After an incredible and prolonged sunset that started our “day” after midnight, the National Geographic Explorer continued south, way south. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, we crossed the Antarctic Circle, joining a select few who have ventured this far south. Most of us awoke much later, as we sailed into Lallemand fjord. The wakeup call was the crunch of ice as we pushed deeper into the fjord, and farther south.
Our goal for the morning was a taste of something different, sea ice. In winter, the size of Antarctica nearly doubles as a huge volume of seawater freezes. We had to penetrate deep into the bay, farther south in this fjord than we had ever been, in order to find it. Somewhere around 67 degrees and 12 minutes south, we reached the edge of the fast ice, and our captain gently parked the ship in amongst this sea of flat, frozen whiteness. Then, it was time to go for a walk!
The gangway went down, and soon we were out exploring this alien landscape. With perfect conditions, we all strolled around taking endless photos of ourselves walking on the frozen ocean. Hundreds of crabeater seals stretched as far as we could see and we were even able to approach a few of them on ice. Soon, it was a party-like atmosphere with lots of jokes and laughter. A soccer match began and soon a bit of cricket. Our own playing field of ice was situated in a spectacular landscape, and we spent the rest of the morning enjoying ourselves.
After lunch it was time to return heading north. We worked our way out of the ice passing hundreds more crabeater seals, along with a few Weddell and fur seals. A couple of presentations added to our day, discussions on photography and exploration. We recrossed the Antarctic Circle and continued navigating north, enjoying more spectacular scenery and looking forward to another exciting day tomorrow.
