Antarctica |
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Antarctica
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Flying from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, which is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia is also considered the southernmost city in the world.
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It was a beautiful flight, however, it did seem like we got a little close to the mountains!
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We are flying over the Martial mountain range coming into Ushuaia.
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Landing in Ushuaia.
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The beautiful little town of Ushuaia. It is a popular vacation spot for people from Buenos Aires.
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After a wonderful afternoon of walking around the town, and spending the first night on the ship, the Marco Polo, we headed out the next morning for Antarctica. We are crossing the Beagle Strait, heading for Cape Horn.
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We are passing Cape Horn. The water here is known to be very hazardous and rough. (A lot of the passengers got sick while going through this section.) From the 1700's to the early 1900's, Cape Horn was a part of the clipper ship trade routes which carried a lot of the world's trade. I don't think I would have wanted to be on one of those ships!
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These red jackets were waiting for us in our cabins. All passengers had to wear one if they planned on going ashore. The crew wore yellow jackets.
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I was travelling alone, but I was lucky enough to meet these wild and crazy gals the first day.
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After several days of cruising, we finally saw land.
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We finally see Deception Island. It was almost a total white-out, but still exciting.
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Several hours later, it finally cleared up. It was so beautiful.
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How nice was this. Enjoying the nice, crisp, COLD air with a doctor on the left, and a preacher on the right! :O)
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Ahhh.....basking and relaxing on the deck. This is my kind of weather!
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We are beginning to see the ice fields.
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We saw our first signs of iceberg calving.....when a part of the glacier drops into the water.
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Now we are entering the Lemaire Channel - considered one of Antarctica's most beautiful passages.
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Several times a day, the helicopter would fly ahead of the ship to check the channel for large icebergs; ones that would do damage to the ship.
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If you didn't want to lounge out on a deck chair, you could always get in one the spas.
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My guess is, unless you REALLY like cold weather, a cruise to Antarctica might not be your thing! :O)
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It's never too cold for a good bowl ice cream!
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Yea! Our first spotting of animal life. These are fur seals just hanging out. Notice the blue water.
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We soon passed a couple more.
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Wow....the ice seems to getting a lot thicker.
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This is just amazing!
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I thought this one looked like a horse.
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Another beauty.
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I thought these looked like two bald eagles.
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Sunset in Antarctica.
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The next day we arrived at Port Lockroy. This will be our first landing, and my first peek at the penguins. I've been so anxious to get up close to them. Port Lockroy is a natural harbor. It was used for whaling, and for British military operations during WWII. It was later turned into a British research station.
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In 1996, it was turned into a museum and a post office. I wonder how much THOSE stamps cost! There is also a little tourist shop in there.
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Camera.....check.....Plenty of film.....check.....Coat.....check.....Boots....check. Guess I'm all set to go see the penguins.
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We are waiting to get on the zodiac.
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Getting on the zodiac. Is this exciting or what!
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OHMYGOSH! This is just so much fun!
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This was our zodiac driver.
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"These boots were made for walking"..............in the guano!
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Oh, look! They're waiting for us.
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Look mom............I made it!
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Some of the whale bones
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Ah, look. This is the first penguin I've seen up close. It looks like he is looking right at me. Hello, little guy.
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This is just one of the old whaling boats that was there.
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He is so cute. These are Chinstrap penguins. It's easy to see where the name comes from because there is a narrow band of black feathers under it's chin. It looks like he has on a black helmet.
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Chinstrap penguins are the most easily recognized, and are considered to be the most beautiful.
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They are just so cute. It must be feeding time. They dive down for about a minute looking for krill and fish. I saw some of them walking in, like these guys.
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It's so cute the way they waddle out of the water.
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This was hilarious to watch. They just pushed off with their little feet and went flying down the hill.
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Dude, didn't your mother ever teach you not to play in the guano!
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As you can see, they live in colonies. They like to breed on hilltops and rock outcrops where there is no snow and the land is bare.
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Maaaaa........where are you!
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I'm over here!
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C'mon, you guys. Let's play nice.
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The Chinstrap penguins are around 27 inches tall and weigh about 9 pounds. The leopard seals like to prey on the adult penguins, whereas the chicks and the eggs are eaten by the brown skuas, which are related to the gull family.
