Landfall! Guests of National Geographic Endurance made their first continental landing this morning while enjoying the penguin colony at Brown Bluff. A blustery Antarctic morning gave way to a peaceful afternoon of ethereal polar light as we walked on sea ice while surrounded by Weddell seals and curious Adelie penguins.
12/4/2024
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National Geographic Resolution
Marguerite Bay and Jenny Island
*KRCRUNCH* Such were the sounds as we punched our ticket south through the sea ice west of Adelaide Island. With a tempting sea state, glorious weather, and the incredible capabilities of National Geographic Resolution , by midday we found ourselves truly alone in a sea of ice, the only representatives of humanity for many, many miles. We made way through the loosening winter’s sea ice, and it seemed that our plans had received an official Antarctic seal of approval—five in fact! By day’s end we completed the rare Southern Ocean seal BINGO: crabeater, leopard, Weddel, elephant, and A ROSS SEAL—one of the few ever seen on the Antarctic Peninsula, and a first for many expedition staff with decades under their sea ice belts. By early afternoon we arrived at the spectacularly vertiginous Jenny Island, named for the wife of Commandant Charcot’s sub-lieutenant Maurice Bongrain. There we cruised and strolled among the Antarctic shags, Adelie penguins and southern elephant seals hauled out to molt into a new paintjob like so many submarines in shipyard. Defrosted and refueled ourselves, we look now for a spot to slow down for the evening. Ah, this fast ice could well do! Onward!
