13/2/08  12:00 Noon

The conditions weren’t really right for going ashore this morning. The missing fender line had been caught on the chain and dragged down by the anchor even though it was on a 30 meter line. So it reappeared as the anchor came up. The anchor brought up a huge ball of kelp which had to he hacked off with our $3.00 machete purchased in Ushuaia. Probably the kelp helped hold the anchor in place…..although we swung a lot, we didn’t drag.

Shortly after departure, 3 whales were spotted several hundred metres off but they didn’t perform long enough to pose for any pictures.  We are lining all the saloon hatches and windows with bubble wrap to cut down on condensation, which hasn’t been too bad so far and we’d like to keep it that way.

18:00

As the barometer rose it lifted the fog with it and by early afternoon bits of sunlight began to appear.   Although I have seen pictures and films of Antarctica I was still unprepared for the beauty and majesty of the real thing. Live theatre always was the best. The clearing was extremely fortuitous as motoring across the Gerlache Straight we encountered dozens of ice bergs and had to tip toe our way through.  It would have been extremely hazardous to attempt this crossing in yesterday’s fog conditions. So far the Gods have smiled on us.

A few miles from our destination we noticed a ship was already at Enterprise. It turned out to be one of those Russian Scientific vessels turned cruise ship and they had the good grace to up anchor and leave just as we were arriving. We tooted at them and the passengers all came out on deck and waved at us.

We’re moored along side an old wreck, “The Enterprise,” hence the name of the Island. We’re surrounded by high ice and snow; it is a completely magical place.

14/2/08  9:00 AM

We wake to a bright sunny day.  The temperature is up to 9C. Lots of dinghy exploration to be done. It’s getting really difficult to select what pictures to send, as its Valentines Day and as the connection has mysteriously re-appeared this morning; I’m going to seriously splurge and try to send a bunch.