Snow, ice, penguins, seals! Today we had the full Antarctic experience as we visited sites in the southern Gerlache Strait. With a cold wind driving horizontal snow, we left the comfort of National Geographic Orion and landed at Georges Point on the northern end of Ronge Island. Crunching along on the thick belt of winter snow we strolled among nesting gentoo penguins and dozing Weddell seals. With their superb insulation they lay comfortably oblivious to the driving snow which stung us on the few bits of skin some of us had left uncovered. Despite these challenging conditions, we had an enchanting morning watching the penguins go about their busy summer activities—stealing nest stones, squabbling with the neighbours, and getting down to the serious business of mating.

In the afternoon, we moved northwest to Fournier Bay, on the north side of Anvers Island. While the wind seemed to follow us here, the snow did not and we were greeted with blue skies and sunny conditions as we cruised the ice edge in Zodiacs. Although chilly, the relentless wind had done us the favour of concentrating all the icebergs, brash ice, and bergy bits into one corner of the bay.  All of nature’s icy sculptures compressed into one gallery. We browsed among blue cathedrals, white castles, and the transparent pieces of past masterpieces that had already succumbed to gravity and the embrace of a warm ocean.