One way I like to look at the world is to draw a box with four points on the most north, south, east and west point I’ve ever traveled to. Before 2025, my record for most south was the town of Stilbaai in South Africa, which is 34.4°S – which I visited in 2003. In September 2025, I finally went further south, by visiting Punta de las Salinas in Uruguay, which is 34.9°S. In October 2025, this record would be smashed, as I flew from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, which is around 54.8° S. But alas, this record was only temporary…

Our third morning in Antarctica started with the usual “Good morning Antarcticans” call, followed by another great breakfast. Of all the meals on the ship, breakfast was usually the best. The morning activity would be a Zodiac cruise around Patagonia Bay.

When preparing for this trip, Zodiac cruises always sounded a bit arbitrary – you can see these things from the ship anyway. In retrospect, they were a great part of the trip.

Having been in the second group the day before, I was in the first group this morning – and we were off to a great start, with three whales sleeping in the waters right near the ship.

Whales only show you their tail when they dive – and a sleeping whale is not as interesting to watch. But fortunately, much like their smaller fellow mammals in the Zodiac, it was the morning and they were hungry – and probably a bit annoyed that said mammals had woken them.

I was amazed how close we got to them. I kept my large zoom lens pointed in their direction, ready to get that elusive photo of the water pouring off the tail that I wanted so much. And it was truly my day – I got it this time!

We spent most of the cruise watching the whales – which, to be fair, I think we all agreed was the best use of this time. It’s not something one sees often, and not this close. You have to enjoy it when you get the chance.

After the whales moved off, we went around the bay a bit. It was choked with ice, so we couldn’t go very close to land, but it was a beautiful spot.

Not everyone had tried some ice from the water the day before – so I took the opportunity to put my hand into the Southern Ocean again, and grabbed a chunk on ice out of the water. I passed it around, with a few people breaking off a chunk to taste.

The icebergs had become more impressive and interesting to look at as we got further south, but it was hard to top being so close to three whales!

Eventually we found ourselves back on the ship, while the others got to explore the bay. The whales had moved off by now, but this means both groups had been close to whales – so it worked out really well.

From there, we moved to Neko Harbour, which would be our last continent landing of the trip. A few people had inquired about whether we could cross the antarctic circle, which is 66.5°S, but the team clarified that this isn’t possible in November due to the amount of ice. As we entered the enormous Neko Harbour, it was clear why. The amount of ice in the water was rapidly increasing. I was concerned we may not even be able to reach the landing, never mind land when we got there.

But alas, MV Ushuaia is an ice-hardened ship, and the crew are knowledgeable and skilled enough to make it happen.

Unlike our first landing on the continent, this location had plenty of penguins – before landing they were already clearly visible. The harbour has a large glacier at the bottom, which regularly carves and causes significant waves. We had been warned to get off the Zodiacs quickly in case this happens, although we didn’t see any carvings actually happen.

The beach had a large population of gentoo penguins. To penguins, stones are currency, and a penguin with a nest built of the right stones will have an easier time finding a mate. So when they have a stony beach, you can watch them hunt for the perfect stones. You also see other well documented penguin behaviours, such as fighting, bowing to their new mate etc.

Watching the penguins swim, and seeing them emerge from the water, was an interesting sight.

Penguin highways are the tracks used by penguins to move around on land.

The mix of penguins and glaciers made Neko Harbour a personal favourite of mine.

A seal suddenly emerged from the water. I always find it fascinating how the penguins just walk past it like it isn’t there.

Watching penguins gather stones was very interesting. They will collect a single stone, and then walk all the way up to their nest, and then return to collect the next one. This is a very slow, but important, process.

There was excitement as an adelie penguin came ashore. They don’t have the orange beak or the white on their head, and are a bit smaller than gentoo penguins.

The adelie trying to figure out what these large mammals are doing on its beach.

It was an amazing landing, and at 64.8°S, it is now the most south I have ever been. Odds are that this record will remain unchanged for the rest of my life. But if I had to pick a spot for this, Neko Harbour is hard to beat!

It’s funny – the day before I had commented that anything from here is a bonus, yet this day was easily my favourite day of the entire trip!