December 6 Crossing the Drake

Today was the bio-security day! We had lots of fun vacuuming everyone's "stuff".  It was actually pretty amazing what came out of some people's pockets.  It is all in an effort to not introduce outside  species to the Antarctica.

I was up and about fairly early this morning and saw fog in the distance - the polar convergence!  We sailed into the fog bank around 8 AM and just an hour or so later saw two humpback whales.  Welcome to the polar convergence! The cold nutrient rich waters that encircle Antarctica feed an incredible chain of life. There are water temperatures taken in the engine room and you could see the dramatic drop from sea temperatures well above zero to 3 degrees.  This is the polar convergence.

There has only been a mild swell and the ship is amazing stable. There is a brisk wind though, keeping things pretty cold.

We also saw our first iceberg.  I wasn't running out on deck having just seen about a million icebergs in September, but all expedition staff got called out on deck to interpret. It actually was fun as there was about a dozen penguins resting on it.

Tomorrow morning we will have our first landing at Halfmoon Island.

Our first Iceberg with its cargo of penguins!

Andres, one of our bird guys, and the portable vacuums we will soon be using to clean everyone's clothes.

Window selfy - passengers out looking at the iceberg! They really got a taste of what it might be like tomorrow. It was cold and wet!