Thursday, 19 March 2020

Denko Island & Portal Point Landing

March 19, 2020 0 Comment

Thursday 19 March 2020

Danco Island lies at the southern end of the Errera Channel, close to Neko Harbour, one of the spots where it's possible to make a continental landing as part of an Antarctic cruise.

Danco is a relatively small island at just 1 mile long but the view from the top of Danco is spectacular due to the heavily cravassed glaciers in the surrounding mountains.

This section of the Errera Channel is a hotspot for Minke and Humpback whales.

Penguins jumping & swimming near kayaks

We kept close together and witnessed an amazing show of whales circling and surfacing around us.

Here's the video:

Even our very experienced guides Daniel, Eamon, Mathias and Birgitta were amazed that the small pod kept checking us out.

Penguins swimming near or group

Back to the Greg Mortimer and ready to tell our story.

Portal Point landing

In the afternoon we landed here it was noticeably colder and starts to snow.
This long stretch comes down from the Polar Plateau and gets its name from the fact that it was used by the British after they built a refuge hut at this site in 1956, enabling them to use a nearby snow slope as a gateway up onto the Peninsula plateau.

The site of the hut that was occupied between 1956 and 1958 then dismantled in 1997 and taken to the Falkland Islands where it is now an exhibit in the museum at Stanley.

Near where we landed we were noisily greeted by Southern Fur Seals, whilst a few others took very little notice