January 3, 2008: Position Report

Thursday, 03 January 2008, 2000 UTC

64 32.4 S 61 59.9 W

We are tied up to the French boat Kotic II who is tied up to a grounded whale catcher in a small bay on the east side of Enterprise Island. We had an easy day motoring is calm water from Trinity Island.

Yesterday we took a shore trip to the small island located in Mikkelsen Harbor to visit the gentoo penguin colony. Unlike the Falklands where the chicks have already been born, the gentoos here are just finishing their nests and have not laid any eggs.

We had to maneuver Tamara on anchor twice during the day to avoid large ice chucks generated from the head of the bay. About 7:00 pm one of the small (50 passenger) Russian cruise ships came in and spent only enough time to load the passengers into the dinghies, visit the penguin colony, and continue on their way.

The last two nights we heard what we think were whale songs from inside Tamara through the haul. First there would be a song that sounded like an elephant under water followed by another sound that was higher pitched and screechy. Never saw any whales on the surface.

Click image for larger view.

??Will probably be here a couple of days before continuing south.