The Weddell Sea, Devil Island

Well, it will need to be a pretty large bumper sticker, or for a ship would it be called a stern sticker? Whatever you want to name it, we earned our “We Brake for Penguins” banner today. We inadvertently passed by an Emperor penguin as it lay resting on an ice floe. Upon hearing of this, our Captain immediately turned the ship 180 degrees and back to the Emperor we went! Emperors have been a highlight of the day without a doubt, but the ice floes, tabular bergs, sea ice, brash ice, ice dust and a touch of fog here in the Weddell Sea have also been magical, nearly to the point of being indescribable.

An afternoon amongst the Adelie penguins of Devil Island was a great delight as well. Many of us walked uphill to one of the devil’s “horns” and took in the breathtaking view from atop, an approximate height of 590 feet. With slightly sunburned cheeks and noses, and very full cards in our cameras, we returned to the mother-ship, National Geographic Endeavour, for a sumptuous New Year’s Eve feast.

While this year is within hours of ending, we are just beginning our collection of memories of Antarctica. Some of our younger travelers with us this week wrote about some of their highlights, which we share with you now. Happy New Year!



Ocean waves so high
Rocking boats and pretty waves
Icebergs all around
- Rachel Parks, age 12


So little, so cute,
Penguins waddle and wobble
And squawk a lot too.
- Uchenna Enwezor, age 9


Penguin, Seal, Dancing
Sleeping, Feeding, Toboggan
Talking, Black and White.
- Kellen Georgi, age 6


Today I saw thousands of penguins,
they were small and cute.
Everyday we see water.
It’s good to get off the ship.
I met a girl, her nickname is BB.
We have a lot in common.
- Ruthie Stewart, age 8


Zod tour, humpback whale
Weddell seal on an iceberg
And lots of penguins.
- Bianca Coutts-Trotter, age 8


I really liked going to see penguins waddling and dancing – all over the place! I like seeing penguins jump out of the water and land on an iceberg. Penguins can jump up to 9 feet. If you go to Antarctica, you will see over a million penguins.
Penguins waddling
Penguins dancing everywhere
Penguins ice jumping.
- Ayden Georgi, age 9

Water everywhere
Water sparkles in my glass
Water makes things live.
- Jeffery Silver, age 10


Slippery, slobbery sliding seals inch their way around.
Eating is their game to pack the blubber away.
Antarctica holds six species of these kings on ice.
Lounging is a daily routine on rocks or anything that
fits their command.
- Jackson Stewart, age 12


I arrived in a magical land
Lots of water but no sand.
The beauty that I saw everyday
The white continent, what more to say.
Penguins by the thousands
Playful, fun, always on the run
With icebergs and glaciers there’s lots to be done.
The Captain calls on the intercom
“Put on your Parka and waterproof boots!”
Enter a Zodiac to an ice covered land.
Witness wildlife like you’ve never seen.
It’s so fantastic, like out of a dream.
If you could be on deck to see what I saw,
You too would fill your heart with joy in everyplace and it would be going at a fast pace.
Antarctica must be preserved forever
It must not melt down never, never.
- Tucker Bickell, age 11


The trip of a lifetime is now long on it’s way
Through Drake’s passage in bed was where most people lay
But with our sea sickness behind us all
We were so thrilled to see penguins at our first land fall.
Little did we realize the amount we would see
When we reached Paulett Island Tuesday at 3
No place in the world is quite like here
It’s the perfect place to kick off this brand New Year!
- Maeve Hogel