Oceanwide Day 17; South Atlantic - South Georgia to Ushuaia

   The morning brought poor weather and more back-and-forth movement up and down the entrance of the Beagle Channel. With the required pilot not reaching us until midday, we had to kill the morning and consequently there was not much to report in terms of sightings. The poor weather did not help on this front, with strong winds and rain keeping us mostly indoors. Just before lunch there were several whale blows not far away from the boat, but we could not manage to see the animals making it very frustrating. 

  Fortunately, the afternoon was much better, with a stunning show from a pod of Peale’s Dolphin just after lunch. They were right in front of the boat and readily going under the prow. On two occasions we got to see an animal completely breach, it was probably the best dolphin encounter of the whole trip. Not long after the dolphins departed, we had a sudden appearance of a Sei Whale about 100 metres off the boat, giving us a clear view of the whole animal. However, the encounter was so quick that I failed to get a photo. 

  The main journey up the Beagle Channel was badly hampered by bad weather and we saw very little. A small group of Magellanic Penguins sat in the water and some Snowy Sheathbills distantly on a rock in the middle of the channel. 

  We finally docked in Ushuaia at 21:30, bringing to an end our enjoyable but also undeniably disappointing cruise around the South Atlantic, minus Antarctica. A few of us headed to the Irish bar in Ushuaia for a few celebratory drinks, and enjoyed an excellent night out. I returned to our lodging on the ship for the final time at 02:30 in the morning, before disembarkation in the morning. 

-Sei Whale

-Peale's Dolphin

Oceanwide Day 16; South Atlantic - South Georgia to Ushuaia

   After two slow days at sea, today finally got interesting. Now within the sheltered waters of the mouth of the Beagle Channel there was good numbers of birds again, albeit mostly common species. Before lunch we had a few more Great Shearwaters, including an individual very close to the boat, and had some head scratching to do with some passing black and white shearwater species. Although we initially thought they were Subantarctic Shearwaters, the more we saw, the more we began to think they were Manx Shearwaters, and that was our final decision. An unexpected surprise was a Least Seedsnipe that flew over the boat, a rarity out in the Atlantic and an excellent record for our trip.

  The highlight of the day also came in the period before lunch. After a few days without cetacean action, it really came back with a bang. We had a group of possibly up to eight, but certainly at least six Hourglass Dolphins playing in front of the boat for around 10 minutes. We rushed down to the bow and were able to watch them swimming right beneath us and surfacing frequently. We have seen Hourglass Dolphin four times on this trip when travelling at full speed, and they showed no interest in the boat. But as we trundled along at 6mph, the boat suddenly became of great interest!

  Because we arrived at the Beagle Channel earlier than expected, we had to spend most of the day going back and forth over about two kilometers, significantly reducing our chances of a new encounter. After lunch there was a lull in activity, so much so that I headed back to do my notes. A classic error, as about half an hour later a pod of dolphins was announced on the tannoy. Fortunately I made it outside in time, to get views of three Dusky Dolphins swimming behind the ship, although not close. 

  In the evening we returned to the deck and enjoyed a very pleasant evening. It started with some distant Peale’s Dolphins leaping into the air, followed by them bow-riding a large tanker ship. From there, we also spotted several distant whale-blows. We enjoyed watching the whale blows, but spotting the animals themselves proved very tricky. In about an hour we spotted the whale itself on just a couple of occasions, always very distant but enough to identify the animals of Sei Whales. 

  After this, we returned inside for dinner, and afterwards we enjoyed a fun karaoke evening with the cruise staff and participants, a fun end to our final full day on the Plancius.

-Hourglass Dolphins

-Hourglass Dolphin

-Dusky Dolphin

-Peale's Dolphin

-Sei Whale

-Manx Shearwater

-Magellanic Diving Petrel

-Great Shearwater

Oceanwide Day 15; South Atlantic - South Georgia to Ushuaia

   Today we continued to make progress on our return to Argentina, and by evening we were within sight of the outermost of the islands of Tierra del Fuego. On the mammal front there was no improvement from the previous day, with a whale blow being the only sighting but sadly no sign of the animal at all.

  Fortunately the birding improved somewhat. Before lunch it continued in much the same vein as the previous day, with very little seen but I persisted regardless. Immediately after lunch things picked up, with a Northern Royal Albatross circling the ship before heading north being the first of the trip. During the afternoon we encountered many Southern Royal Albatross and by the late afternoon I had even managed a new species, with a distant Great Shearwater flying past the ship, albeit rather distantly. Additionally we had a group of 10 Northern Rockhopper Penguins sat on the sea, probably the last time we will encounter the species on the trip.

