As we approach our second landing on the Antarctic peninsula it has begun to snow. There are many icebergs along the way. We have been invited to a Chilean National Military Base that is surrounded by a gentoo penguin rookery. As with yesterday's gentoo rookery winter is approaching early and effecting the end of the breeding season. Many of the chicks in this area will not survive the season due to the adults having to abandon them to prepare for molt. The snowfall is getting extremely heavy, so much so that the Antarctic skuas are not even prowling around the rookery. From the base we cannot even see our ship. We spend some time talking to Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary, about the weather conditions and some of his upcoming climbs. In a separate conversation I find out that our expedition leader Nigel Sitwel and I have something in common. Nigel is a major fund raiser for research in the Galapagos Islands in the UK. I have spearheaded SeaWorld's involvement in a population study on the Galapagos penguin and was able to get Jack Hanna to go to the islands and film the project in 2000. As we continue to view the penguins the snow turns to almost a whiteout and we are forced to return to the ship. Upon boarding the ship we are told of a minke whale that is near by, but with the limited visibility I do not hold out much hope to see it. As we cruise through the Gerlache Strait we have passed out of the cloud cover and see an amazing site. The intense sunlight has caused the krill in the area to rise to the surface which has attracted a number of humpback whales. I have seen gray whales off the coast of California but this is my first time to view humpbacks. You can tell they are humpbacks by the very large and long white/gray pectoral fins. They are rolling on the surface of the water filling their huge mouths with krill and then straining out the seawater. There are a number of adults and a few calves. This is an amazing site which is added to by the presence of an adult Antarctic fur seal sitting on an iceberg as we go by. We leave the whales and seal behind as we continue our voyage. We set sail through the Neumeyer Channel and then on to the Gerlache Strait with our final destination being Half Moon Bay and it's large chinstrap penguin rookery.

Rob Yordi