Few parts of the world are truly unspoiled. To get the opportunity to see a place that is pristine and has a low volume of visitors compared to most other tourist destinations was a real treat. About 38,000 people on average get to the Antarctic Peninsula, the most popular destination, each year on the Antarctic continent. The point of departure for an Antarctic expedition (and it really does feel like you are on one) is from Ushuaia in Argentina — the southernmost city in the world. We crossed the infamous Drake Passage to get there, and it lived up to every bit of it’s name as the “roughest water on the planet”.
In addition to the different species of seals that hung out on the drifting sheet ice, the other attraction was the spectacular icebergs that came in different shapes, sizes and shades of blue. Some had delicate icicles dangling from them and others had layers. Leopard seals swam among them quite often and in the still water when it was close to sunset the icebergs had incredible reflections. Other cute penguin species in the area are the Chinstrap penguin, whose name says to all. Between these islands we crossed through spectacular narrow passages with immense, snow-capped mountains and thick glaciers sliding down to the water. The Lemaire Channel is one of the most scenic . An amusing stop is Post Lockroy - also known as the “Penguin Post Office”. This is run by the British Antarctic Heritage Trust and has a staff of four who live there during the season when there are visitors. It’s the one place to shop on the peninsula and you can send a post card there stamped from Antarctica. There is also a small museum that has artifacts from the early scientific teams who lived there. It sits on a tiny island where a massive Gentoo penguin colony lives. They nest all around the post office and were all with chicks this time of year .
We went past Elephant Island, where Shackleton had to leave his men after their failed attempt to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. Shackleton successfully rescued all of his men by taking tiny lifeboats to South Georgia for help. When we arrived at the continent the weather was calm, sunny and “warm” for the polar region. Massive icebergs floated off the coast, fed by glaciers that descend from the high mountain peaks at Brown Bluff. Some icebergs off the coast were over 1 mile in length and over 100 feet above the water - sheer towering walls of ice. Adelie penguins rested on smaller icebergs, in between going on feeding missions and before returning to their colonies on land. We made stops at small islands off the coast of the peninsula. Places like Hope Bay, Petermann Island, Booth Island, Yalour Island & Danco Island all have fantastic numbers of penguins. Hope Bay was another place that Adelie penguins seem to have overrun. Many stood or rested on the ice floating in the bay, while other icebergs had weddell seals relaxing on them.
After Port Lockroy we had a few more stops where we saw more Gentoo penguins. They are the most widely dispersed species with colonies from Antarctica all the way up to South America and on many of the islands in between throughout the Southern Ocean. The last stop on the mainland was at Neko Harbour, one of my favorites. I spent a couple of hours on the beach sitting on a large rock and watched a constant parade of penguins going in and out of the water and swimming
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