Antarctica continues to amaze and astound. This morning, many awoke with a resounding thud resonating down the halls of National Geographic Orion. Looking out the window to see what was going on, we were delighted and surprised to see that we had anchored…in ice. There, in a massive piece of pack ice, the ship would stay for the morning as humpback whales surrounded us and as we embarked on our Zodiacs onto the mass of frozen water. It was not long before another surprise was spotted, an emperor penguin sat out on the ice, a rare sighting and photographic subject.

In the afternoon we made our way to Brown Bluff. There we once again found ourselves among penguins, but this time on our first continental landing. A continent that has shown us so much, but that no doubt has more to give.