THE DRAKE PASSAGE After spending over two weeks living on board the Plancius, I was used to the constant movement of the ship. The early bouts of sea sickness were a thing of the past and I seldom needed to take any medication. I put my wristbands on occasionally and ate some ginger chews at times too, but I felt like I'd found my sea legs. However, we were yet to cross the Drake Passage. It is infamous for its strong winds, powerful currents and giant waves, making it potentially very challenging and dangerous for ships! I just hoped it wouldn't be that bad for us, on our final leg of our sea journey. I'd been concerned about it before we left, and I knew Bob was worried too, which was why we had all sorts of medication to hand if needed. So, you can imagine our surprise when the next two days at sea passed by uneventfully. One member of staff had said the Drake Passage was a mill pond and they'd never seen it like that before. What a relief! In fact, I was amazed that during our entire journey we'd managed to avoid all the nasty weather systems that seemed either to be ahead of or behind us. Amazing! This was something I was truly grateful for! It was wonderful to experience some beautiful blue skies and to be out on deck again, enjoying the sunshine. But, it was cold! The temperature was about 1°C! I welcomed the sight of Cape Petrels flying close to us and seeing a large number of them too. These attractive birds had been our constant companions virtually throughout the trip.

YANKEE HARBOUR On our final day in the Antarctic, we knew the morning landing was likely to be our last wildlife spot. Having already seen so much wonderful wildlife and taken thousands of photos, we went ashore with the aim of relaxing, taking our time and just enjoying the walk and whatever we might see. On the one hand, I felt as though there couldn't be anything more we hadn't already seen, but, I also knew there were bound to be some surprises too. Once more, we caught the last zodiac leaving the ship. We were welcomed onto land by the presence of this adult Weddell Seal. I just love those big dark eyes.

HEADING TO THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA We had an early morning wake up call at about 5am to say we were close to the Antarctic Peninsula and had reached the pack ice. Despite the early hour, there was a lot of excitment on board and the cold air certainly woke me up. All around us were icebergs and brash ice and slowly the ship surged forwards. There were two Cormorants sitting on top of a large iceberg. They looked tiny in comparison.

PENGUIN ISLAND We woke up to find it snowing heavily for the first time on our journey so far and I was thrilled. I love the snow! It seemed so fitting to be seeing the penguins in these cold conditions. We managed to get ashore in one of the first few zodiacs and stayed virtually until the last one, so we made the most of our landing and really enjoyed ourselves observing the penguins on the island and other wildlife. Sadly, there weren't any Adélie Penguin colonies to be found, but we saw a few Gentoo Penguins walking around.

ONCE MORE AT SEA Leaving South Georgia behind us, we ventured further south towards the frozen continent of Antarctica. It took us three days. Since we were the first voyage of the season, we had no idea what lay ahead. Would we see any Adélie Penguins? How much of the ice would have retreated? Would we actually be able to walk on the Antarctic Peninsula, which was where we were ultimately heading? Everything had been so good already, I didn't have high expectations. I was just open to whatever we would experience and enjoying it all. Over the course of the three days we were at sea, we weren't able to be out on deck that often as the conditions weren't great. I certainly didn't take many photos. On our first day, though, I was pleased to take a few nice ones of a Blue Petrel flying close to the ship.