Corry Island & Devils Island

January 13th started out foggy but by breakfast the fog had lifted and we were in for another adventurous day.  We started our day in the zodiacs navigating through a bay of ice ,many of them dotted with penguins.  Then we heard the distinctive wooshe of whales and with some expert maneuvering by our guide we were treated to a up close and personal show by two magnificent humpback whales. With the icebergs as a backdrop it took whale watching to a new high.  On one small iceberg was a lone emperor penguin which is a rare sight here so another surprise.  As we left Corry Island we sailed past Verigo Cliffs which are covered with numerous waterfalls which are also not a common sight in this part of the world.

Our next stop was Devils Island where apart from another large penguin colony a massive glacier made its way down to the ocean.  The bay was filled with icebergs large and small and here we went kayaking. The kayaks were double inflatables and not the best to paddle but the highlight was coming upon a leopard seal sunning itself on a small iceberg with some penguins standing behind it.  Obviously they had not seen what we did this morning. Joking aside apparently these seals are slow on land so the penguins can easily escape from them. We did keep the recommended distance as one would not want to antagonize this creature.  Leaving Devils Island in the early evening the scenery was spectacular and the lighting was incredible so both Eric and I were happily snapping pictures in all directions though it is impossible to capture the shear beauty of this amazing place on film as it truly is a trip of a lifetime.

Fuzzy picture but just wanted to demonstrate that we are the ship represented by the black dot at the top of the picture and all the other ships are grouped together near the bottom. National Geographic makes a real effort to avoid being around other ships to make for a better experience 

Day chart

Our greeting penguin 

Nice view of the ship with the penguins in the foreground 

A whale show with a spectacular background 

One could cruise around all day in this

This is how we get on and off the ship

The lone King penguin on the ice

The king penguin was in the process of melting and in this picture he looks almost embarrassed about the condition of his coat

A seal floating around on a piece of ice just off of the side of the ship

Large glacier coming down to the shore 

The contrasts of landscapes and ice are truly spectacular 

Vertigo Cliffs with an abundance of waterfalls

Wonderful sunny day with beautiful reflections 

Out paddling in Antarctica 

A leopard seal basking in the sun while unconcerned penguins cool off behind him

Our paddling grounds

Giant cracks in the icebergs eventually give way

With calm seas the reflections made a beautiful sight even more so

How blessed are we

With only 20% of the iceberg above water one can see how enormous these are

Same iceberg from a different view

Evening sky. Really cold outside but well worth it 

Sometimes hard to pay attention to the talks with this kind of scenery out the windows often with whales throw in for interest

Beautiful glacier

A wall of icebergs