Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010 - Useful Island and Melchior Islands

We were awaken at 5:30am for a 6:00 visit to Useful island. An unprotected island in the middle of the Gerlache Straight. We hiked up the snow and rocks to reach a short summit. It was a 360 degree view of many of the places we had visited. It was getting windy and cold. Useful Island was our last landing for the trip.

View from Useful Island Me at Useful Island

After Useful Island the ship headed for our last destination on the Antarctica Pennisula, the Melchior Islands. The main attraction here are the whales.

Amazing Penguin Photo Taken by Fellow Passenger Ralph Faudrees. Although I tried, I could never get this shot.

After lunch we had a zodiac cruise in search of whales. There were several humpbacks in this large area protected by the surrounding islands. They were surfacing everywhere. It looked like a great trout lake at feeding time, just on a much grander scale. At one point we were looking for a whale to observe. We would see a whale or two and then head for that area to see how close we could get to it. So while waiting to find a whale surface, two whales popped up right next to our boat, not more than 3 feet away! We could see all of the whale through the water. We were all very nervous, as it did not appear that these large animals would have any problem capsizing our boat. Afterward the guide said he needed to get back to the ship to change his underwear.

Whales!

After the zodiac cruise we set sail for the Drake Passage to eventually get back to Ushuaia. As we proceeded we watched Antarctica fade away. We were told that it could be rough the next day. So I took about 1/3 of a seasickness pill, since when I took a full dose at the beginning of the cruise it wiped me out.

After dinner the sea started to get pretty rough. We went to bed. It was difficult to sleep. I was constantly being jostled awake. It seemed that periodically the boat would get banged and it would shake. The lurch was enough to give me a shove, pushing me to the other side of the bed as well awakening me.

Saying Goodbye to Antarctica