Antarctic Petrel.

 One of the birds that we were all hoping to see on our Antarctic trip, was the Antarctic Petrel. Although this bird is quite numerous in the area, they are rarely seen. Perhaps due to the fact that we were early in the season, we really did get lucky with this special bird.

As we headed further south towards the Antarctic peninsula we started to hit lots of ice. One of the dangers of the trips early in the season, is that if there is still lots of ice about it can be near impossible to venture further into the peninsula. As it was, the captain decided that there was far too much ice to make a safe trip, so we reluctantly turned around to head to more islands just north of the peninsula, but still inside Antarctica. Perhaps this was actually a really good move as after seeing a few Antarctic Petrels at the southern most point we got to, in very poor early morning light, after turning the ship around we sailed into much brighter weather, albeit a bit breezy!!

The wind was high enough for the lower decks to be closed for safety reasons, but we were allowed on the bridge and area around the bridge. Lisa and I were just about to sit down and listen to a talk on the Antarctic explorers, when I noticed a couple of the Antarctic Petrels fly past the window. We quickly forgot about the talk and headed up to the bridge area, only to find 6 of these spectacular birds flying around the ship. They were obviously enjoying the experience of using the winds blowing up and around the ship, and they stayed with us for well over an hour giving us ample chances to get some nice photos.

Antarctic Petrel.

Another bird that was enjoying the ship was the Southern Fulmar. These were a regular sight throughout the trip, but these too were giving us some good opportunities in the breezy, but bright conditions.

Southern Fulmar.

Cape Petrels were also joining in the fun, with at times over 20 of these birds flying alongside.

Cape Petrel.