Day 4 – Stepping off the ship in Antarctica
Monday, 05 January 2026 – written by Emily S.
Today was not like a regular Monday. Today was an Antarctic Monday! When we woke, the ship was as still as it had ever been. We had survived the infamous Drake Passage! The excitement encouraged many of the group out to the bow before breakfast. We were met with icebergs galore! Not to mention the passing humpback whales and rafts of gentoo penguins porpoising around the ship.
We had to drag ourselves away from the action for breakfast, ready for our first landing of the trip. This was our first attempt at the penguin surveys, and our first time stepping onto antarctic soil. We suited up and waited for our “Royal Albatross” group to be called into the zodiacs, we could smell the sweet smell of guano as soon as we stepped outside!
Zipping over to Petermann island’s Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies, we split into our teams equipped with notebooks and pencils. The paths were carefully marked by the guides in the morning to ensure we weren’t accidentally walking through the many penguin highways. We stationed ourselves at a suitable distance away from the penguins to spend 30 glorious minutes observing their behaviour with their chicks. We needed to maintain 5 meters from the penguins at all times, but no one ever told the penguins this!
After a midday survey, our next activity was zodiac cruising around the Garden of Icebergs. We were treated to a close up view of a sleepy leopard seal and even a surprise viewing of molting elephant seals!
It started snowing as we were cruising, reminding us of the fast changing weather of the Antarctic. After viewing the beautiful blues of passing icebergs and penguins frollicking, we headed back to the ship to process the data from the surveys of the day.
We worked together as a team to ensure the daily data collected for the penguins, seabirds and marine mammals were checked and uploaded, ready to go again for the next day. We are planning an early 6:30am survey tomorrow morning, so after dinner and final data uploads, we get settled in bed ready for whatever tomorrow’s adventure will bring…
