A new year and officially a new continent for many on board as we set foot today on Brown Bluff, regarded as a true continental landing. What an incredible day to welcome in 2017! A very slight breeze, beautiful blue skies (although photographer Steve Morello may not have approved) and perfectly calm seas made for both a very easy landing and a truly stunning Zodiac cruise around the coast, the ice shelf and the iceberg-filled bay. We saw many Adélie penguins leaping out of the water onto the ice floes, rarely landing gracefully. Then we would see a small group of Adélies, as if after having discussed their options, bolting to the edge of the ice and throwing themselves into the sea. As the water was also so clear we were very lucky to see the penguins swimming right under our Zodiacs at speeds a bird that flew would be proud of! Brown Bluff is home to thousands of breeding Adélie penguins and we could see the young chicks still in their nest being cared for by their parents. We also saw several gentoo penguins apparently preferring the company of Adélies to their own kind. Patrolling around the nesting sites were the usual penguin predators and scavengers, the snowy sheathbill and skuas, and sadly for the penguins they managed to steal a chick from its nest. For the afternoon our planned talk was postponed because of the beautiful scenery and weather and for orcas! One particular orca was rather curious about our ship and stuck by the bow to see what was going on. This excitement was then followed at 4p.m. by a BBQ on the back deck during which the guests continued to enjoy the scenery and lovely weather.