After two days on the Drake Passage, waiting with ever-increasing anticipation for the first glimpses of Antarctica (and distracting ourselves with spotting wandering albatrosses and looking out for whales in the distance – seeing none), we finally caught sight of the continent early in the morning on the third day. And our expedition staff went big for the first Antarctic adventure, with an early morning cruise through the Lemaire Channel.

The Lemaire Channel is an approximately seven mile long passage between mainland Antarctica and several close-in islands, in an area of the Peninsula that was largely explored by the French. It’s often called the “Kodak Channel” or the “Kodak Gap” because it’s just so darn photogenic.

I mean – look at that. Can you even?

Although it was only 7:00 a.m., the entire ship was out on the bow taking in these first views. The morning was a little foggy, but there was sunlight dancing over the craggy peaks on either side of the channel.

Steve spotted a penguin colony in the distance and tried to point it out to me, but I couldn’t see anything – it was okay, though. I was busy breathlessly taking in the mountains and glaciers, which were like nothing I’d ever seen before.

First sight of glaciers! I’d actually never seen a glacier, and now that I’ve been to Antarctica I’m spoiled for all other glaciers. There’s no way any other glacier could ever be as spectacular.

I’d read that one of the most surprising things about Antarctica is the many shades of blue in the ice – it’s not just white and grey. Even knowing that the ice would be blue, I was still bowled over by the stark beauty of it.

As I was looking out at the scenery, one of the expedition staff members – a veteran of many trips to the Arctic and Antarctic – appeared at my elbow and asked me if I saw the crabeater seals. “There are three of them hauled out on that sea ice over there,” he added, pointing to a small floating ice island just off the ship’s starboard side.

My first Antarctic wildlife sighting!

One of the seals was definitely a pup, and one of the adults I assume was the mother; there was another adult napping a few feet away.

As we slowly cruised by, I watched in awe and delight as the seals flopped around, lifted their heads, and checked out the ship.

The colors were amazing – not just the incredible tropical blue of the ice beneath the little berg, but also the gleaming silver of the crabeater seals’ sleek coats.

I could have watched these three all day, but they were stationary and we were not; eventually we passed their floating haven and continued through the channel.

I’d picked the right place to stand, because I had a perfect view of a slight disturbance in the water, and then… “Whale!” called out one of the other passengers.

Now this… this was what I’d traveled all that way to see. Our first Antarctic whale sighting!

The whale was casually surfacing and diving, enjoying a bonanza of krill in the chilly waters – this is buffet time for whales, and the reason we decided to go to Antarctica in February.

Eventually it did a deeper dive, flicking its fluke at us as a signal that it was gone for awhile. The dramatically slanted dorsal fin fooled me into thinking that this might be an Antarctic minke, but when I showed the pictures to the trip’s marine biologist he confirmed without a doubt that it was a humpback. My favorite whale? I’ll take it.

Eventually we cruised out of the channel and into wider waters, flanked by icebergs the size of city blocks – this was definitely terra incognita australis, the unknown southern land. And what a way to start our adventure!

Next week, PENGUINS!