On November 22, we finally got our first views of the Antarctic continent when we reached the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
In the Antarctic Sound, we passed many icebergs, including some of the large "tabular" bergs.
Some of them even had passengers.
Again conditions caused us to skip our first scheduled event, a landing at a place called Brown Bluff. So again plans were adjusted and we sailed on past Brown Bluff.
We sailed around the tip of the peninsula and approached Duse Bay.
The captain was excited because Duse Bay was covered with "fast ice" (solid sea ice attached to the land). The ice appeared to be in appropriate condition to allow the ship to "park" in the ice.
This is a video clip, shot from the bridge, of the ship driving into the ice.
The passengers were then allowed to disembark and walk on the ice.
A seal just "chilling out" on the ice.
This little Adelie Penguin came over to check us out.
Before getting back on ship, they put us to work!
A young newlywed couple on the ship were nearing the end of an extended honeymoon trip. They had been taking pictures of the bride in her wedding dress at the places they had traveled. The cold ice of Antarctica did not stop them.
For the afternoon, the ship sailed a few miles south to Devil Island for another attempt to get the passengers on shore.
But winds had pushed ice against the shore, blocking access to the land. So the afternoon was spent cruising around the ice floes in the zodiacs, hunting for animals and looking at the scenery.
The crew stowing zodiacs in preparation for departure
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