This morning, we woke up farther south in the Weddell Sea. We were in search of emperor penguins. Scouting the ice edge, we made our way between Snow Hill Island and James Ross Island while keeping a sharp watch from the bridge. We found a nice piece of fast ice that allowed us to get off the ship and go for an ice walk. After only a few minutes, we noticed an emperor penguin approaching us on the ice, and our walk came to a halt. Over the next few hours, we had the amazing experience of observing five emperor penguins as they traveled between the water and their colony.
In the afternoon, we made our way north and caught a quick sighting of killer whales in the wind-tossed water. We continued between James Ross Island and Vega Island. We parked the ship in the ice in a comfortable spot away from the wind. We learned about Nordenskjold’s Swedish Antarctic Expedition from naturalist Ezra Siegel before dinner. It was an incredibly memorable day and only our second day in Antarctica!
