From Paulet, Island, we took a brief detour south and east into the Weddell Sea to check out the sea ice and icebergs.

The Hanseatic has the highest ice class of any passenger vessel.  Captain Thilo proved this by breaking some sea ice.

From high on the observation deck, we could see the bulky submerged portions of tabular icebergs in the clear water.

"Tabular" icebergs are broken from glaciers flowing into the sea.  They can be huge - miles on a side.

Penguins can't fly, but they can launch themselves high above the water to land on the ice.

Looks chilly, doesn't it.

A Weddell Seal warily views the boat just before we put a crack in the sea ice in which it was resting.

From the Weddell Sea, we rounded the Antarctic Peninsula and headed south to land at Neko Harbour on the mainland.

It was a warm morning, and several avalanches occurred.  We also got to experience the glacier "calving" an iceberg into the bay, which made lots of noise and huge waves.

Most of Antarctica is gray and white, but if you look closely, you'll find tiny patches of green, like this algae....

....and small outcrops of moss.

Later that day we landed on Peterman Island. The weather had turned to snow, and the penguins left footprints as they paraded from the rookery to the sea in search of food for their chicks.

Our final stop of the day was at Port Lockroy, the only Antarctic "tourist trap."  There's a gift shop, and Antarctica's only post office.

We were far enough south that we could take a sunset photo of our friends John and Linda at 11PM.

Port Lockroy was surrounded by magnificent peaks.