Crossing the Antarctic Circle!
“Glittering white, shining blue, raven black, in the light of the sun the land looks like a fairy-tale. Pinnacle after pinnacle, peak after peak, crevassed, wild as any land on our globe, it lies, unseen and un-trodden.” - Roald Amundsen
Today, the 4th day of our journey to Antarctica, we left the pounding waves of the Drake Passage behind us and at 06:45 we officially crossed the Antarctic Circle! The Antarctic Circle is the imaginary circle around the earth, parallel to the equator, at latitude 66˚33.4’ S. The area encloses about 8 percent of the earth's surface and encompasses almost all of continental Antarctica. It marks the northern limit of the area in which the sun does not rise on the summer solstice (~June 21) or set on the winter solstice (~December 21) Periods of continuous night or day increase from one day at the Antarctic Circle to 6 months at the South Pole.
As our expedition leader,"Woody", wrote in the ship's journal, "We awoke early in the morning and heading to Deck 6 aft to look out in admiration at the surrounding sea ice and icebergs. In the distance the ice cliffs of Adelaide Island were also visible. The staff and crew held an early morning ceremony & celebration. We celebrated with a champagne toast as we crossed and then we were addressed by Neptune himself, whom gave his blessing to cross the circle and proceed further South. His penguins and mermaids sponged the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean onto the heads of those willing before a trident stamp was placed on their face."
Here we are with the King himself, Neptune that is, and our new friend from Australia, Penny.
After breakfast we had an excellent presentation on "Penguins of Antarctica" by a renown ornithologist who was quite humorous. She told us that are are really only two types of penguins, the white ones and the black ones. The white ones are always walking towards you and the black ones are always walking away from you.
Throughout the morning and early afternoon the captain sailed us towards Marguerite Bay at a reduced speed. The sea ice was becoming heavier.
We sailed into the northern part of the bay, an area that gains some shelter from Adelaide Island which rises to approximately 1,500 meters (which is nearly 5,000 feet).There the ice became much thicker.
By afternoon we were ready to go out into the zodiacs. There were enough zodiacs to accommodate all of the ship's passengers at the same time. All zodiacs were fully equipped with emergency gear, including food, fuel and shelter... just in case.
Motoring the zodiac up to the side of the ship
We walked down the stairs and boarded the zodiacs. All loaded up:10 passengers per zodiac plus our exceptional naturalist who was our zodiac driver.
The temperature was 22 degrees F and there was a wind chill factor. But it was a great way to start our zodiac adventure in the Antarctic Ocean.
While snow flurries fell, we motored around the icebergs and shelf ice viewing the amazing wildlife.
The first penguin we saw was an Adelie. It looked as if it had been waiting for us all day to welcome us to Antarctica.
The entire 3 hours was a feast for the eyes! It was amazing. We soon found out we were in for multiple rare treats. First was a juvenile elephant seal. They are hardly ever seen south of the Antarctic Circle.
When he is fully mature, his snout will become a huge, protruding proboscis.
The icebergs with their saphire blue and emerald green colors took our breath away with their ethereal beauty.
These crabeater seals in the snow were breathtaking to see.