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Boy! These guys might be small, but they sure can make a racket. Their honk is really loud.
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The mama lays 2 eggs in November or December. These little guys are about eight weeks old. The mom and dad don't play favorites. They treat each one fairly, not feeding one more than the other. Ahhhhhh, that's so sweet.
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We were getting ready to leave, and this little guy walked right up to me. We weren't allowed to touch then, but they didn't seem to have any fear. When I asked the guide about it, he said they would rather have the tourist around because it keeps the skuas away.
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This little guy followed me down to the shore.
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Before we could get in the zodiac, we had to wade in the water and try to get the guano off. Once we were on the ship, we had to sit down so they could took our boots off. They then put them in a bag, and we walked back to our cabin in our sockies. We got the boots back later, all nice and clean.
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Getting back on the ship. My cabin was one of those right above the red line, so when the water got rough, it covered the porthole. Very creepy!
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After resting from the wonderful day, where did we go? To the ice cream parlor! Yummy!
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Another magnificent sunset in Antarctica.
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The next morning, we head out for another island
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We passed by a colony of Gentoo penguins.
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We saw a lot more fur seals.
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We got to see a lot of whales.
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When they said that the penguins lived in colonies, they weren't kidding.
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This is a photo of everyone that was on the ship.
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Now we are going to an island that has the Gentoo penguins.
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These guys are bigger than the Chinstrap penguins.
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You can recognize the Gentoo by the wide stripe extending like a bonnet across the top of it's head.
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The males are about 19 pounds and are around 32 inches tall. They are also the fastest underwater swimmers of all the penguins.
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They like to use stones for their nests. They are known to fight over the stones, and sometimes they will sneak stones from another nest. Why....those little stinkers.
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Okay, we either have a mating call going on, or the one guy really let the other one have it!
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Ah, what a perfect little family.
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"Ma, I'm hungry!" "Okay, go call your brother to come eat."
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OKAY......OKAY. I'M COMING!"
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"Open up, sweetie."
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"Reach up a little farther."
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"That's good.......but let's save some for your brother."
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"The rest of it is yours, sweetie."
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"I am sooooooo full!"
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"I've fallen, and I can't get up!" Literally! I had gotten stuck in the guano, and I had to have someone help me get up so I wouldn't fall over in it. It's some nasty stuff!
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We are headed back to the ship after another great day with the penguins.
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Some of the other zodiacs heading back to the ship.
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We got splashed quite a bit on the way back, and boy.....was that water COLD!
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A view from the back of the ship on our way to our last landing in
Antarctica.
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Here is Joanie, a nice Jewish girl from the Bronx, Joan, a nice Catholic girl from Queens, and me, a nice Protestant girl from Tulsa having our "dress-up night" photo taken before dinner.
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"Dress-up night" photo taken at our dinner table.
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Our last trip in one of the zodiacs. Cold and wet, but still a fun ride!
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The ship's photographers were taking us out for our "official" Antarctica photo
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It was pretty tricky getting out of that zodiac onto the land.
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A little drum roll.........here is my "official" photo! :O)
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I took a photo of our ship while we were cruising in and around the icebergs.
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OH MY GOSH! You just have to be there to experience how H U G E this iceberg was! I love the blue.
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I thought this iceberg looked like a shark's fin.
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Some fur seals. Wow! What a difference seeing them up close and personal and not from the ship.
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We were so close you could reach out and touch them. Notice I said "could."
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At first, this little guy looked so sweet!
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And on further review...........not so much! He seemed to be getting a little agitated. Ok.....have photo.....need to go now. Bye, bye.
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How awesome is this!
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Well, look at this. A sleeping leopard seal. The ones that like to eat the penguins.
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Yes, a leopard seal...................and it's not a happy camper!
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Our last view of the ship before leaving Antarctica.
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We are on our way back to Ushuaia. These were a great bunch of people. More cold weather lovers.
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Goodbye, Antarctica. Goodbye, penguins. Goodbye, Ushuaia.
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Flying on our way to the Iguazu Falls, which border both Brazil and Argentina.
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