This day couldn’t have been more perfect. We arrived at our morning cruising location in Paradise Harbor to find calm waters and beautiful icy views. We had the amazing surprise of finding a juvenile emperor penguin on a piece of ice! Emperor penguins don’t breed anywhere near this location, so it was the most unexpected encounter which all our guests got to enjoy. The rest of the Zodiac cruise didn’t disappoint either, with two humpback whales (mother and calf), a leopard seal on ice, a few crabeater seals, and wonderful glacier views.
Everybody came back onboard with stars in their eyes, including the naturalists. We repositioned to Neko Harbor in the afternoon for a continental landing close to spectacular calving glaciers and a colony of gentoo penguins. Those who didn’t want to go on land went on another Zodiac cruise where more wildlife encounters awaited.