I would like to start today’s expedition report by saying thank you to all of the able seamen and deck crew on board who make our expeditions possible. The Zodiacs just seem to appear as if by magic and the guests are loaded safely into the Zodiacs day after day without any fuss by this attentive group of guys who always seem to have smiles on their faces.   

We continue to enjoy wonderful mild conditions on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula regardless of the fact that the summer season is coming to an end. This morning we were in Cierva Cove, surrounded by enormous glaciers that tumble into the sea. The weather was calm and although there were some high broken clouds, much of the sky was blue. The cove was packed full of brash ice and large icebergs. The calm conditions made Zodiac cruising quite feasible on the outer reaches of the cove and here we found leopard seals in large numbers on and off the ice. They seemed pleased to see us and on a few occasions were reluctant to let us leave, swimming close to our Zodiacs as we made our way through the ice.

There were also humpback whales around that, for the most part, were just logging (resting) on the surface, probably recovering from energetic bouts of feeding on krill, which is what they have been doing for much of the last few weeks. While some of the guests were out on the water in Zodiacs, others enjoyed a ship cruise. Our captain, Oliver Kruess, took National Geographic Explorer right into the bay amongst the heavy pack ice. The views from the ship in all directions were truly stunning.

This afternoon we continued to head north through the Gerlache Strait. For much of this time we were accompanied by humpback whales and Type B killer whales. The killer whales in particular seemed to take pleasure in our company and regularly came over to frolic around the ship and enjoyed riding our bow wave. During the lulls in the activity in the sea around us, National Geographic Photographer Jay Dickman presented his thoughts on improving your photography. Later in the afternoon James Balog presented “The Art and Science of Chasing Ice” which was both informative and provocative. This has been another extraordinary day of adventure in Antarctica.