By early morning, National Geographic Explorer was sailing in a southerly course for Antarctica. The sea conditions were calm as dawn splashed all over the sky in giant brush strokes. Over Isla Nueva, the subtle pinks rose over the island before disappearing overhead as they blended into pale yellows and oranges, which on turn were swallowed up by blues and greens where the sun would soon appear. Over in the southeast the jagged peaks of Staten Island rose majestically, the rest of the island clearly visible.