It’s a foggy morning with fairly calm seas. Antarctica waits for us, shrouded, mysterious, and might I say magical! We enter English Strait, a narrow passage that bisects the South Shetland Islands. Shortly we can see land, Barrientos Island, our proposed landing site after breakfast. There are penguins here and so much more to come. This is just the beginning of the adventure.
12/25/2024
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National Geographic Endurance
Barrientos and Half Moon Islands
Merry Christmas from National Geographic Endurance which just arrived in Antarctica! It is not a bad Christmas morning when the first thing one does is step foot on the Antarctic Continent to be greeted by penguins! After a day of sailing, we arrived at the South Shetlands and made our very first landing at Barrientos Island. Already at the beach, we saw gentoos and chinstrap penguins, that seemed to be awaiting our arrival. It was only a short walk to the colonies and there we could see penguins laying on their eggs and even a few recently hatched chicks! After the great make-your-own-pasta-bar lunch, the next activity was a landing at Half Moon Island. There we chose between a long or shorter hike to get a Christmas Day leg stretch and see even more penguins. After a busy day of outings, it was time for the first recap of the journey and then finally Christmas dinner, where the Christmas buffet awaited guests with some of the best food there is. Today was definitely a Christmas Day to remember!
