Last night, we said goodbye to the Antarctic Circle and awoke to the sounds of our expedition leader’s ukulele just north of the 66.33-degree boundary. Our morning at sea began with lessons on Earth’s icebox and photography by the very talented expedition staff.
On our journey, we navigated through chunks of sea ice and glacial icebergs, ranging from bits to gigantic towers. As the ship met ice, long cracks snaked through the white sheets and loud rumbles broke the silence.
Eventually we settled next to a beautiful black mountain under a moody sky. We had arrived at the Fish Islands. From the bridge, we got a glimpse of the fun in store…Adélie and shag nests scattered on the exposed rock on the islands!
After a delicious Mexican buffet, we were ready to explore. With the help of the Zodiacs, we witnessed the life of the Adélies (and two gentoos) up close. They are quite the characters. Research has shown that they steal pebbles- a hot commodity- from most nests in the colony.
Just when we thought our day couldn’t get any more exciting, three friendly humpback whales breached right off the bow. We watched them feed and listened to them whistle as the sun slowly turned an Antarctic winter orange.
