BOOTH ISLAND

It was an early start to the day, with breakfast at half-past six, but we were all keen to be on land once again and were loaded into the boats by 8 am. From the zodiac, we could see the Cairn for Toby the Pig, who was the ship's mascot, and Mt Français (Named for Charcot's first expedition ship) in the background.

Experience

We were able to climb up to the prominent cairn on the island

I set up my camera and tripod to take a pair of panoramas of the Iceberg Graveyard in the distance.

After about an hour on land, it was time for the groups to swap over, and we took to the zodiacs to explore the Iceberg Graveyard. So named because currents bring icebergs into the area around Port Charcot, but they're unable to find a way out and so slowly melt.

It is eerie, motoring around these strange shapes. The boats all keep a surprising distance from the icebergs as there is no way to tell what form the underwater portions of the icebergs take. The blue water refracts and turns the submerged icebergs a strange translucent green colour.

As we explored the graveyard, we were fortunate several humpback whales swam close to us, one breaching between my zodiac and another. The whale blew water upwards and then sunk back down into the water, then back up again. This happened 2-3 times, then they performed a tail dive and did this five or so times, almost like they were performing for us.

In the far distance, we could make out a few Minski whales.

A surprise to us all is the sounds of glacial ice, a consistent popping noise as air pockets are released.

An absolute marvel, a school of penguins, porpoising through the water past us, often chasing the whales. The schools can turn surprisingly rapidly and stay underwater longer than you expect as they approach the zodiac then pop out the other side in a wave.

In the distance, we could see Mt Francois.