Antarctica Day 1 - 1/26/2025

Today we reached the Antarctica Peninsula and the surrounding islands. We heard an early wakeup call around 5:30 AM because they had seen a large pod of killer whales (Orcas) from the bridge. We jumped up and bundled up to head outside for the opportunity for some pictures. It was a large pod and they played in the area for quite a while. The nice thing about being on a small ship like this is that they can just shift their plans and route and turn and follow some whales for an hour if the opportunity presents itself.

Next we pulled into Joinville Island to an area called Tay Head. It was a gorgeous sunny day and each day we are offered several options for different length hikes. We opted to take the long hike today to the top of a ridge above an Adelie penguin colony and some beautiful views. On the way in we passed lots of icebergs.

Views from sea level on Joinville Island at Tay Head

We then hiked down again and across the rocky beach to an Adelie Penguin Colony passing a Skua nesting site.

Our next stop was Paulet Island which was close by. Paulet island is the site of a very large Adelie Penguin colony of over 100 thousand nesting pairs. We were just zodiac cruising around the ice and the shore for about an hour looking at Penguins and seals. While we were out a Zodiac from the hotel and restaurant team pulled alongside to give us hot chocolate, spiked or otherwise. It was a nice touch.

Adelie Penguins on the ice surrounding Paulet Island

We headed back to the ship and headed down to dinner. Just as we got our appetizers a call came of the loudspeaker that a juvenile Emperor penguin had been spotted ahead of the ship and the whole dining room emptied as people made their way to the bridge to take some pictures and get some views.

While we couldn’t stream the Eagles game from the ship we were able to watch live stats on the phone while at dinner. We had been on a Washington fan earlier in the day who insisted on calling the team the Redskins. He then sat behind us at dinner as we watched the score pile up. Karma?

Tomorrow we expect some snowy weather and more stops on Antarctica.