On Saturday morning we arrived in Paradise Bay.

On the bridge of our ship were two Argentinian specialist “Ice Pilots” who were controlling our navigation through Antarctica, and who’s knowledge and experience was no doubt an essential requirement for these tricky waters.

The name Paradise Bay was given by whale hunters due to the abundance of whales in this area, and our visit proved to be no exception. There were a few minke, but lots of humpback whales.

Our intended route was through a narrow channel connecting Paradise Bay with Neko Harbour. On reaching the start of the channel a large grounded iceberg (in the centre in the picture below) was found to be blocking our path, so a long detour via the main channel was necessary.

I thought I would never manage to photograph a tail fin event but, in Neko Harbour, there it was:

And there’s another one, this time very close to the ship:

Actually, I took lots of them, they put on a superb performing for us.

Every time they flipped their tails, people on deck applauded which seemed to encourage them to do it again.

The day had been fabulous for wildlife sightings. Gone were the occasional cries of “there’s a whale”, followed by a scramble to see the rare sight. Whales were all around us, you just had to look.

As evening fell we moved back into the main channel to continue northward towards Deception Island.