Two adult female leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) were tagged with satellite-linked dive recorders off Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, just after moulting in mid-February. The transmitters transmitted for 80 and 220 days, respectively. Both seals remained within the pack ice relatively close to the Antarctic Continent until early May, when contact was lost with one seal. The one remaining seal then migrated north, to the east side of the South Sandwich Islands in 3 weeks, whereafter it headed east, until contact was lost at 55°S in early September. From mid-May to late September this animal always stayed close to the edge of the pack ice. Both seals made mostly short (<5 min) dives to depths of 10-50 m and only occasionally dove deeper than 200 m, the deepest dive recorded being 304 m. A nocturnal diving pattern was evident in autumn and early winter, while day-time diving prevailed in mid-winter. Haul out probability was highest at mid-day (about 40% in late February and more than 80% in March and April). From May till September the remaining animal mainly stayed at sea, in the vicinity of the pack ice, with only occasional haul outs. These data suggest that a portion of the adult leopard seals may spend the winter mainly in open water, off the edge of the pack ice, where they primarily hunt near the surface. In that case, it is likely that krill (Euphausia superba), as well as penguins, young crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) and a variety of fish are important prey items.