Today we were up early to do something very exciting: walk on edge of last winter’s sea ice! We were told that the ice was likely about 2m thick and it stretched as far as we could see into the distance.

During the night the captain navigated us through a very icy section of water to get us far south enough to find the edge of the sea ice. When we woke this morning the ship was parked right alongside the ice so all we had to do was walk down the ramp and onto the ice. It was something that not many people get to do. We have been told that there are about 25 cruise ships in Antarctica at the moment but ours is the only one rated to get through the sea ice to venture this far south.

Andrea with the ship's captain.
Andrea with the ship's captain.
Keith with the ship's captain.
Keith with the ship's captain.

Andrea and Keith on the sea ice.
Andrea and Keith on the sea ice.
Andrea on the sea ice.
Andrea on the sea ice.
Andrea and Keith on the sea ice.
Andrea and Keith on the sea ice.

While we were walking on the ice we were visited by a small group of Emperor penguins. These penguins are absolutely huge and didn’t seem to be phased by our presence. We were advised by one of the experts from the discovery team that sighting Emperor penguins is rare and that this small group was likely to be about 90km north of their main colony, probably on their way back home.

Emperor penguins.
Emperor penguins.
Adélie penguin.
Adélie penguin.
Adélie penguins.
Adélie penguins.

After our early morning walk on the ice we headed back onto the ship to get some breakfast. We just relaxed a bit in our room after breakfast and before we knew it, it was time for lunch! We weren’t really that hungry but somehow we managed to eat a nice lunch, while we took in the incredible scenery around us as the captain navigated us north again toward the Antarctic Sound.

After lunch we headed to the spa for an hour-long massage each, which was very nice.

We didn’t have much time after our massage before we were scheduled to head downstairs for a Zodiac trip onto a nearby island, where we enjoyed watching the very cute Adelie and Gentoo penguins.

Adélie penguins.
Adélie penguins.
The ship, waiting for us to return from our trip out on the Zodiacs.
The ship, waiting for us to return from our trip out on the Zodiacs.

When we got back from the island we headed for Koko’s, the Japanese restaurant on board the ship. We had a lovely dinner and then meandered back to our room, where we just relaxed and took in the incredibly stunning scenery as the ship continued its way through the Antarctic Sound toward the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, bound for Astrolabe Island.

Sailing through the Antarctic ice.
Sailing through the Antarctic ice.

The sunset was especially pretty tonight, and painted a beautiful glow on a small island we sailed by.

A beautiful sunset-drenched island.
A beautiful sunset-drenched island.

Tomorrow we hope to explore Astrolabe Island (if weather conditions are sufficiently favourable to allow us to go ashore) and later in the day we will be heading to Lindblad Cove.