Today we reached the farthest point of our journey in Marguerite Bay. We officially reached 68º 17.781’ South latitude. Danny acknowledged that it was the furthest south that the ship or anyone on it had been. We were scheduled to have two excursions, but the ship got distracted by an Orca sighting in the morning that delayed our arrival.
Instead of landing on Stottington Island to see the American science base, Danny chose to make this time for the Polar Plunge. We pulled into an icy bay surrounded by glaciers, icebergs, and to top it all off it was snowing. The water was roughly -1º C, or 30º F. I told myself from the time we started planning this trip that I was going to do this, so I jumped in line before I could talk myself out of it. I didn’t soak, but I was in the water for 30 seconds or so. It was cold, but not as shocking as I expected. I actually felt great for the next hour or so after getting out.
After the plunge, the captain moved the ship across the bay for our shore excursion at a place called Red Rock Ridge. This was our first landing on the actual continent of Antarctica! There is also a huge colony of roughly 6,000 Adelie penguins. Some of the younger penguins were just ready to start learning to swim, which also drew in the Leopard seals. We saw one of the Leopards casing the shoreline. It also followed the zodiacs into shore, sometimes getting quite close. Some of the crew actually saw a Leopard catch 3 young penguins.
Then it was time to turn the ship back north and begin our voyage home. As we cruised along the coast, we again witnessed an extraordinary display of life. Numerous Humpbacks dove around the ship. A couple of them even breached. We also saw a rare Hard Nosed Beak whale. The most interesting scenes had to be the penguins leaping onto the icebergs and looking back down at a Leopard seal (or three!) prowling the edge waiting for the penguin to leap in. It was like a real life episode of Wild Animal Kingdom.
