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Published: February 19th 2006
Antarctic Peninsula Eh?
This might be a longer email but hey....one can´t possibly skip the details. Our ship was quite a collection of oddballs but I guess that´s what makes it fun. The first day we were crossing the Beagle Channel so everything was cool.
The next day, we start crossing the Drake Passage. I thought I was going to be a hero and find out if I get sea sick or not. (Mind you, that the drake passage has the roughest waters in the world). The answer came the next day, about 2 hours after breakfast. I wasn´t feeling like US$1.5 million and after I recycled my breakfast the second time, I thought: ´´Hey, maybe, just maybe it is time to see a doctor and take some pills. So that is exactly what I did. After that, it was sort of smooth sailing from there. Obviously I didn´t sleep the next two nights since getting tossed around my bed battling death is not usually my idea of a good sleep. After we crossed the drake passage we arrived at the Shetland Islands so naturally I was getting excited. The excitement quickly died down after they announced that we
Neko Point
My Backyard - Feb., 2006can´t land on Paulette island because of bad weather. But next day we had 3 landings to make up for it.
First was Livingston Island. We went through lectures on the boat about how not to touch or feed the wildlife and about we should stay at least 5 meters away and all that bull. I almost cared about that...I was ready to go to the zodiac boat and get on the island. It was very exciting seeing the icebergs from a small boat. We had a contest that whoever sees the first iceberg will get a bottle of fine wine. I started early, thinking that I was clever and wake up at 4am to see the bloody thing. To no avail. At least I got a nice photo of antarctic sunset which I just might share with you. For the first and last couple of days, I felt like a zombie. All I did was eat and sleep...and I am not kidding. My lazy ass would barely wake up for breakfast...go back to bed just to hopefully wake up for lunch. Now I know what a 3 toed sloth goes through. ANYWAY, back to the island. The first
The Ushuaia Boat
And here we are enjoying ourselves on the boat. thing one notices is a funny smell. Then right after you realize that the whole island smells like shit. Just one big whiff is all you need to set the record straight. First penguins we saw were Gentoo and Chinstrap. I took some pictures and a couple of videos and upon playing them back, I realized I sound like a complete bufoon but it was too late. Anyway, I also saw sea lions and some birds.
Everyone was taking pictures like a madman. Little did we know that soon enough we would get sick of these bastards. They are everywhere. They are just as dirty as friggin koalas. I actually have a video of one penguin lying down while the one that is standing beside him lifts his ass and shits all over the other one. Where else can you get footage like that? ONLY IN ANTARCTICA!!! The next couple of places we landed at were Cuverville Bay, Hannah Point. Don´t ask me which island they are on. I am just trying to sound smart. We saw fur seals and actually I got chased by one of them cause I got too close while taking pictures. Right after taking
Paradise Bay
I think this one is self explanatory a couple, he decided to kick my ass. So I ran like a little school girl.
We also saw orcas (killer whales), chasing and killing a penguin in the ocean and I got a sweet video of that as well. I also saw a leopard seal eating a penguin and skinning it. Basicaly penguins are everybody´s prison bitches. They get eaten by birds, seals and killer whales. But at least they manage to crap all over the place before they die.
We were lucky again after Paradise Bay landing cause we saw a huge chunk of glacier fall down into the bay and form this mini tsunami. it was dead calm and after the glacier broke off the wave came up to around 7-8 meters. Once again...most of this is on americas most wanted videos. You know I will be charging for this. In order to keep this email shorter than it should be, I will summarize the rest in point form.
-- my cabin partner was german and surprise surprise he didn´t leave any tip for the staff
-- met about 10 other people on the boat that are also going to Rio after this
-- one
You Gotta Love Penguins
I used to be a penguin. How times have changed. crazy ozzie climbed the front of the boat and took a picture of himself naked
Overall, it was amazing. We visited some research stations and the most southern point we reached was the ukrainian Vernadsky station at around 65º latitude. Now, I will try to share some pictures and tomorrow I am off to Rio for Carnaval. Lata everyone.
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Kevin
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Bastard
You Lucky bastard!!! You better keep enjoying the ride all the way back to reality son!! No seriously I'm not bitter..