Our second day in Antarctica brought an exciting milestone – at just after 7:00 a.m., our ship crossed the Antarctic Circle, 66 degrees 33 minutes South. This latitude is farther south than most Antarctic tourist expeditions go, and for many of our fellow travelers it was the highlight of our trip. Our voyage was called “Crossing the Circle: Southern Expedition,” and the marquee moment of the itinerary was crossing the Circle, as you can imagine from the name. A sizeable minority of our fellow passengers had booked this particular expedition – as opposed to one of the other itineraries – for this particular reason. We didn’t – we booked it because it was the time of year we wanted to visit Antarctica (whale migration season) and a good duration with six days on the Continent. Crossing the Antarctic Circle was not our main goal, but it was a very cool achievement.

Happy explorers, waving from further south than 99% of other Antarctic travelers will ever go! As our expedition leader announced that we’d crossed the Circle officially, a loud cheer went up and we all toasted with our hot cocoa. (Since it was so early in the day… that evening we’d have a proper toast with champagne.)

Two humpback whales escorted us across the Circle, but they were too far from the ship for me to get a good picture of them. The icebergs that far south were absolutely massive, though.

Even with the exciting event of crossing the Antarctic Circle, the day started to take a bit of a downhill turn – thanks to the weather. Our afternoon landing the previous day had already been scrubbed, and the expedition staff made the hard decision to cancel both outings on the second day as well. Having lost three outings in a row, the mood on the ship started to become decidedly salty. I was up in the observation lounge on the seventh deck when the announcement came through that the afternoon expedition was cancelled, and ominous rumblings started to circle the lounge – even from people who’d been quite sanguine about the weather the day before. As my fellow passengers grumbled, I looked out over the water and suddenly saw a spout. I jumped up and headed onto the upper deck, and a few people trickled out behind me. Moments later, a curious humpback whale surfaced near the ship, followed by another – and another – and another…

As word circulated that there were whales in the neighborhood, passengers and expedition staff alike started streaming out of every door onto the deck, phones and cameras ready.

There were five or six whales – I lost count; there could have been more, even. They swam around the ship for over an hour – spouting, diving, fluking and spyhopping.

The captain kept the ship carefully stationary, turning it occasionally to allow people on the port side to catch a glimpse of the whales (who had appeared to starboard and seemed happy to stay there).

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

Some of the whales came so close to the ship that we could practically see down their blowholes and count the bumps on their rostrums.

Spout action!

I was giddy. People come to Antarctica with all kinds of wildlife hopes – some want to see penguins, others seals – for me, it was all about the whales. We chose to travel in February, as I’ve mentioned, to coincide with the humpback whale migration season. While I would have loved to see minkes and orcas, and I had a pipe dream of seeing a southern right whale, I was really there for the humpbacks.

I joked to Steve (who had rushed up to the seventh deck to watch the show with me) that our expedition leader owed the whales a big tip – they completely turned the mood of the ship around. All of the grumbling about cancelled landings stopped, and the chatter all evening was whales, whales, and more whales.

It felt like the whales brought a turning point for the whole trip, actually – not just the mood. After their appearance, the weather cleared up and became glorious, and stayed glorious for the rest of the trip; we didn’t miss a single adventure after their visit. The sun shone and the ocean behaved and Antarctica put on its best face for us. Almost like the whales had given us their blessing.

An incredible day and a memory that will last a lifetime.

Next week: headed to Petermann Island – more whales! And more penguins! And a very fat seal!