Cuverville Island and Fournier Bay

February 11, 2025

On January 24 we were again up early.  We know we were very blessed that we didn’t sleep in sleeping bags on Antarctica last night because this morning there was ice on all the walkways and handrails of our ship and it was still very foggy. The Captain had everything cleared of ice quickly so we could safely be out on the decks.  We were able to again see whales out for their morning breakfast.  Such massive creatures.  Love to listen to them blow.

Cuverville Island

Today, in some ways, is a sad day. It is our last full day in Antarctica.  Time has flown. We were again out for our morning landing, this time at Cuverville Island – our last landing.  Cuverville Island is a dark, rocky island lying in Errera Channel. Two thirds of the island is covered in a permanent ice cap.  This island has also been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports a breeding colony of about 6,500 pairs of gentoo penguins – the largest colony for this species on the Antarctic Peninsula.  We were very blessed to be able to visit here because it was just reopened to visitors the day before.  It had been closed due to concern about Avian Influenza but was cleared and reopened.  Other birds nesting at Cuverville include southern giant petrels, Antarctic Shags and Arctic Terns – all birds that we certainly were unfamiliar with prior to this trip and all very beautiful.  There were massive whale bones on shore from previous whaling expeditions, and of course, many, many penguins.

Fournier Bay

Too soon it was time for lunch on the ship.  After repositioning to Fournier Bay, we had another afternoon zodiac cruise.  The sun came out although there was still some fog around too.  We were told that this was normal here.  Fournier Bay measures about 8 x 3 nautical miles (15 x 6 km) and is known for having a large population of whales which are attracted to the extensive colonies of krill. There is no place to land due to the rugged shoreline but there was so much beauty as we navigated around the beautiful icebergs.  We saw several seals of various types, birds, black ice, blue ice as well as amazing icebergs.   The icebergs vary from some that are almost lace-like to all sorts of formations, to some that are just massive.

Back on the Ship

It almost brought tears to return to the ship this afternoon – our last outing. We had another wonderful dinner then the crew – including our cooks, servers, guys in the engine room, everyone – put on an amazing talent show, with singing, magic, dancing, you name it.  It was great.  No more tears.  Then we walked outside and saw the most gorgeous sunset imaginable.  Thank you, God, for letting visit this place!!