  By nightfall we were well within sight of our final destination, leaving us with the daunting prospect of needing to complete 3 hours of distance in a day and a half, setting us up for a very slow day in the morning.

-Great Shearwater

-Northern Royal Albatross

-Southern Royal Albatross

-White-chinned Petrel

Oceanwide Day 14; South Atlantic - South Georgia to Ushuaia

   Today really was a slow day as we continued across the ocean towards Ushuaia. Birds were quite slim pickings, with a few Snowy Albatross the only species of note that we really observed. Cetaceans were at even more of a premium, with a single unidentified dolphin fin being the only sighting. For the excitement of entering new waterways on our unexpected return to Ushuaia, it has so far only compounded the rather disappointing end to our adventure. 

-Snowy Albatross

-Sunset

Oceanwide Day 13; South Atlantic - South Georgia to Ushuaia

   It was another day at sea as we dragged our broken ship onwards on its journey back to Argentina. Because of this there was little to break down in turn of events that occurred during the day, but there were a few rewards for the effort we put in on the deck.

  During the morning there was nothing especially different. Two Hourglass Dolphins passed just under the front of the ship, but they never surfaced, we just saw their patterned bodies moving under the waves. The birding was spectacular but only in terms of numbers, with hundreds and hundreds of Slender-billed Prions circling the boat throughout the morning.

  In the afternoon the wind picked up, and the ship started rocking, but there came many more birds in these fresher conditions. It started with the Light-mantled Albatross showing phenomenally around the ship, with occasionally additional Grey-headed Albatrosses and at one point a nice juvenile Snowy Albatross. In one half-hour period, we spotted eight Soft-plumage Petrels passing distantly, which was an exciting addition to our afternoon and to our cruise overall. Sadly none were ever particularly close but we could readily identify them through their contrasting underside.

  As evening rolled around the conditions continued to deteriorate, with the ship rocking significantly throughout the evening. There would be no spectacular late whale encounter today.

-Snowy Albatross

-Soft-plumaged Petrel

-Light-mantled Albatross

-Slender-billed Prion

Oceanwide Day 12; South Atlantic - South Georgia to Ushuaia

   The weather today was nice and clear, with a few snow flurries reducing visibility, but otherwise cool and crisp conditions to be on deck. Sadly, the improvement of the weather was matched by absolutely devastating news that a technical malfunction within the ship meant that it was no longer possible to make the voyage to Antarctica, and the crew had been instructed to turn back to Ushuaia immediately. This was obviously a devastating development, but the lack of clarity surrounding any compensation amplified the concern of the situation; fortunately, it was resolved rather favourably later in the day. But as a consequence of this development, we now faced several days at sea as the ship slowly made its way back to port, hoping for no adverse weather to further delay our arrival. 

  Among the chaos of the day, there were a few seabirds on offer. Most of the selection was the usual species, with two Kerguelen Petrels being the most interesting species of the day. It was also good to see both King Penguin and Macaroni Penguin from the boat, as they swam in the open sea.

  The real highlights of the day were the cetaceans, specifically the first sighting. Sheltering from the wind, we birded from the back of the ship when two fins appeared in front of us. They were not large whales, and in the immediate moments there was some confusion as to what we were looking at. But fortunately, the head and blowhole were soon visible, and we realized we were looking at two Southern Bottlenose Whales. My first beaked whale and a fantastic species to encounter. Our second encounter was a pod of three distant Hourglass Dolphins, but we saw little apart from the animals' fins, so it was not a particularly exciting encounter. 

  After an emotional rollercoaster of a day, the sea at sunset was flat calm, almost like a millpond, quite bizarre to witness. We hoped for a whale to emerge in the superb conditions, but sadly, it did not happen. That was the case until I was already in bed, when a call came over the tannoy of whales outside. I threw on some clothes and dashed onto deck, just in time to see a group of at least six Southern Bottlenose Whales regularly surfacing at the back of the ship. 

  Although there was something amiss about them, as I discussed with the whale specialist onboard after the animals had departed, he relieved my concerns, and the animals were left identified as Southern Bottlenose Whales. That was until I got around to uploading them to iNaturalist. The response here was overwhelmingly that the animals were Strap-toothed Beaked Whales, and looking at the photos, the white beak, longer forehead, and the pale back on one of the animals all seem obvious now! This is a really rare animal, and one I am very excited to have recorded on our trip! 

-Strap-toothed Whale

-Southern Bottlenose Whale

-Hourglass Dolphins

-King Penguin

-Blue Petrel

-Cape Petrel

-Snow Petrel

-Kerguelen Petrel