My Favorite Ponant Antarctica Cruise Photos - Penguins, Ice, and Dramatic Scenery

Last Updated on 05/11/26 by Rose Palmer

My Ponant cruise to Antarctica truly was a dream come true for me, especially as a photographer.

I chose my Ponant cruise to Antarctica because it included the Antarctic Peninsula along with South Georgia Island. Even though we had only two days on the Antarctic Peninsula, I took many, many photos – no surprise there. Here I share just a few of my favorites.

Some of my favorite Ponant Antarctica cruise photos

Scenery and Icebergs

Once we started seeing icebergs in Antarctica, it was very tempting to take photos of each one because they were all impressive and different. These are just a few of my favorite iceberg photos.

At Brown Bluff in Antarctica

Of the three stops we made in the Antarctic Peninsula, Brown Bluff was my favorite. It certainly helped that the weather was perfect and that the resident gentoo penguins were so personable and fun to watch.

First view of Brown Bluff in the early morning.

“Who is watching whom?”

“Do you have any fish?”

“Hey, wait for me!”

A gentoo penguin works to remove his baby feathers while his friends take a break.

“Hello!”

This little guy was fascinated by the red flags that marked our walking path. He eventually knocked down the pole and thoroughly explored the flag attached to one end.

Getting rid of the baby fluff is a lot of work.

A visit to Paulet Island

From Brown Bluff, we did a scenic cruise to nearby Paulet Island, home to juvenile Adelie penguins and many cormorants. The Adelie colony was not very large and wasn’t particularly interesting. The juveniles just stood there, conserving energy while they were molting.

A juvenile Adelie penguin is in that ugly transition stage from baby feather fluff to adult waterproof feathers.

An Adelie penguin still has some of the feathers in its mouth that it picked off while molting.

Stopping at Penguin Island

At Penguin Island, we saw our third penguin species, the happy-looking chinstrap penguins. The island was also a hangout for bachelor fur seals, who were much more interested in sleeping than in some weird two-legged animals in big red jackets.

How many chnstrap penguins do you see?

A posing penguin makes it obvious why they are called chinstraps.

Chinstrap penguins on Penguin Island.

Stand off!

A skua bird and a gentoo penguin face off. The penguin is injured and bleeding, and the skua is just waiting. He knows it will just be a matter of time before he gets his penguin dinner.

A young seal shows some interest in our group as we walk by.

Antarctica is a photographer’s dream destination. The scenery is basically point-and-shoot beautiful, and the wildlife is fairly tame, so I could get quite close to get these photos. I took my big 150 mm to 600 mm lens, but ended up not needing it. All these photos were taken with my basic travel lens, which is 16 mm to 300 mm.

Yes, this was a big once -in-a-lifetime bucket list trip for me. So now that I’ve been there, would I go back? In a heartbeat, because each trip is always different.