Blogs from Antarctica - page 14

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Antarctica » Antarctica January 4th 2014

Mighty, glaciated mountains towered from the ocean. Massive, vertical cliffs rose from the depths and mighty glaciars spilled through every valley. This was the welcome I got from Antarctica! "I am in Antarctica" I said to myself! It's an amazing place! I stood in awe on the continental mainland and looked around. I was completely surrounded by jagged peaks soaring more than a mile into the sky. Giant rivers of ice, several miles across spilled through every valley. The emptiness, loneliness and remoteness of this place is overwhelming. It has an icy strangeness ... It is like nowhere else! Antarctica is 99.6% covered in ice! It is the coldest, windiest, driest and most mountainous of all the continents. It's also the least visited and has no permanent human population. It is difficult to comprehend the scale ... read more
Xanthoria Lichens
Cougarville (as we say)
Gentoos

Antarctica » Antarctica » South Shetland Islands January 1st 2014

The South Shetland Islands are a remote archipelago off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. They are glaciated, rugged, windy and exposed. Massive penguin colonies hang out there of course! We got on land at Point Wild on Elephant Island, one of the more easterly in the island group. This is the site where Frank Wild of Ernest Shackleton's 'Endurance' expedition of 1914 - 16 stayed behind and watched over 21 of the expedition members while Shackleton sailed off with five others to get help. It is a cramped area of bare rock, horrific weather and brutally cold and rough seas! These men were stranded here for over 3 months with an upturned boat for a house, makeshift stone walls and canvas from sails for blankets. To make their ordeal worse it was on a ... read more
Point Wild, Elephant Island
Cape Petrels
Chinstrap Penguins

Antarctica » Antarctica December 7th 2013

Antarctica was beyond everything that I dreamed. Our party of 7 - including myself, my parents, a couple of their cronies, my cousin Linda and her 11 year old son Jack - travelled on the expedition icebreaker ship the "M/V Ushuaia" (booked through Antarpply/World Expeditions) from Ushuaia Argentina. Thankfully the infamous Drake Passage was a smooth crossing in both directions. We were unable to enter the Weddell Sea due to the pack ice, so instead did landings in the Antarctic Sound, the Antarctic Peninsula, the Gerlache Strait, and the South Shetland Islands. The various lectures set the scene and built the excitement for what to expect, and every zodiac landing unveiled phenomenal and awe-inspiring wonders. It was nesting season and we saw heaps of penguins - Gentoo´s, Adelie´s and Chinstrap´s. It was fascinating to watch their ... read more
pack ice near the Weddell Sea
zodiac landing party
group photo

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station November 4th 2013

My 6th season on the ice. Its been real, its been fun and it has been real fun. Check out www.uasp.gov. In the search box put in "photo library" to view hundreds of photos. Also check out the live view camera links on the lower right side of the page.... read more
Antarctica 2012 - 2013
Antarctica 2012 - 2013
Antarctica 2012 - 2013

Antarctica » Antarctica October 8th 2013

We are getting excited now. Its interesting hearing reactions from people as we tell them where we are going. Some are horrified and cant understand it and others are very jealous. Our flight to Buenos Aires via Santiago is all booked. We leave from Auckland on the 31 October. However, our baggage allowance is one piece at 23kg per person. All because we have a night in Auckland which means its not a through fare from home. So our only alternative is to pay $30 for an extra bag. Not much really in the grand scheme of things. As we live near a ski resort we have a fair bit of warm clothes anyway. So its a matter of sorting out and deciding if it up to the task. A Jacket and rubber boots are provided ... read more

Antarctica » Antarctica » South Shetland Islands September 26th 2013

We paid for our flights today. So exciting! about 5 weeks to go. Our flights are from Auckland via Santiago arriving in Buenos Aires. We have booked a Hotel in BA - the Pestana. Has good reviews on the internet, but as usual we will see.... read more


A modo suo il mio vicino di volo, che grazie a un intuito fuori dal comune aveva capito che non sono proprio iraniano, aveva provato a dirmelo. A Teheran, se avessi dovuto incontrare mai problemi sarebbero stati dovuti al traffico. La città, almeno nella zona dove alloggio, è attraversata da larghe strade a tre corsie ma non è chiaro il loro senso di percorrenza. La maggior parte è sicuramente a senso unico ma sono così tanti ad andare contromano da rendere difficile capire in quale direzione dovrebbe muovere il traffico. I taxi e le automobili più piccole, dal clacson decisamente facile, si fanno strada tra camion, furgoni biciclette e carri tirati a mano. Gli autisti si sporgono dai finestrini per comunicarsi con ampi gesti dove e come si supereranno. Per fortuna che è una zona a ... read more

Antarctica » Temp July 7th 2013

Lisbon may not have the allure of Paris for romantics, Milan for fashionistas, or Vienna for musicians, but it's the oldest city in western Europe and that alone warrants attention from any traveler. Our decision to visit this city on the sea was somewhat accidental. Kristina was on a 3-week mission trip to Ghana and we didn't want to waste her long trek across the Pond, so I chose to meet her in Europe and make a vacation of it. Unfortunately, July is peak season for tourism on this continent, which entails high prices. To cut costs, we looked for the cheapest city to fly into Europe and behold, Lisbon was the answer. Little did we know this would prove to be an excellent choice. My 10-hour flight across the lake found me at a pitstop ... read more
Rossio Square
Pasteis da nata
Praca Luis do Camoes

Antarctica April 27th 2013

This is absolutely going be the hardest blog post to write. In all of the places we've been in the last 11-months there has always been some sort of relatable experience to compare it to. I have never wanted to tell someone about someplace so much but be at such a loss for words to describe it, or have as many pictures I want to share that won't do it a bit of justice! So please enjoy all of the photos at the end. As Sky mentioned in our last post there was only one female spot available as a last minute trip so the decision was made that I would head out to Antarctica while Sky went fishing. I felt quite guilty taking this opportunity solo, plus after spending 24/7 together for the previous 9 ... read more
Safety First
Leaving Ushuaia

Antarctica » Antarctica » Zhong Shan Station April 19th 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3ruuml-R4 stephen stills... read more




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