End of the World

As I gaped all around…

… and took picture…

… after picture…

… of pristine snow…

… I couldn’t stop saying, “WOW!”

Being one of the first boats down of the season meant lots of pure white snow…

… and tons of icebergs.

Our first morning excursion on the actual Antarctic Peninsula was on Cuverville Island…

… which had a large colony of Gentoo Penguins…

… and a lot of untrammeled snow for us to tramp in.

Note in the picture above that the penguin nesting areas are scattered all over the bottom of the photo.

Going ashore gave us a chance to stretch our legs…

… and meet the inhabitants –

Penguin couples were doing their thing…

… while others were taking the “penguin highway” to the sea.

Steve quickly overheated tramping through the snow, even though we were in Antarctica (fist pump!) and it was about 32 degrees –

You just can’t beat that setting, can you?

Hooray, we made it and it’s a glorious day! (bet you can’t tell I’m excited!)

This was the little hike we did…

… and it allowed me to get this shot (which was picked as a finalist on the boat’s photo contest!) –

I also liked this one’s style –

This was one of Steve’s favorites, with them heading right at us…

… but I liked the reflections on this one –

The lone Chinstrap among the Gentoos –

This next picture has a lot going on. Note the thickness of the snow at the shore, which had built up over the winter, and will apparently be completely melted away in a month or two. Also, the tracings of all the penguins going up the hill in back are cool. And the “sad” little guy at the shore –

We enjoyed a Zodiac excursion in the bay…

… where we got to sneak up on a Leopard Seal…

… who felt like showing off –

This helps you somewhat appreciate the extent of an iceberg underwater –

The fantastical shapes and colors were mesmerizing –

You know by now that there needs to be a reflection picture somewhere in here –

Little did we know that this was to be our last outing of the trip. We were supposed to have an afternoon with a Chinstrap colony, but by the time we sailed there, the winds had picked up so that a landing was unsafe. 

We started motoring north, as there was a monster storm brewing in the Drake Passage, and the captain wanted to try and run around the east side of it, if possible, before heading back NW to Ushuaia.  So, we actually had one day less on Antarctica than had originally been planned.  We did get to the 64 degree South latitude line, with sunrise occurring at 0330 and sunset at 2040.

The Drake Passage is the body of water between Antarctica and South America and the seas are unimpeded by any land all around the globe.  This area is often referred to as the “Roaring 40’s”, hinting at windspeeds, as well as noting the latitude  location.  When crossing the Drake, you can either have the “Drake Lake” or the “Drake Shakes”.  Unfortunately, we experienced the latter.  For two full days, the boat pitched and rolled, while passengers and crew tried mightily to remain upright, and not let things slide off tables.  The second night was the worst, and we found out the following morning that we had over 8 meter waves (27 feet)!

Ah well, we arrived safely in Ushuaia, fondly remembering our visit to such a special place.