Antarctica

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Read a story about my trip to Antarctica and what it's like to bird watch penguins right in their colonies. There are pictures too. Click here.

Zodiac boat. Zodiacs rubber boats are the standard Antarctic method of travel.

The DISKO. The crew were Danish, German, Scotch, Russian and Canadian. The cabins and food were good. There was a doctor on board, too. Everyday we had great lectures and slide shows by either a professional photographer, a bird expert, a gentlemen who had worked in Antarctica for forty years, and by the trip leader, who briefed us on each landing site.

Ship lying off penguin colony near glacier.
To read about crossing the Drake Strait.

Ship cabins. The cabins on the ship are small but useful. You store your stuff there, sleep, change clothes and shower. Otherwise, you're out and about. (The bunk beds are behind the rails to the left. I'm standing in the bathroom to take this picture.) 

Dark rock, cold water, visitors.

A typical landing site. The ship would anchor off the coast and we would take zodiacs in. It sleeted the whole time I was here. The buildings are rescue huts maintained with food and supplies to help people in who get in trouble. There are many historic rescue huts, science stations and old camps dotted about.

Antarctic outhouse. Notice the elephant seal lying in a low spot just in front and left of the outhouse. Penguins also liked to get close to the buildings. It provided some shelter from the weather.

Is this Mars? Walking around Antarctica sometimes seemed like being on Mars, sometimes like being on Earth before life existed.

  Cold, cold, cold. The temperature was around freezing every day. It's better when it's below freezing, because then it stops sleeting.

Bleak landscape.

Typical view as you cruise. A narrow passage through smooth water, glaciers and steep mountains.

Flipped iceberg. Icebergs are 80% underwater. More of their ice melts underwater than above water, which eventually causes them to get out of balance and flip around or over until they are floating in a balanced way again. This one has already flipped. The diagonal lines on it used to be where the water level was. Notice also the purpleish sky color. We were told that was an effect of the hole in the ozone layer. We had to wear sunblock even when the sky was overcast.

Leopard seal on ice floe. Notice the mountains and glacier across the bay. The red stuff on the ice floe is seal poop. The color comes from eating krill.

My favorite landscape.

Plant life. The first picture shows red and green algae growing in the snow. The second shows moss. The third shows a faint tinge of orange lichen growing on a boat deck. That's it for plant life in Antarctica.

Penguin meadow. The green and red algae growing in the snow can make a snow field look like a meadow, with penguins walking through.