At Sea towards the Ross Sea

Today we made our way further south, making our way to the Ross Sea.  We made slower progress than planned because of the heavy pack ice and a few wildlife surprises.  We woke up first thing to an announcement of an Emperor penguin dead ahead.  The ship slowed and I was able to get some great shots.  He is a juvenile, meaning he has already fledged his chick feathers but too young to breed.  The naturalists were guessing that he was between 1-3 years old.  His coloring around his neck isn’t as bright as an older adult male.

We headed off to breakfast and then attended two lectures.  The second one was cut short because we were going to be sailing through an alley of huge tabular icebergs all around us.  I went up to the bridge to enjoy the views and take a few photos: none of which do this landscape any justice.  About half way through ‘iceberg alley’ a pod of Killer Whales decided to join us.  I learned in a previous talk that Orca isn’t a nicer name because it means Sea Monster in I believe Ancient Greek?  It could also be Latin or Norse.  Either way, I’ve been schooled that common names don’t mean much and the naturalists on this ship say Killer Whale.

Late in the afternoon the decision was made to park us in the ice so that we could get off ship and get out in the zodiacs.  We cruised around for about an hour and a half and we saw stunning ice, a few emperor penguins and a few Adelie penguins.  It was a bit colder today, around 27 degrees and light winds. It was partially cloudy and overall very lovely.  I’ve narrowed down my photos but wow, there was so much! Enjoy