Blogs from Antarctica, Antarctica - page 20

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Ellie: Despite the fish tank, we're back at our favourite cafe. Today we went to Nusa Dua. Upon arrival we were expecting a line of gleaming five star hotels, backing on to a pristine beach. We were dropped off near a car park, some litter, and some men on jet-skis shouting "water spor? water spor?" Oh. Luckily we weren't put off and set off in search of a nicer patch of sand. It didn't take long to find the row of gleaming hotels we were expecting. I managed to sweet talk a nice Indonesian man called Davna (or something) into letting us have a day on the sun loungers at "Oasis" hotel for only 40 000 rupiah (about three quid). We basked there smugly all day, complete with stripy five star towels. Unfortunately, lying about being ... read more

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station July 8th 2010

The 2009 - 2010 season was the year of the Penguin. If I saw one, I saw a thousand. The descriptions under each photo tells it all. If you have any questions, please email me at k1frei@yahoo.com.... read more
Antarctica 2009 - 2010 Season
Antarctica 2009 - 2010 Season
Antarctica 2009 - 2010 Season

Antarctica » Antarctica March 22nd 2010

This is going to be a hard blog to write because words can´t really do it justice. People say that a lot, and you hear it from the advertising for Antarctica, but it really is true. We boarded our ship, the MS Expedition, on the 13th March, and ahead of us lay a two day voyage across the Drake Passage. The ´Drake´ is notorious for its storms and rough seas. Crossings are usually very unpleasent and its known as the ´Drake Shake´. We however were very lucky and on the way over had the opposite (the Drake Lake). The weather was so good that we arrived in our first port of call half a day early. The voyage over was spent listerning to lectures about the geography, history and biology of Antarctica, as well as bird, ... read more
Will and a Gentoo Penguin
A Happy Weddell Seal!
Leopard Seal making a kill

Antarctica » Antarctica » Ross Sea March 21st 2010

So what has changed here since last time? Quite frankly, nothing. The audience remains the same. I've gotten a year older. Supposedly, some would have us believe, a year wiser. I am not a year wiser. I'm a year more jadded, more distraught and more misguided than before. Actually, I crave for how things were more than a year ago. I crave for how they were, two, three or four years ago. Instead, I sit in my one bedroom apartment day after day, looking out the window, wondering if they will. I wonder what happened to friends past, and why I am so alone. I wonder how I have fallen so god damn far that I don't see how I'm going to be able to get up again. I guess I have to pretend not to ... read more

Antarctica » Antarctica February 17th 2010

ANTARCTICA I went on a 12 day trip onboard the Polar Pioneer, to the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula. Crossing the Drake passage from Ushuaia to the Antarctic takes about two days, and the boat leaves late afternoon and gets back early morning, so we had about 6 days on the continent. And it was fantastic! We started off with what was apparently a gentle crossing of the Drake; 3-4 meter swells, sometimes up to 5, waves crashing and wind blowing. Most of us managed to fight off the seasickness with pills, but there were a few ‘new’ passengers appearing at lunch on the third day, finally able to get out of bed. By then we had reached the South Shetland Islands just north of the peninsula, and were ready for our first landing. Adding ... read more
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Antarctica » Antarctica February 17th 2010

Cape Horn and Antarctica Sailing around Cape Horn could be troublesome, but for us it was “a piece of cake,” so to speak. In fact, the Captain sailed around the whole island which is something he is not often able to do. This enabled everyone on both port and starboard sides to experience “rounding the Horn.” The weather continued to cooperate in the Drake Passage as we sailed south to Antarctica. This passage is known to produce fierce winds, making the trip very difficult; however, this time the waves really were not too roly-poly, and we were able to sleep quite soundly. When we awoke, we looked out to see the most breathtaking scenery we have ever seen anywhere. Pictures do not do justice to the natural beauty of this pristine area. Before I write more, ... read more

Antarctica » Antarctica » South Shetland Islands February 16th 2010

Ushuaia, Argentina Saturday, February 5, 2010 Most of the tour activity in Ushuaia focuses on visiting Tierra Del Fuego National Park or visiting penguins. (Penguins are a really big thing in this corner of the world). We visited this area in 2003 so opted to pass on organized touring. The Ushuaia cruise ship dock is right in town so a stroll through the tourist area was the order of the day. We depart here for our time in Antarctica. There was a Celebrity ship in port with us; they have been waiting two days for weather to clear so they can get to Antarctica. Hopefully, we will have better luck. Antarctica, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, February 7, 8 and 9, 2010 Taking a cruise ship to Antarctic is no small endeavor. It includes complex application and ... read more
Iceberg in Antarctica
Impossible to Describe
Falkland Island

Antarctica » Antarctica February 7th 2010

Blizzard 2010 So yeah, we got around 28ish inches of snow. Thats a lot, I guess. They are calling for 18 more inches on Tuesday...just kidding, but that would be awesome if we got another storm on top of all this snow. My dad, my brother, and I took 2 hour shifts last night to try and keep our roads somewhat cleared, but our little tractor had a hard time keeping up. The snow stopped around 4:00 PM so I took the horse out for a little ride, all the roads are still coverd in snow and haven't been plowed. Hopefully we can out last all of this weather...we'll see. T... read more
snow
out back
yep

Antarctica » Antarctica » Hope Station January 20th 2010

“how can it get better than this?” - that was the question posed at the end of the last blog. The answer - add blue skies. In the early morning we awake to find ourselves surrounded by icebergs with thick pack-ice ahead, this is as far south as we can go. The clouds are breaking up and the sun is sneaking through to illuminate individual mountain peaks and icebergs making them glow and stand out from the surrounding landscape. We're still in the Weddell Sea, in the channel between James Ross Island and Snow Hill Island - Nordenskjold's home for 2 winters and sure enough we sail past his hut. Both islands are surrounded by fast-ice so as we pick our way between the ice-bergs, all eyes are scanning for emperor penguins on an outing from ... read more
sunlight breaking through the clouds
Emperor penguins at the ice edge
juvenile emperors




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