New Years Eve spent zodiac cruising around Elephant Island, in particular Point Wild, was an unexpected highlight.
Renowned for being the landing and living spot for the left-behind crew in the famous Shackleton expedition (which features highly in daily presentations on the “Sea Adventurer” by the quark expeditions team), it allowed an intimate introduction to what the extremely difficult conditions would have been like.
We had it easy!
The abundance of wildlife and the drama of the terrain (glaciers included) that makes up South Georgia can only best be described visually.
So one per place has been chosen to best represent what it is remembered for (no mean feat I can assure you)…
“elsehul” 
“Salisbury plain” 
“Fortuna Bay”
“Stromness” 
“Grytviken” 
“St Andrews Bay” 
“Gold Harbour” 
“Larson Bay”
“Drygalski Fjord”
The photo that was not to be captured but was undeniably witnessed was that of the tail (and other parts) of the Southern Right Whale on Christmas morning…
ho ho ho!
Festivities for 2015 started Christmas Eve breakfast, with the ship crew wearing Santa hats, having decorated the interior of it in tinsel and twee.
This continued throughout the day with impromptu coraling and plenty of “Merry Christmas” sprinkled liberally.
Culminating in the Christmas Eve feast of Seafood Chowder, Roast Turkey with all trimmings and Dessert of Banana Foster (cooked banana in caramel sauce) served by Chef and Maître De in the main lounge.
Followed closely by a rousing rendition of Christmas songs, one to be featured (not heard before) got the ship pumping resulting in a congo line of willing participants (us included).
And to top it all off, 7 of us started a form of “celebrity head” called “heads up”, ending up with many more joining in as the joviality and the red wine kicked in even more.
A fab and memorable time had by all… a rousing thank you to the crew of the Sea Adventurer
and the team of quark expeditions.
Christmas Day had us stepping foot on South Georgia, the first of many stops…
The sounds of Albatross and Rock Hoppers (with ‘wind accompaniment’) performing their consistently voluminous ‘Rock Opera’ on Saunders Island.
Day 4 of 20+ days.
Seas had only been a tad rough, so very fortunate, but imagining our good run was to timeout soon enough…
The locals were even complaining about how warm it was, at a balmy 15C!
Hospitable, and very accommodating; a most generous mob, especially given how inhospitable the environment is known to be.
At West Point Island, ‘high tea’ was even served in English china. The imported locals were pretty too.
A day in Port Stanley rounded out the Falklands.
Next stop, South Georgia.
here’s the Details…
here’s the Ship…
here’s the Itinerary…
here’s us, very excited to be heading off on our Antarctica adventure…
Top of the festive season to you and yours… ho ho ho!
Back again in 2016