Today we arrived in the South Orkney Islands, and after breakfast we were invited to load into our Zodiacs for a cruise of the pass between Monroe and Coronation Island. We had a wonderful outing with winds and snow. We were lucky to see Antarctic fur seals, Weddell seals, and leopard seals along the shoreline and even witnessed a penguin falling prey to one of the leopard seals!
After a quick lunch on National Geographic Endurance, we repositioned to Signy Island for our second activity of the day. We were all whisked ashore for an afternoon hike. We trekked over the island in our groups, dodging fur seals who often took an interest in us and tried to take chase. We managed to escape unscathed and enjoyed a wonderful hike over the fresh snow. We also saw some seals hauled out, molting male southern elephant seals which were huge, bellowing at each other.
After our wonderful hike we returned to the ship ready to warm up but were immediately called to the bridge to see a very rare sighting - not one, but four blue whales!! It was an amazing encounter and one not many get to see. It perfectly wrapped up the day and we made our way back to the Ice Lounge for recap.
