The last landing of the voyage: Neko

Part of the short hike to a scenic viewpoint, takes a walk over glaciated slopes. There we all need to take care and pay attention not to leave the already marked path. 

Landing takes place on a small sandy beach and at the background many penguins highways are busy with many Gentoos climbing up and down the snow slopes. Just above beach on the snow a lone Weddell seal rests, seemingly undisturbed by ongoing penguin traffic. We start our hike up to the lookout point in a deep snow, staying on the track for safety reasons. While most did choose hike, some opted for a more relaxed stroll on the beach.

View from up there is beautiful overlooking the entire harbour covered with brush ice, with glacier on the right side leaning heavily towards the water as if it would crash any time. In fact this is one of the more volatile glaciers and there is a calving or avalanche happening every few minutes or so. And all this beauty is painted in muted pastel colors and diffused light. Only the dark blue shade of the water sticks out, contrasting nicely with the rest of the scenery. Amidst all this beauty, as icing on the cake, Europa slowly rifts in the field of brushed ice. For a short time the fog covered the entire bay, quickly covering almost everything a lowering the visibility to only few hundred meters, but it lifted swiftly and we could enjoy the views once more. There on the rock platform we kept completely silent for 5 minutes. No word was spoken or picture taken. We just admired the scenery and listened to the sounds of Antarctica. Gentoos calling, glacial calving, swell washing onto the beach. What a perfect moment to reflect back on last couple of days and realise how unbelievably fortunate we are, to be able to see and experience all this.

Thousands of pictures were taken today but they hardly give justice to the reality. With great sadness we have to leave this wonderful continent behind. It is time to go home. We hit the Drake passage in couple of hours and only after we enter the Beagle Channel, the battle will be won. For now, farewell Antarctica. We'll miss you.