Castle Rock and Penguins (finally!)

I saw a group of Adelie penguins out at Hut Point along a sea ice crack. They were sleeping on their bellies most of the time, but one stood up for a little while and a few of them shook out their wings. (I couldn't figure out why the text is a hyperlink, but they don't actually lead to anything so don't bother clicking on them)

Castle Rock is a huge, Southwestern seeming rock formation on Ross Island. There is a great three mile hike across a snowy expanse to get there. I got to hike out there on an absolutely gorgeous day and got some great pictures of Mt. Erebus, Mt. Discovery and the whole expanse of ice shelf. You could even see glaciers sliding down into the sea ice and open ocean in the distance as the sea ice breaks up. You can also climb Castle Rock to the top, from which there are even better views. Here are some of the highlights from the day:

Castle Rock with Mt. Erebus behind

These "apples" are emergency/ break shelters set up along the trail.

Climbing Castle Rock along the rope

The Royal Society range of mountains (very thin sea ice in front about to break up)

Open ocean in the distance with large ice burgs