Day 2 in Antarctica and it's one thrill after another!

It's now January 3 and the ship is headed to Torgersen Island.

 The sea is full of brash ice--the small fragments of glacier ice.

Our first activity is to take a zodiac ride along the coastline of the island.

Torgersen Island is home to a breeding colony of Adelie Penguins, the southern-most occuring species of penguin in the world and one that is becoming increasingly difficult to see on the western Antarctica Peninsula.

The primary reason for a small amount of Adelies in this area is due to climate changes, particularly a reduction of winter, and especially summer, sea ice.  Adelies have not adapted to warming ocean conditions.

Here's a good illustration of the three different kinds of penguins we are seeing on this expedition.

We pass by a small Southern Elephant Seal

The glacier ice is incredibly blue

A few chunks are grabbed by the expedition team to take aboard.

This lady held a chunk in front of her face to show how amazingly clear the ice is.

As we travel along, we find a rocky island that had a group of molting Southern Elephant Seas.  These are the largest seals in the world with some adult males attaining a weight of nearly four tons.  It was amazing to see them so close.

This island also supports a small Southern Giant Petrel breeding ground which was easily seen from our zodiac.

Finally we saw a large rookery of the Adelie Penguins.

They seemed to follow us as we cruised along the shoreline.

To speed up their travel, they would slide on their bellies.

Several came even closer to us as they worked their way down to the water's edge.

While watching we all enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate

 

and a moment of silence to absorb the peacefulness of this polar paradise.

It was then back to the ship and there was a surprise waiting for us.

The chefs had prepared a BBQ lunch for us.

And we all enjoyed the lunch outside on the deck surrounded by the beauty of Antarctica.

After lunch we were in for another surprise!

We encountered feeding Humpback Whales and we were all on deck to watch them.

They used the technique of creating "bubble nets" to corral their prey - krill (small fish)

They lunged repeatedly, feeding among the bubbles.  Humpback whales migrate here from the warmer waters of northwestern South America with their calves during the rich southern summers to feed on Antarctic krill.

A young calf breached several times alongside the ship as if bored with the three adults focused on their feeding.

One of the adults had a severe injury to its tail, missing one entire fluke from a likely fishing gear entanglement.

It was fascinating to watch;

Terry took videos:  Here's a short one--

how lucky we were to witness this wildlife spectacle.

Our afternoon activity was a ship cruise through the Lemaire Channel.

With tall mountains rising several thousand feet from the sea, this passageway is without question one of the most picturesque waterways to sail through in Antarctica.

Seldom free of icebergs, Lemaire Channel is often not navigable to ships; so it was a real treat to be able to navigate the whole channel. This was the first time this season for the ship.

We saw many icebergs,

  and "bergy bites".

As we were leaving the channel, we saw some penguins on an iceberg.  Here's a video:

We enjoyed every minute of it.

Our last surprise for the day was when the Hotel Department hosted a Blue and White Antarctic Party, with blue drinks in the bar.

 Remember the glacier ice that was picked up during our morning zodiac excursion?
They used it in the drinks.  The ice was amazingly clear!

This was a wonderful way to wrap up another wonderful Antarctic day.

We have two more days down here in the Antarctic.  And we hear tomorrow is the day we have the opportunity to do the Polar Plunge!  Oh, brrrrrr, will we brave it?

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