Blogs from Antarctica, Antarctica - page 5

An incredible start to our Antarctic experience, penguins on ice flows, a tor, calving glaciers, ice caves, porpoising penguins, the Polish Arctowski Antarctic station with their supply ship anchored nearby, all in Admiralty Bay on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands. We were outside at 8am this morning all rugged in our Antarctic gear. I lasted about 40 minutes and the cold, 0 degrees, drove me back inside. The deck on the bow of the ship was opened up so everyone could see ahead. We crossed 60 degrees latitude last evening so are now officially sailing in Antarctic waters. The usually treacherous Drake Passage was incredibly calm. Our Expedition Team is giving us a running commentary on what we can see. It consists of a geologist, a biologist and a historian who have told ... read more

3 Types of Expedition Ships For the reason that the Antartica is a famous destination, numerous cruise ships sail to the peninsula. These Antarctica expedition cruise ships can be classified into three types: research ships, expedition ships, and luxury ships. First, you will need to determine which category of cruise ship suits your need. After that, make sure you pay attention to factors like on-board facilities, workers ratio, and meal quality. Every Antarctica cruise ship provides something unique, and it is always worth paying more to get your first preference. Let's look at the three types of cruise ships in Antarctica 1. Research vessels Research vessels are meant for those travelers on a budget. Previously, the research ships were utilized as research vessels, and now they have been a transfor... read more

7 Charlotte Bay, Antarctica Today was a 7.00am wakeup call as we had become used to, with wonderful smoothies served in the bar at 7.15am for those who got up early and breakfast served at 7.30am. During the Antarctic section of our expedition, the zodiacs were craned into the water from the ship’s deck by 9.00am. This morning we were going for a cruise around the Bay looking for whales. We were astounded. It was a feeding frenzy of whales for over 2 hours. They were all humpbacks. Many times we had whales all around us. We constantly looked for the bubbles coming up, which indicated that they were below that surface. On one occasion, surrounding our zodiac was bubbles everywhere. We didn’t know when and where they were going to surface. All we knew was ... read more

5. Almirante Browns Station Paridise Harbour Antarctic Peninsula We woke to a beautiful day with glassy water. We have been so lucky with the weather. Again, it was out in the zodiacs so that we could explore Brown’s Station, an intermittently operating Argentine research centre in summer. It began life as a single refuge hut in 1947/48 at the time when Britain and Argentina were competing with each other to determine occupation as part of their territorial claims. It was developed into a year-round Argentina naval meteorological station in 1950/51 and continued in the role up to 1959/60 when I was closed. It reopened in 1964/65 as a scientific station operated by The Argentine Antarctic Institute. A marriage took place on the station in February 1975. Operations at the station came to an abrupt end on ... read more

Wednesday – Monday 13-18 February: DAYS 12 - 17 / SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS AND ANTARCTICA PENINSULA This Blog: Day 12/13, 13&14 February Around 60 miles off the coast of the Antarctic mainland we found the South Shetland Island chain. 1. Active Sound in the Antarctic Sound Pushing on past the islands, on Wednesday morning, we woke to the announcement that it was 0.5 C degrees with fine weather. Out our window we saw lots of ice floating in the water and islands around us, some covered in ice and others of dark volcanic treeless peak. It was starkly beautiful. After breakfast, we rugged up, went outside to take some photos then got ready for a 9.00am launch into the zodiacs. As the wind was strong, we stayed in the zodiacs in the morning for almost 2 ... read more