There are expedition days, and then there are expedition daaaaays. Today was the latter. What’s the difference? Well, today started with skiing on the frozen ocean. The ship showed off its ice-breaking moves as the captain nudged it into the fast ice, and we simply hopped right out from the “penguin doors” (up near the bow) and set off across the frozen surface to enjoy a stunningly sunny morning. An intrepid bunch made National Geographic Resolution’s first ever cross-country skiing operation a huge success. Having sufficiently earned our lunch, we enjoyed a barbecue overlooking icebergs, because it would be rude not to.
The afternoon had us searching for elusive emperor penguins as we meandered amongst tabular bergs. Well-known for their insane winter breeding habits, this time of year sees the penguins heading back out to sea where they will spend the summer feeding in the rich waters around Antarctica. It would be an understatement to say that we got lucky. We ended up with round two of walking on fast ice, and we saw multiple penguins. The whole day was capped off with a spectacular midnight sky.
