Antarctica December 2011

Our first glimpse of Antarctica at 4am in the morning.  This is Elephant Island known for it's elephant seals.  

Open water for a couple more hours but the icebergs are fantastic.

This trip was a photographers dream.  The sky was really this blue.

Really, REALLY big chunks of ice

Zoom in on this one and count the Adelie penguins.  They eat krill (shrimp) so the poop is pink.  They are nesting on these bare rocks.

Penguins EVERYWHERE you look

Almost as many icebergs as penguins

It was gorgeous, sunny weather for most of three days, but every few hours there would be a patch of clouds.  The terrain took on a much colder and desolate look.

With no buildings to reference size, it is hard to understand scale.  These mountains could be more than a thousand feet high and the ice at the waters edge could easily be 100 ft tall.

The blue is indicative of newly exposed ice.  The white has been exposed to air longer.

We saw lots of leopard seals, crab eater seals, and a few whales. The best whale story was when 5 Orcas saw a seal on a berg and tried to jump up and scare the seal into the water.  Smart seal, it stayed safely on the berg.

Looking straight down on the berg, you can see it is much bigger under water.  Actually only 10% of the berg is above the water line.

 And then the wind died and the water was smooth as glass making the Antarctic Sound a reflecting pond.

Here is a zodiak heading to the Chilean Research Station.

It is 11pm and the sun is going down for the day.  It will be back up before I am.

This was a fascinating area.  There were only a few tall mountains, but there were low rocks in the water and the snow built up on them in perfect mounds. 

The clouds start forming, the wind picks up.

As we sail away, we see the huge icefield and the mountains being covered with clouds.

The storm arrived as we leave Antarctica.  Ship personell came into our room to put aluminum shutters on the inside of our windows.  We are not even on the bottom floor, but toward the front and the waves pounded the ship.  The shutters are to protect us if the water breaks through the window.  We had gale force  10 winds and 35 ft seas for most of two days.

Falkland Islands December 2011

Stanley is the only town and it is not big by any standards.  We were amazed by the rocky terrain and the lack of trees.  How does anybody exist here?  Lots of sheep and some cattle.  Off shore oil.  Now we know why Argentina wants the islands!

As we drive into the countryside (which is only 2 blocks out of town) we start seeing the remnants of glacier activity and the "rivers" of rock.  

No wonder there is little vegetation, this is the soil.

We drove out to Elephant Point (2 hours) to a colony of Magellanic penguins.   They make their nests by burrowing into the sandy soil 100-200 yards from the beach.  Here is a dark chick protected by a parent.  Don't stick your hand in a hole, they can bite OFF your finger.

This is the beach used by Gentoo and Magellanic to enter the ocean.  They spent much of their time here preening.

I loved watching them push themselves along on their stomachs.  It looks fun!

Walking is pretty entertaining too. 

There were a few King penguins on the beach also.  Zoom in on the photo and you can see all the fleas on the King.  No wonder they preen all the time.  He was just starting his molt.

I said "DON'T TOUCH MY TAIL"

Magellanic on the left and right, Gentoo in the middle.  And if you get hungry, just dive into the ocean.

The Gentoo penguins had their rookery about a mile up this hill.  One adult would stay with the young and the other would walk down the hill to feed in the ocean and bring back food to the chick.  

We followed this group up the hill

The babies were so cute.  The skuas (large raptor) were waiting on the edge of the colony to swoop in and take the chicks if a parent wasn't on guard.

There were easily a thousand penguins here.

This group was getting read to leave to feed in the ocean