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Shipwrecks, whale watching and an evening hike

Making progress through the night we cruise through the Graham Passage during breakfast, this narrow channel will lead us on to our next destination - Enterprise Island.

We had woken to find the sky blue, the sea calm and our deck warm with the sun's rays. With such good conditions, people are on deck early today taking in the atmosphere. We
were looking forward to arriving further south, where we visited Foyn Harbour to see the wreck of an old Norwegian whaling vessel. The " Gouvernoren" was purposefully run aground here in 1916 after a fire had broken out on board. The aim was to protect its precious cargo of whale oil, which had a very high value due to the demand during the First World War. Antarctic Terns now nest on the wreckage which seems almost at home here among the mountains and icebergs.

As the weather was so nice, we had lunch on the deck; a delicious broccoli soup, with bread, cheese and cooked meats, as well as couscous, hummus and guacamole. Feeling in high spirits, a guitar had made its way to the deck and an impromptu sing along broke out, this obviously caught the attention of some passing whales who surfaced off our starboard side - We were in Wilhemina Bay, a well-known feeding ground for Humpback Whales. We lowered a pair of Zodiacs into the water hoping to get a closer look and were not disappointed; the whales treated us all to a wonderful displays of their flukes, before diving below in search of Krill. We had just enough time to hoist the boats to the hip before moving the ship further south to our next destination.

We had intended to make a continental landing at Orne Harbour, however whilst en-route we had the pleasure of coming across a pod of up to 25 Orca's (Killer Whales), we decide to skip the landing to enjoy this spectacle a little longer before moving onto our third stop for the day - Cuverville Island. Here we make anchor and head ashore, however we suddenly see the ship move away from us. We are reassured that this is due to a large iceberg collapsing off her starboard side and we will be collected later. With the weather still holding, we go for an after dinner hike to the top of the Island and partake in a speedy descent to allow us to be away from the Island before 10pm. Whilst we were hiking, some of our party stayed on the cobble beach to assist Lex in his mission to photograph the largest terrestrial animal in Antarctica - An Antarctic Midge. (These ant like creatures have evolved to have no wings, reducing their chances of being blown away) Back onboard the ship, those who can stay awake enjoy a drink in the bar and before we know it another day is over, but what a day it was.

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