Shingle Cove, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica

The forty hour ship journey from South Georgia Island to the South Orkneys fell under amazingly gentle seas. I woke up at 3:30am to the first views of giant icebergs so far. The light was not dramatic, but the vistas were thrilling and the icebergs on an epic scale in comparison to the thousands I’ve seen in Alaska’s waters. Within a few hours the winds picked up putting our zodiac trip to shore at 6am in question. We launched anyway, with tumultuous seas and wind whipping water in our faces for the short ride to shore where a colony of Adele Penguins entertained us with their constant posturing. We did call the shoreside excursion short due to high winds and possible dangerous return to the ship, and we are now underway for the Antarctic Peninsula. About three hours ago we passed a giant, (2 mile long) tabular iceberg that broke off from the ice shelf and drifted north. I’m hoping for some wonderful pink light on these giant icebergs for that classic antarctica scene. I think we have 8 more landings to go, so the chances look good. Fortunately, we just missed the big storm that hit South Georgia, and the word is that the ships there now are not able to make any shore landings to due to rough waters. We slipped out just in time.