Today was a magnificent day in Antarctica, and it began with the sunset. Yes, you read that right. At this time of year, and this close to the polar circle, the sun sets after midnight, and then rises again near 3:00 am, so sunrise for that date actual follows the sunset. As the sun went down below an iceberg, many guests stayed up to bask in the amazing polar light. A few hours before, we had stopped the ship after discovering a large group of emperor penguins on the ice near Snow Hill Island, and the photo opportunities of penguins were too good to ignore.
In the morning, the weather cooperated and our expedition leader Peter gave the order to launch the kayaks. Guests opting out of a kayak experience enjoyed an expedition landing craft cruise instead. Everyone was able to get close views of the numerous emperor penguins that stood along the ice edge. Before lunch, a chance to jump into the icy water had a high participation rate.
During the afternoon, Captain Graser searched for some sea ice that would be suitable for us to walk on. Along the way we passed many huge tabular icebergs. The afternoon ended with a chance to actually walk on some frozen sea ice!
