Day 5- Antarctic magic South of the Polar Circle
Tuesday 06 January 2026 – written by Jed
Today we woke to our first day south of the Antarctic circle thanks to the ship’s push south on more open water during the night! This position made our ship the southernmost passenger vessel in the world today! Icebergs of all shapes and sizes filled the views out of our bedroom windows. Their pure white and gorgeous blue hues showing why our location is known as Crystal Sound. Mountains loomed to either side as we made our way towards the narrow passage between the Antarctic Peninsula and Adelaide Island known as The Gullet. The ship moved slowly, carefully navigating past the larger icebergs.
The day was the coldest so far, but the air was very still. Despite the cooler temperatures, making observations was much more comfortable as wind speeds were less than 2m/s – a nice change from the chilling gusts of the Drake Passage! The observation deck was the busiest it had been so far, with passengers swarming onto the deck for photo and sighting opportunities now that we had reached Antarctica proper. Humpback whales were abundant in the morning, but sightings became slim as the icebergs and brash transitioned to more densely packed ice floes – habitat preferred by the minke whale, which has thus far eluded us.
With the change in habitat seal sightings became almost constant. We saw leopard seals and our first Weddell seals, but it was crabeater seals that made up most of the sightings. Crabeaters always haul out on ice, not land, and can be identified by their dog-like head and snout. Leopard seals have a distinctive, large ‘t-rex’ head with a more pronounced neck.
From late morning to early afternoon, seal sightings were almost constant with our ship sailing past their log-like bodies resting on ice floes. We saw small groups of chinstrap penguins throughout the day. Flocks of Antarctic shags circled the ship; Antarctic terns, southern fulmars and storm petrels were also common sightings.
Making headway through the sea ice was slow going, so the days Zodiac cruises were delayed. Eventually we made it through the thickest ice part, stopping in a relatively open patch of water. We were greeted by a flock of storm petrels and the rare sight of many of the small birds resting on the water. Our team were the last group to go out on the Zodiac cruises, so it was almost evening when we set out. The delay proved fortuitous for us, as early into our cruise a pod of Orca was spotted! Our Zodiacs followed the incredible creatures for half an hour, getting as close as 200m away and counting 5 or 6 individuals. We spotted one large male, identifiable by his tall dorsal fin, several females and a juvenile.
Eventually it was time for us to say our goodbyes and return to the ship where we continued our voyage south. An excellent welcoming day to the Antarctic circle and hopefully a sign of many more eventful days to come!