MS National Geographic Explorer
Webb Island, South of the Antarctic Circle
Saturday, January 16, 2010

    At 7:00 am this morning, I’m sure I felt the ship lurch as we crossed over that big painted white line in the ocean marking the Antarctic Circle. I’m sure you’ve all seen it on your globes and maps. Just to make sure, the captain sounded the ship’s horn, which should have awakened the rest of the passengers.

    All morning we cruised through the ice formations and icebergs that are becoming more plentiful as we continue south. Those on the bridge would steer clear of the big ice, but just crunched through the smaller stuff. Occasionally, we saw birds and seals on and around the ice. Our destination was Webb Island at 67˚26.36’ S, 67˚56.10’ W. The wind was light, but it was snowing.

    We again broke into three groups. The first group took Zodiacs to Webb Island for a hike part way up the mountain. Their visibility was not very good and they had a couple of encounters with skua. The second group took command of kayaks and paddled around the ice formations offshore. I elected to let someone else do the driving and chose to ride in a Zodiac around the ice and got a chance to photograph a lot of crab-eater, Weddell, and leopard seals. We also encountered a lone adelie penguin on the ice. The snow falling is quite visible in the photographs. That works to an advantage for some pictures, but a distinct disadvantage for others.

    We returned to the ship and were treated by the hotel staff to wine and Argentinean steak sandwiches being grilled on the aft sun deck for afternoon tea. A little snow and some great views made for a surreal atmosphere. Once we had recovered everyone back onboard, we set sail north again. We travelled back through the Gullet and all the ice heading for the Lemaire Channel. We plan to make a landing at Booth Island near the southern entrance to the channel tomorrow morning.