Today was the first day of 2018 and the first day of our true exploration of the beautiful Antarctic continent. The morning began after breakfast with a scenic hiking tour of the main island of the Yalour chain, on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Crowds of Adelie penguins adorned the rocks as they squabbled with each other about territory, trespassing skuas, and some other perceived insults even the naturalists were not privy to (it’s doubtful the birds themselves even knew). The second part of touring Yalour was by small boat. Dodging amongst the icebergs and we were witness to a floating garden of ice sculptures. During lunch we repositioned just outside of Vernadsky base, a Ukrainian research base where we were given a private tour and tasting of some of their homemade spirits. An amazing first day in Antarctica, and 2018!