Everyone is busy getting ready for the black-tie New Year’s Eve bash. Here in Antarctica, it’s a giant penguin party, of course. Whales are invited too
We walked amid thousands of penguins (we saw five species) not bothered by our presence and fur seals who were. The huge elephant seals ignored us, as did the humpback whales we watched from zodiacs.
The kids—and some of the parents from this Abercrombie & Kent expedition to Antarctica -- are sliding down the hill they’ve just trudged up on their backsides. It is so warm everyone has shed parkas, hats and mittens.
We’re ashore with Abercrombie & Kent on the rocky, crescent shaped Half Moon Island which was known to sealers as early as 1821. The stars of the show are the Chinstrap Penguins
Adults and kids alike on the Abercrombie & Kent trip aboard Le Boreal are on deck, bundled in parkas and hats as we pass a giant iceberg where Chinstrap penguins frolic
This morning in Gold Harbor on the southern end of South Georgia, an elephant seal pup, just a few months old, approached Sophie as if to say “Be my friend!”
All around us thousands of King Penguins are squawking, as if to say “what did you bring me for Christmas!”
The adults are busy catching up while the kids swim and play, but this isn’t any waterfront playground on a late summer day. This is a unique playground for penguins — “Antarctica: Empire of the Penguins” — the largest expansion ever at SeaWorld Orlando.