Antarctica-close up

Day 2 in the midst of glaciers, ice floes and icebergs. The scenery is breathtaking. The day is cloudy, so the intense blues of the ice seem to shine even brighter than they did in the sunlight.
The current rules in Antarctica are that each person is only allowed to spend 1 hour per day on land. Our expedition crew decided today that our time would be best spent in small groups on zodiacs. That decision was a good one because we were able to get quite close to some icebergs and floated through huge areas of brash ice, which are small pieces of ice that are free-floating. The most interesting thing about the brash ice is the popping sounds that occur constantly.
Our zodiac trip yielded much wildlife activity.
Aside from the penguins which zip around underwater in groups that occasionally all shoot out of the water for air, we encountered a very relaxed crab-eating seal that was napping on an iceberg. He seemed completely unaware of our presence and continued his lazy day without even bothering to acknowledge us.
Another highlight was seeing a mother humpback whale and her baby feeding quite close to our zodiac. It is always impressive how large they really are. We have had over 100 whale sightings in the past 2 days, but this was special in that it was such a gentle and intimate encounter.
In true Silversea fashion, there was the “cafe iceberg” floating around near the ship providing hot chocolate with Bailey’s to keep us warm. Remember, I said this adventure wasn’t a hardship!Read more