Photographing Penguins in Antarctica

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Friday, 2 January 2026 - The day focused on marine wildlife observations in the Antarctic Peninsula, with morning zodiac operations in Charlotte Bay and many sightings of humpback and fin whales. The afternoon included sailing past glaciers and ice formations before a landing at on Two Hammock Island at Palaver Point to observe a Chinstrap penguin colony.

Today would be a lot of whales - Fin whales. Pictures from the zodiac, ship, and land.

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We were on a zodiac in the morning checking out Charlotte Bay.

Immediately we spotted a Humpback whale.
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Here the whale begins a dive.
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Of course we also spot unique icebergs. This one was interesting. Did the cave extend into or even through the iceberg? We did a drive by and....
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The cave does not go very far, still beautiful.
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A Humpback whale in the icebergs.
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This block of ice seems like it just broke off - it is so angular.
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A Humpback whale tail, the fluke, we will see many of these. There is a program that the ship was promoting called Happy Whale which tracks whales based on their flukes. So we submitted our pictures to the site in ship sponsored meetups.
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The Happy Whale site can use fluke images to track a single whale, the markings are like a fingerprint.
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Off in the distance a Humpback whale breaches, jumps out of the water. It was too far to get a good picture.
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Then at the same time a second Humpback whale breaches. Amazing how they can become airborne.
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A fluke for a Humpback preparing to dive.
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A great picture of a Humpback fingerprint.
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This huge iceberg looks like some sort of animal, or dinosaur.
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Back on the ship sailing to Palaver Point we pass huge snow capped mountains and tall glaciers.
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Standing on the deck taking picture of the mountains, a small iceberg floated by and I spotted a seal hiding under an ice shelf.
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Beautiful iceberg ridges.
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I am on the seventh floor of the ship and the ice towers above us. Imagine if this is only 10% of the iceberg's total size.
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Snowy shores or Antarctica.
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While I waited to board a zodiac on the rear deck I spotted several whales.
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I tried to get a good shot of a whale blow and this one was pretty good.
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We were anchored off Palaver Point, which has a colony of Chinstrap penguins. While I waited I was able to catch several Chinstrap penguins swimming in the bay.
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Off in the distance were a couple of whales.
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It was a very active sea while we waited for our turn to board the zodiacs.
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Two Hammock Island where we would visit a Chinstrap penguin colony. Fortunately there is a bay at Palaver Point which is not as snow/ice covered.
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The cute Chinstraps with their bushy tails.

Interestingly, give they are so cute, they are generally considered the most aggressive and ill-tempered species of penguin.
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The Chinstrap penguins make nests out of rocks. Here a couple on a nest.
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A small Chinstrap chick is staying warm.
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A Chinstrap penguin opening their wings to cool off, it was a beautiful sunny day.
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A Chinstrap penguin strolls along on the rocks. The Chinstrap likes to nest on open ground (rocks) as opposed to the snow.
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Chinstrap penguins looking for something in the sky. Probably about to launch into a loud cry.
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Looking over his shoulder, this picture shows the Chinstrap's bushy tail.
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Sliding down the hill is easier than waddling.
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I hiked up a small hill, and thought that the small little penguins would really have to work to make the same climb. At the top of the climb these penguins were enjoying the sun.
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This little Chinstrap penguin ws so cute looking around - very animated.
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A Chinstrap in Antarctica.
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A Chinstrap looks over the rest of the penguin colony.
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A whale blow, the plume of mist created as the whale takes a breath.

Interestingly a whale has to contentiously breath, they have to think about breathing.
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Back on the ship we passed this iceberg after dinner. Note that at ten o'clock it is still light.
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