Antarctica is another world. Calm, serene, vast and peaceful. It has been an amazing privilege to spend the last couple of weeks here, observing the wildlife, exploring icebergs, mountains and islands.

*Dinghy in the iceberg labyrinth - Kate Schnippering*

After we had dropped off the skiing party for their five day adventure, with me feeling rather sad not to be with them, we motored to a little bay near Booth Island and dropped anchor amid a labyrinth of icebergs. Icebergs drift for hundreds of miles on currents that encircle the continent, then either get trapped amongst the islands and bays or get spun off by the peninsula to die more swiftly as they head north.

That afternoon I went kayaking, initially to see the penguins clustered on an ice floe, but soon a humpback whale appeared, then another and another… for 2 hours we paddled while the whales surfaced, dived and fed, often in synchronised pairs.To see their vast bulk, the size and muscularity of their blowholes, the steep, slow, arching of their backs and the grace of their flukes as they dive, was humbling. Each one more magnificent than Trump.

*Mike kayaking, Crabeater seals on iceberg - Kate Schnippering*

*Humpback inspecting us - Kate Schnippering*

Meanwhile the penguins swam, leaped and dived to and fro. We had seen them in panicked thousands when hunted by a leopard seal, but now, in swimming flocks (known as rafts) they seemed to follow the whales, to pick up stunned or disoriented fish, maybe.

*Leopard seal resting on an ice floe drifting near Amundsen - Kate Schnippering*

Just as the session was ending, a leopard seal was spotted on an iceberg. I paddled over, and parked my paddle to get my phone camera out. But I found myself drifting too close! The leopard seal gave me a bloodshot glare from his glistening eyes! I backed away.

The next morning we visited another penguin colony - Gentoo and Adélie penguins at Petermann Island. The chicks are getting bigger, flapping their wings and beginning to venture from their nests. I loved watching their parents’ commuter journeys to work, along well-worn tracks, stopping for a bit of a preen and to eat some snow like a coffee-to-go!

*Edward at Petermann Island - Kate Schnippering*

An unexpected dimension of our trip has been the visits to scientific research bases. Firstly at Port Lockroy, with its rooms carefully preserved from the 1950’s and 60’s, complete with wall paintings of film stars with revealing negligées! Then to the Wordie Hut in the Argentine Islands: smaller and more spartan. What a tough way to spend a year of your life, especially in the sunless winters.

Next to the Wordie Hut is its successor, the Faraday Antarctic Station, which was sold by the British to Ukraine 30 years ago for £1. Now Vernadsky Research Base, we were honoured for a tour of the state of the art base with the team’s Drone Pilot and Base Commander. They gave us a window into the variety of important research happening – monitoring climate trends and the ozone layer; seismology, glaciology, marine biology, and more. The staff have been on since March 2025, and will be returning home in 6 weeks. They understandably have mixed feelings about returning home, with many friends and loved ones serving in the war. One man I spoke with has a 29-year-old son who went to Cambridge and is now working on robotic warfare. He was so grateful for the support of the UK and Europe.

*Vernadsky tucked in the ice - Kate Schnippering*

*Geology lab at Vernadsky - Kate Schnippering*

Our journey back north to rendezvous with the skiers was spectacular. A glorious day of clear blue skies, blue ocean, staggeringly beautiful mountains of Lemaire Channel draped with massive sheets of pure white snow with hundreds of glaciers poised to crash into the sea.

*Tabular iceberg at Lemaire Channel, Eoin at the helm - Stephen Venables*

*Judith and Werner enjoying Lemaire Channel - Kate Schnippering*

*Passing Vinson of Antarctica in Lemaire Channel - Kate Schnippering*

Then the icebergs. Intricate shapes in dazzling white ice, with deep turquoise blue highlights and surrounding shallows. Churches and cathedrals, extending far below the surface. One enormous tabular iceberg, like an overbearing Amazon Fulfilment Centre in a world with no customers!

After negotiating a narrow channel full of ice, we entered a vast, calm sea surrounded by spectacular, snow-wreathed mountains. It was early evening. Time for white wine, perfectly chilled in the hold, on deck. The peace and serenity were profound. A mile or two away you could hear the regular blowing of whales, the sound carrying clearly in the stillness, and see their plumed jets of mist and then the sunlight sparkling off their glossy backs before they raised their flukes to dive.

Then closer, three whales were spotted, then four… no, five at least feeding nearby! For an hour we watched as they dived together, fluke after fluke, then after a few minutes rose simultaneously, closely bunched, mouths open upwards to scoop up the krill. This was bubble-netting and it was spectacular! There was even the occasional deep whale-bellow of satisfaction!

*Pushing water through baleen - Kate Schnippering*

By now it was getting late, not dark though, and we slipped away to our anchorage.

Of ice and whales

Vinson of Antarctica & Amundsen

Of ice and whales

Five Days on Anvers Island

Vinson of Antarctica & Amundsen