Lallemand Fjord: 67.0° S, 64.3° W; -10° C (° F), probably 20° colder with windchill
Sunrise:  03:24   Sunset:  23:45

Today we finally felt we reached Antarctica!  We are south of the Antarctic Circle, the winds have blown away the clouds, the sky is blue, the snow is white, the wind whistles by our ears, the temperature is bracing.  We have found heaven, absolute heaven!!

We spent the early morning in Crystal Sound looking for a landing.  We slogged through broken pack ice, but the way to land was blocked.  The National Geographic Explorer is not an icebreaker.  It has a heavily reinforced bow that can push aside ice, but the ice must have somewhere to go, that is, there must be open water for it to find.

The photo below shows our progress in Crystal Sound.  Notice the Lindblad Expeditions Antarctic flag flying from the bow.

The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful.  It is vast and compelling; the “marketing version” of Antarctica.  The bright sun is invigorating and most guests are on deck, braving the estimated 50 mph winds.  We see crabeater seals and skuas, and in a couple of cases, tiny Adélie penguins in the distance.

We warm up in the bridge where we are always welcome and where there always seems to be a crowd of other gawkers.  The captain and his assistant are happy to chat with us about where we are, where we are going and what all the various computer screens and buttons and dials mean.  There are two rules for hanging out in the bridge:  don’t push any buttons and never sit in the captain’s chair.  Apparently the only other person allowed to sit in the captain’s chair is his mother-in-law, ha ha.

Because a landing in Crystal Sound was blocked by pack ice, the captain backtracked and took us into Lallemand Fjord, east but further south of Crystal Sound.  This is the furthest south this ship has been this season.  However, the pack ice had not retreated enough to allow a shore landing so the captain rammed the ship into the leading edge of the pack ice and there we stayed.  We found a welcome party of a couple of Adélies who appeared to direct placement of the cones that confined our ramble on the ice.

Zodiacs were lowered, guests ferried to the pack ice and off we went for an hour of “true” Antarctic experience.  Three of our welcoming party’s friends joined us providing much comic relief darting to and fro among these strange creatures in orange.  This little Adélie seems to be directing traffic.

In the distance a mountain shrouded with cloud loomed.  It appeared to me to be out of a fairy tale: prince, princess, ogre all there if only we could cross the ice and enter that magical kingdom. Or perhaps the refined, non-polluted air is playing with my brain!

We spent about an hour on the pack ice.  Some folks hammed it up for the camera by pulling on the ship’s rope.  This little Adélie found this behavior quite bizarre and ran around trying to find someone more sensible.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64513024@N07/20655116784/in/datetaken/

Shirley and I exhibited much more refined taste, instead posing for photos by the ship and in the vast landscape before us

We are now powering north to Port Lockroy where there is a small museum and – wait for it – a gift shop that prefers Mastercard and Visa but will accept US dollars, pounds sterling and euros.

The seas have become a bit larger as we are no longer cruising along an inside passage.  At this evening’s recap Stephanie, the expedition leader, told us that tomorrow evening we will head back into the Drake Passage; however we are not to think about the Drake, but instead focus on the wonder of today’s ice walk.  Sounds ominous to me. Handhold ropes have appeared in more open areas confirming everyone’s worst fears.  So I am taking Stephanie’s advice and remembering this cute little critter who for all the world appeared to be inspecting his habitat, making sure we were not rearranging things we should not.