MS National Geographic Explorer
Weddell Sea, Snow Hill Island
Tuesday, January 12, 2010

    Well, I made it to bed a little after 11:00 pm Monday night and was up and about at 3:00 am today. The sun would rise in a few minutes and I wanted to be on deck at sunrise in the midst of all the big icebergs, pack ice, and fast ice. It is really impossible to describe all the big bergs with white and blue ice – each color modified by the changing light of the early morning.

    Today was mainly a cruising day. We experienced several treats including the sighting of a few adult and juvenile emperor penguins, crab-eater seals, and we were able to get a close-up view of a leopard seal on the ice (see photo below). We also found a large sheet of free-floating pack ice that was suitable for the ship to plow into and allowed us to walk on the ice flow. A number of adelie penguins and three crab-eater seals shared time on the ice with us. While some of the humans were playing and climbing on little ice hills, the penguins became curious and wandered over to watch us. They soon grew tired of this boring activity and wandered off in search of something more interesting.

    The three crab eater seals varied in color from a lighter tan to a darker brown. One was really lazy and didn’t move the whole time we were on the ice. The second one raised its head a few times, but was also quite laid back. The third seal was a lot more active and wandered back and forth in the vicinity and tried to get the attention of the second seal a few times.

    After a long day in the Weddell Sea, we headed back north to return through the Antarctic Sound on our way back to the western side of the peninsula. We will be cruising all night to awake in the Gerlache Strait on our way to Palmer Station. We have received special permission to visit the base. Do you think that it might have helped that we invited the entire base to join us onboard tomorrow night to hear Buzz Aldrin’s talk?