Flandres Bay

Me and the pilot in the helicopter flying over Flandres Bay.

Today was a great day in Flandres Bay. We woke up to beautiful skies, and relatively warm weather. We saw some penguins, whales and a few seals, and were outside watching the glaciologists take off in the helicopters. There were headed over the mountains to another glacier on the other side of the Peninsula called Crane Glacier, but unfortunately when they went over the mountains there were too many clouds and they had to come back. That was not very good luck for them, but it was nice for the rest of us because all of the other people on board got to go on helicopter joy rides! We went four at a time, and got a tour around the bay and back again to the boat. It was so beautiful, with no wind, and the pilots took us by some icebergs, out over the water and near the mountains. I took some video, and lots and lots of pictures! It was so fun! It is pretty thrilling to be in a helicopter in Antarctica, you can see so many things that no one else has seen.

Helo crew with the biologists.

View from the helo deck.

To top the day off, we had a small pod of about 8 whales circling the boat for a few hours showing off and eating some phytoplankton and krill. Overall it was a great day!

Minke whale in Flandres Bay.

Tomorrow night we will head to the Korean base on the Peninsula to give them some supplies for the winter (it is winter here during our summer in the northern hemisphere) and we will visit for a few days. Then, we will be heading back to Punta Arenas, Chile across the Drake Passage. The cruise has gone by pretty fast!