Icebergs

During the 6th & 7th February we sailed due south en route for Elephant Island. At 14.25 on 6th I crossed into the Antarctic convergence zone, which marks the uppermost limit of Icebergs in the Southern Hemisphere. At this point extra lookouts are posted and at 04.16 on the morning of the 7th the first Iceberg was spotted by the bridge as we made our approach to Elephant Island.

Below: Pintado's. Although ever present I never got bored of these charismatic little petrels.

I appreciate it all sounds a bit arty but the shapes and particularly the 'blues' in some of these bergs was truly spell binding. One of the most jaw droppingly beautiful things I have ever seen.

Below: These were difficult to follow with the 'bins', never mind a lens. Chinstrap Penguins.

A series of photographs of Black bellied Storm Petrels, showing the very variable ventral stripe which cannot always be relied upon to seperate it from it's cousin White bellied Storm Petrel which shows paler more contrasting upper wing coverts and a lesser toe projection. Both fetures of course can be difficult to discern at sea or at distance.