A luminous dawn waxed into another bright sunny day, our last full day in Antarctic waters. The wind in the Gerlache Strait had picked up a bit, so we found shelter in Orne Harbor. Here we followed a trail up the snowfield to a low area on the ridge which connects Spigot Peak to the mainland Antarctic Peninsula, thus we stood on terra firma, connected to the Antarctic Continent. No one was planning on it, but theoretically we could have walked all the way to the South Pole! In addition to the views, there is a chinstrap penguin colony on the ridgetop, so now we’ve seen the trifecta of three brushtail penguin species. Those who did not feel like climbing had a rewarding Zodiac cruise in the harbor, with seals, whales, cormorants, and penguins swimming around them.
During the afternoon, National Geographic Explorer navigated through the Gerlache Strait and Dallmann Bay as the winds subsided and sun brightly shone, dramatic views and humpback whales in every direction. We capped off our incredible Antarctic experience with a BBQ on the back deck, leaving the landscape of the dark seas, blinding white ice and snow, and soaring mountains etched in our memories.
