Sunlight!

After a prolonged period of overcast weather and/or the wildlife not being co-operative, very few photos have been taken by anyone.

Tough times in the Weddell Sea. It was -5C, but otherwise fantastic weather. There were 10 Fin, 11 South Right and a Humpback Whale during the day but none close enough for photographs.

Yesterday we finally got good light and lots of birds at the same time (we're just west of South Georgia now) so everyone was out with their cameras making up for lost time. We are also onto the coring section of the trip so my data collection is mostly done and the data is largely processed so there is a bit more time to go out and play. Selection below from my 650 photos from the day:

Chinstrap Penguin, This species is attracted into the ship and fair size groups can swim around behind the ship

 

Wilson's Storm Petrel. These birds rarely stay still, flying more like bats than birds. They mostly pick scraps from the surface but can dive underwater very briefly

 Grey-headed Albatross. Often seen but rarely poses for photographs.

Wandering Albatross saying hello. Some of the birds were ringed and I managed to get one combination so hopefully we can get the life history. Fair chance the bird was older than me.