus stunning scenery around us. So overall it was a really great day. Hi, I'm Will Wagstaff. I'm the birder on board. Part of the expedition team. And here we are in Kooverville. You can hear activity all over the place. Whether it's this huge colony of Gentoo penguins. A large part of it in behind us. There's chicks calling away. There's molting adults around. This time of year there's everything going on. Gentoo penguin are the success story in the penguin world down here. Their numbers have been going up. The colonies we're seeing are varying depending on when they started. So these are maybe a little bit younger than what we were seeing yesterday. For example at Mickelson. Last couple of years with the amount of snowfall they really struggled. But this year lots of chicks about. You can hear the skewers coming over. That's the noise. You can hear that crescendo going up. That's a skewer. And that's basically a whole lot of Gentoo penguins telling the skewer to go away. Or you can rephrase that how you particularly like. Kooverville is an amazing place. It's just everything in a relatively short area here. You've got a nice easy walkway along. Although the penguins keep taking over the human highway. And it's just everything is in your face here. I mean that's the same with a lot of colonies. But with this one you just can't ignore the wildlife. You can hear young penguins. You can hear adult penguins. And there's others going back and forth. There's just constant activity here. As we leave Kooverville we head towards our next destination. And stop by to say hello to some old friends. I'm a part of the expedition team on Seabourn Venture. And today we are at Neko Harbor. Neko Harbor is interesting because it's a continental landing. Meaning that we get to get our boots right on the ground on the continent of Antarctica. Neko Harbor is a pretty amazing place. It's super dynamic. You are surrounded by glaciers. They're constantly calving. And it's a spectacular way to see the wilds of Antarctica. Gentoo penguin colonies backed by blue glaciers. It's a spectacular viewing. It's just one of those special places that you get to go. And tonight was quite special just because we were able to see Neko in the twilight hours. A unique experience that we don't necessarily always get to do here. Just to see the stillness of the water and the beauty of the environment is a spectacular way to spend the evening in Antarctica. The following morning we wake up to the sight of some new marine wildlife. A pod of orca gracefully cruising closely to the ship. It is a sight we don't see too often down here. So it makes this day even more special. Later that afternoon we have a zodiac tour around Skantorp as we witness even more incredible wildlife activity. From seeing humpback whales up close to visiting Base Brown, it's a spectacular afternoon. And with a quick stop to visit our wonderful hotel boat, we make a toast to the day and we're on our way again. For our final day in Antarctica we start off visiting Winter Island. Home to both the Ukrainian Vernadsky Research Base as well as some fantastic natural landscapes on display. Kayaking in Antarctica is one of the most unique experiences that you can have in this world. Especially here at Winter Island you have these deep and narrow channels that get dotted with icebergs and seals and different birds and your random penguin. There's a lot of fun features to play around with out here. Kayaking in Winter Island is one of those experiences you will never forget. Get the chance to paddle along the different channels in a very historical place surrounded by the wonderful glaciated mountains of Antarctica. We're privileged to be able to enjoy this together and blessed with this amazing day. My name is Lida Teneva and welcome to sunny Antarctica. This is really a very typical day actually in Antarctica with snow and wind but it's our last day here on this voyage. So we are out here and enjoying it. We're on Peterman Island and this is a very special island for a lot of us because of the wildlife and the history. There are thousands of Gentoo penguins that nest here every year as well as Adelie penguins. We are seeing the chicks of the Gentoo almost ready to leave for the season and start their new life. We're also acquainted with the history of this area. Jean-Baptiste Charcot in 1909 came here and overwintered to study this part of Antarctica with his team and he came with a ship that he had named Pourquoi Pas? Why not? Why not come down to beautiful Antarctica and study all the wildlife and the glaciers? We are standing on a historical place as well following in the footsteps of those early explorers. Hi everyone my name is Luciano Bernacchi and I'm the expedition leader on board Sea One Venture for this Antarctic voyage. This is actually our last trip to Antarctica for this summer and it's been a great voyage. We've had all kinds of weathers, wildlife, landings, soju cruises, people on kayaks, submersible dives and as always it's been a great adventure. Tomorrow we head north across the Drake back to Ushuaia. I hope we had a great adventure full of memories. As we sail back across the Drake we look back on the amazing experiences we have had together and we hope you've had an incredible time on board. Thank you for sailing with us on your home away from home Seabourn Venture and until next time.