The Gullet, 12/17/2024, National Geographic Endurance
Aboard the
National Geographic Endurance
Antarctica
Nothing quite beats waking up on National Geographic Endurance parked in the sea ice to take in the morning glow of long winter days. We woke up early to take a hike across the sea ice, admiring seals, penguins, and the icy, unearthly landscape.
After a peaceful morning, we explored The Gullet by Zodiac. The Gullet is a narrow channel lined by mountains, glaciers, and icebergs. Around each ice floe seemed to be seal after seal basking in the sunlight, as well as Giant petrels, kelp gulls, and penguins swimming around us. It was a wonderfully sunny day full of wildlife and beautiful views.
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Last night we bid fond farewell to Marguerite Bay and began our northward trek to the Fish Islands, crossing back over the Antarctic Circle just before breakfast. We saw Antarctic petrels and spotted our first chinstrap penguins on an ice floe! Jackie and Karson gave talks on penguins and seals, while some keen eyes were surprised to spot some floating marine debris: orange buoys. Upon arrival near the Fish Islands, we discovered the area was choked with ice, making our Zodiac plans doubtful. However, our captain, with his characteristic can-do attitude, created a path with the ship, while our Zodiac “ducklings” followed in his wake! We marveled at the variety of iceberg shapes, saw Weddell and crabeater seals, Adelie penguins, and even saw krill swimming near the sea ice edges. A fun surprise was discovering a special Zodiac offering hot chocolate! After our excursion, our ship made its way through dense pack ice, making the now-familiar grinding sounds as low clouds continued to build, creating a rather mysterious backdrop to the humpback whales we saw in an open patch of water. Indeed, after dinner, we were delighted to experience our first snowfall.
It’s not possible to distil the amazing experiences of this day south of the Antarctic Circle into only a few images and words. In the early post-midnight hours, we experienced incredible light for photography on the mountains surrounding Hanusse Bay and many of our guests didn’t lay their heads on a pillow until about 0200! This morning’s excursion offerings were a walk and/or cross-country skiing on some fast ice, with the star attraction being a lone emperor penguin paying us a visit. Lunch on deck in the sun was followed by a delightful Zodiac cruise in calm conditions. It doesn’t get much better than this.
