Merry Christmas from the far South

Summer starts. These are the shortest days of the year. The anchor alarm woke us up at two-thirty tonight, and it was already dawn. The beaches are getting very busy. Most of the wildlife we didn't see during the Shackleton Traverse expedition three months ago, at the end of winter, is undeniably back. Through the binoculars, on the cliffs, we see many species of birds at their Summer homes. On the beach, the different types of seals and penguins have also returned from their Winter journeys.

After a dinghy ride along the coastline is easy to understand the meaning of life in its purest sense. Cute fur seal pups, maybe born yesterday or an hour ago, have been left in the sand by their mothers, who have gone fishing and will be back to feed them soon. The most vigorous males, the bulls, are fighting to the death for the few square meters they'll offer to the females upon their return.

Giant petrels tint their primitive design beaks red eating seals' new borns placenta. Skuas are patrolling in search of briefly unattended penguin eggs or chicks. There are fights and blood in all the bulls' chests. An old male fur seal has lost an eye in a beach he had dominated for years.

All these scenes are in a loud and penetrating symphony of cries, calls, and sounds. Witnessing this powerful and ancient scenography makes anyone reflect on the essential and rudimentary life cycle. Birth, youth, death, genetics, hunger, desire, feed or starvation, power, loss.

We are presently supporting a wildlife film team. Fierce competition between the large TV platforms makes us silent regarding who is on board and what they are filming. We will share more detailed stories, and adventures after the episodes filmed from Vinson are available on your favorite channels.

But we'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas from these great, thrilling, and challenging waters.

Vinson of Antarctica's Crew