5 February, 2001

Thud or white morning. I don't know which woke me up, the alarm clock I bought in Hobart that plays the Australian National Anthem, or the loud thud that came from outside. I tumbled off my bunk and went over to the port hole and saw the ocean waves tamed by ice. We were cutting through the ice like a knife through pie. I went to the bridge to view this white world. Three lights from the bridge darted back and forth in a preset pattern showing off the falling snow.

We were in the ice for most of the day but the best part was sunrise - the morning sun turned the ice pink. It was magical. Unfortunately I was on watch (see entry in two days) so I could only watch Nature's miracle through a porthole below deck.

We saw was our first penguins today. There were lots of Adelie penguins as well as a few Emperor penguins. I was surprised to see the Emperor penguins so far north. I always thought they were found well below the Antarctic circle (Where is the Antarctic circle? Are we there yet?)