The early morning welcomed us as we navigated the Lemaire Channel, where we relished in the reflections of icebergs as we cruised south. The first stop of the day was at Booth, where some guests hiked to the cairn and learned about the first expedition of Jean-Baptiste Charcot, while others cruised on Zodiacs in search of wildlife. From Booth, we sailed farther south until we reached Petermann Island. There we had the chance to disembark again and visit the gentoo colonies. We finished the day with another cruise along the island’s coastline.
1/12/2025
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National Geographic Resolution
Booth Island and Port Charcot
National Geographic Resolution sailed south across the Drake Passage overnight. Seas were calm, but morning found us shrouded in fog as we made our way towards our first destination of the trip. As we grew nearer to Booth Island and Port Charcot, the fog began to lift and visibility improved. Things were looking promising by lunch time. Icebergs began appearing out of the mist and soon the Antarctic Peninsula came into view. As we steamed toward the French Passage, we began seeing humpback whales, first as blows a mile or more from the ship, but soon much closer. We spent the afternoon hiking among chinstrap and gentoo penguins, but the ice was the real star of today’s show. Towering icebergs in a dizzying array of shapes glowed in the sun as we watched whales surfacing and diving and occasionally breaching among them. There is something simply awe-inspiring about an animal that is more than 50 feet long throwing itself almost completely out of the water before crashing down to make an enormous splash. Why do they do it? Because they can. This is a storied part of the Antarctic Peninsula, with names like Gerlache and Shackleton and Charcot dotting the map. But today, nature stole the show as she so often does. The day simply could not have been more perfect.
