Thursday 27 January 2022
Or the day that will forever be known as “Albatross Thursday”.
When we woke up I was excited to see that the ship was now once again inside the South African EEZ.
The day started on a rather chilly note – it was by far the coolest it had been so far on the trip.
The news of the day was that a storm was approaching and we would not be able to stay in the area as long as we had wanted.
This was not great news but just the fact that we were so close to our destination was really exciting. Again the Southern Ocean showed how it could change in a short time.
The bird activity started almost immediately. And what better start than with my new favourite bird – the incredible Wandering Albatross.
We saw more of the chocolate youngsters as well.
There were also a number of Great-winged Petrels and White-chinned Petrels about.
I saw another lifer in the form of a White-headed Petrel.
But it was the Albatrosses that stole the show. They seemed to be everywhere you looked. It was absolutely glorious to see. After the first Wandering Albatross soared past with the early morning sun glistening off it’s beautiful plumage, the Sooty Albatrosses showed up.
Some were sitting on the water, and I just loved it when they made these running starts to take off.
The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses were there in numbers. They are not the biggest albatrosses, but the yellow on their beaks along with their pure white underparts with the black outline make them really beautiful.
This photo of the 2 birds together is one of my favourites.
I saw this one sitting on the water next to the ship with a tasty breakfast morsel.
More and more Wandering Albatrosses showed up. I am almost embarrassed at the amount of photos I took of them, but by this time I was madly and irrevocably in love with them.
It was impossible not to be in awe of them. 
I love how this one looked against the back-drop of the light blue water churned up by the ship at the stern.
These birds can grow up to an average wingspan of between 3m-3.5m. I am speechless to think that wingtip to wingtip these birds could be two of me!
A little while after sunrise a brownish Albatross caused great excitement. It was the first Light-mantled Albatross we had seen so far. At a distance these birds can be confused with immature Sooty Albatrosses, but when you see then up close the light mantle is very obvious.
A little while later another one showed up. 
Another early morning visitor was a Subantarctic Skua. This bird seemed very interested in what everyone standing on the observation deck on the bow was up to, and at one stage it almost looked as it wanted to land on the ship. He would then disappear from view only to re-appear later. It was great fun to watch.
But the morning was still being dominated by the new loves of my life. It was turning out to be a red letter day, and all before 10h00!
The Albatrosses stole the show without any shadow of a doubt, but there were some other birds as well. During the first half of the morning we saw more White-chinned Petrels, Black- and White-bellied Stormpetrels, more Salvin’s Prions and Northern Giant Petrels.