Crabeater seal lazing on an ice floe — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Is that a penguin on the berg? No ... it's two penguins — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Two Adelie penguins molting on an iceberg — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

With the last helicopter returning to Ortelius, we prep for departure — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Cruising open water between the pack ice and the Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Ahoy ... emperor and Adelie penguins on the ice — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Emperors and Adelies socializing on the ice — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

An Adelie wondering how it got mixed up with these emperors 😄 — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Reminds me of a wave frozen in time — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Find the penguin ... hint, it's a little black dot — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Emperor penguin swimming in icy cold water — Weddell S

EL Sara did say that we'd see plenty of blue bergs on this expedition — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Blue berg with a window — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Pretty Adelie penguins all in a row — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

End of the road — or the water — the Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf — Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

In the other direction from the ice shelf ... the sun is adding a golden hue to the scenery.

RWSE Day 13: Ice and Penguins

February 23, Weddell Sea ⋅ ☀️ 25 °F

Back from our helicopter flight and iceberg landing, we grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and a biscuit, and headed out on deck to “have our snack with a view.”

While the rest of the groups took their turns flying, we enjoyed the icescape … wandering from deck to deck … from side to side. When we weren’t focused on the ice, we were scoping out the wildlife. Crabeater seals were numerous … asleep on ice floes passing by the ship … waking up to check out the ‘big blue thing’ that is Ortelius. An eroded iceberg, seesawing on swells that went unnoticed on the ship, revealed a surprise … a couple of Adelie penguins going through their annual catastrophic molt.

We took a break for lunch … a quiet one since some of the passengers were still flying. And then back outside for more ice and wildlife. By 2:15p, heli ops completed, Ortelius was on the move. Plowing through the pack ice, we got into a channel of open water between the pack ice and the Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf.

EL Sara’s announcement that there was a group of emperor penguins on the ice brought out on deck a rush of people. It wasn’t just one group … there were three of them … emperors mingling with Adelies … preening this way and that … some tobogganing as though they were trying to keep pace with the ship. The water was dead calm, making it easy to see the emperors swimming serenely in the icy sea … diving briefly only to pop up and continue swimming. The late afternoon sun was filtered; rays slipping through the clouds to spotlight distant bergs … some of them with the deepest of blue inner cores.

And then we came to the ice shelf. Ortelius could go no further. Just as we thought, “well, that’s it,” EL Sara’s voice came over the PA. Zodiacs were being put in the water!Read more