Ice, Ice and more Ice.

At 4am on Tuesday, 6th December, 5 days after we left Hobart, we were woken with an announcement on the PA system. We had finally reached the pack ice. I got out of bed and this is the sight that greeted me. By now we were experiencing only a few hours of night time and even then it didn't really get dark. Can't believe these photos were taken around 4am.

Throughout the day we saw more and more ice. The larger chunks of ice are called bergy bits and there are other small bits of ice floating behind which is called brash ice. Bergy bits are ice that have come away from an iceberg. They look like mini icebergs.

These bergy bits were a taste of things to come and while we admired them overhead these birds were checking out the ship. I think that these are Antarctic Petrels.

It really was so exciting to finally see the ice and I couldn't wait to see our first iceberg. We wouldn't have long to wait.