Photographing Penguins in Antarctica

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Saturday, 3 January 2026 - A landing on Half Moon Island in the South Shetland Islands, with views of neighboring Livingston Island and time spent hiking among a Chinstrap penguin colony, along with observations of kelp gulls and Weddell seals. The ship then entered the Bransfield Strait to explore extensive sea ice by zodiac, encountering ice formations, multiple penguin species on icebergs, and fin whale sightings.

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As we approached Half Moon Island we passed Livingston Island, which is right much larger and next to Half Moon Island.
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Livingston Island is very photogenic, beautiful summits and lots of snow.
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The edge of Livingston Island as we turned into the bay containing Half Moon Island.
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A small Kelp gull chick on the rocks.
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A Kelp Gull.
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A favourite, the Chinstrap penguin. We land on Half Moon Island, where there is a Chinstrap colony.

We were able to hike much of the small island.
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Looking across at Livingston Island and the great landscapes.
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Back on Half Moon Island a Chinstrap walks towards me with Gabriel Hill in the background.
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This little Chinstrap was so cute, standing up and then falling back into the snow.
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A Chinstrap seems to contemplate the next steps.
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A penguin contemplates Livingston Island.
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This Chinstrap was grabbing a beakful of snow and then eating/drinking the ice.
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A Chinstrap moving quickly, not really running but still moving out.
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A huge Weddell seal on the beach. They are so large weighing up to 1,200 pounds!!!
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On the beach was a large whale bone, very photogenic with Livingston Island as the backdrop.
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Very soft pretty snow on the peaks of Livingston Island.
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Back on the ship we watched the South Shetlands Archipelago fade into the distance.
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We are headed to the Bransfield Strait to find sea ice. On the way we passed an iceberg with several Gentoo penguins hitching a ride.
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The ship began skirting the sea ice in the Bransfield Strait. This ice forms on the sea surface, not from glaciers. Depending on the season it covers thousands of miles.
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The ice is dense and looks like you could walk to the shore.
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We disembarked into the zodiacs to explore the sea ice. At sea level it looks impossible to move through in the zodiac.
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While we have seen several beautiful large icebergs the sea ice also had pretty blues.
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Very careful maneuvering through the ice.
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Hard to imagine the forces which create such unusual ice.
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A sea of jumbled ice flows surround the zodiac.
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We broke out of the ice to return to the ship and spotted this iceberg. We encouraged the guide to explore the burg.
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On the opposite side of the iceberg was another larger iceberg with several Gentoo penguins.
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However, one little Adélie penguin was headed way up to the top of the iceberg.
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Our zodiac all hoped the little Adélie penguin would not jump and stay on the big iceberg.
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Headed back to the ship, we spot a Chinstrap penguin swim by the zodiac.

That was a lot of fun. Another unplaned excursion by the Polar Latitudes team.
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Back on the ship a few Adélie penguins are resting on an iceberg as the ship moves by.
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We are still traveling along the sea ice.
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A bit of blue catches my eye.
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The sea ice has captured an iceberg in the distance.
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A Fin whale breaks the surface near the sip.
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The fluke as the Fin whale dives.
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Several Gentoo penguins on a huge iceberg. Amazing the little birds can get up on the iceberg. There must be a low edge that leads to the shelf they are on.
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Zooming back this is the entire iceberg with the little black dots the Gentoo penguins. Beautiful.
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