Tuesday, February 20, 2018                               Cuverville Island & Neko Harbour

We were awakened at 7:30am by an overhead announcement summoning us to come to the bridge to view several humpback whales in front of the ship.  The Captain stopped the ship for about 30 minutes of whale viewing.

After breakfast we geared up for a shore excursion to Cuverville Island.  Cuverville Island, situated at the northern end of the Errera Channel, was named after a French admiral who supported the Belgica expedition. Gerlache named the Errera Channel in honour of Leo Errera, a professor at the University of Brussels and a contributor to the expedition.  There was a large gentoo penguin colony as well as Skuas birds. The temperature was in the 30’s with flat light. The sun crept out for a few minutes once we had returned to ship. While we were sitting at the outside cafe enjoying hot vegetable broth, we spotted a seal swimming along side the ship.

YEAH!!!  We have now placed our feet in our 7th and final continent!  So excited!!  Had an extra glass of champagne to celebrate.

Our afternoon landing site, Neko Harbour, was named after the whale factory ship Neko which operated along the Antarctic Peninsula in 1911-12 and again in 1923-24. The landing spot is home to gentoo penguins, skuas, snowy sheathbills and kelp gulls.