Blue skies, relatively calm seas, and an abundance of seabirds beckoned us on deck today as we steamed due south towards the western Antarctic Peninsula. It was surprising to see our first iceberg before entering the cold seas of the Southern Ocean. The towering berg partially collapsed before our eyes, creating a huge splash as we watched seabirds from the aft deck. Several brief snow showers descended on us as we approached the colder waters of the Southern Ocean at around 60 degrees south; the sea temperature dropped from 4.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. Now we are truly in the Southern Ocean! From Naturalist Doug Gualtieri, we learned about the seabirds that call this unforgiving environment their home. It was superb to be graced by the very species that he was talking about. Our species tally for the day was ten petrel and five albatross species.