Blogs from Antarctica - page 19

Yay Yosemite! Tucking up for bed now, will get to that later! So got up ( relatively) early for the whale watching cruise, defo didn't leave enuf time for emilys faffing! God I hate faffing! So she had to get out with 5 mins to spare then I had to find a parking space! Good sense ofdirection prevailed and i managed but had to sprint across Monterey and down the pier baywatch style to make the boat. But made it and saw some grey whales and sealions! Saw a sea otter but am pretending we didn't cos it wasn't playful and they are usually my favourite animal! Then had clam chowder in sourdough, which sounds disgusting but actually pretty tasty. The waitress didn't understand and kept trying to bring us calamari! Corrected her and said ok ... read more

Reached land late on 3/7. A very smooth crossing in good weather. Spent 3/8 in zodiacs crusing among the bays around South Shetland Islands with a wet landing (all landings are wet)at Roberts Is, 1st up close and personal encounter with Chinstrap Penguins and Fur Seals. Climbed around and chased by the more aggressive fur seals and at top of Is found a glacier and a beautiful lake, a surprise! March 9, Marathon Day. Woke to a stormy cold generally dreary day, rain and very windy. Got to the race via zodiac, and quickly removed all rain gear and set up to run. The course was 3 loops out and back from Russia's Bellinghausen station to Uruguay, back to Russia and west to Chile and finally China's base before turning around and doing it 3 more ... read more

Perfect travels with no complications. Arrived in Ushuaia and spent few hrs before getting on boat. Went up to a glacier viewing perfect day. Have a Tea House there, something out of Alice in Wonderland. Great tea and hot chocolate! On the ship 24 hrs now and in the Drake passage. Slept like a baby! Today a bit rougher. Feeling great with scopolomine patch. Saw vultures and whales but most interesting site was watching a small boat chase us last night around 9pm and thinking they were pirates, I was very excited only to find out we had a Pilot on board from Ushuaia that only stays on board until we are outside the country boundrys and in the open ocean. The pick up boat runs along side us and we dont' slow down and we ... read more

here are all the pictures that don't go with a specific date.... read more

Heading north now to The Fauklands 17th January The day before yesterday was a blue day – perfect for photographs and we saw the most majestic scenery in bright sunlight. There were whales, penguins a plenty and seals to photography and most of the people on board spent the whole day outside. Needless to say there were sunburnt faces last night. No protection from pollution here. We cruised past two research stations down the passageways to Decepcion Island, the South Shetland Island, Half Moon and Livingstone Island. The sea is full of small icebergs that the ship is negotiating and gently pushing aside and avoiding the huge ones that look like white/blue palaces in fairytales. Photography does not do credit to what we are seeing but I’ve taken hundreds of images. Last night, being a clear ... read more