Fournier Bay gave us some of the closes encounters with whales that we had throughout our tour. Though not as close as our earlier Penguin experience in Neko Harbour, given the size of a Humpback, the extra distance was welcome!

We loaded up into the Zodiac to head out around Fournier Bay. The light was flat, with some cloud cover making everything, sea and sky grey. We were incredibly fortunate to find a number of Humpback whales. The whales were deeply curious about us, and were following us as we motored around the bay. Frequently they were under the boat and from time to time, nearby the would surface with nothing but their head popping out.

Some of the ice was ‘dirty ice’ and some was pristine.

We were also captivated by the sight of an Antarctic Tern on the ice.

On our return to the ship, we passed close to a leopard seal on a floating ice flow.

Leopard Seal

Humpback Whale

Arctic Tern

Another spot on our travels named by Charcot, this bay is thought to have been seen by Dallmann’s expedition 30 years before. The Bay is 15 km long and inset into the northeast coast of Anvers Island.

64°31′S 63°6′W