We’ve been blessed with an amazing adventure in Antarctica! In the Antarctic Peninsula the sun comes up at about 2:15am and goes down at 11:55pm. (At the South Pole, they have one sunrise and one sunset per year!) The whole time the sun is up is stuffed with awesome vistas! (As are the other 3 hours… it never gets dark in this summer; only a bright twilight)
The snow is so perfect it looks almost edible… like it may be marshmallow cream (Is that edible?) or frosting. Icebergs go slowly past our view, sometimes with penguins perched on top. One berg had a dozen on its flat top – a hundred feet off the water level! I’m told they climb up using their toenails (Webnails?) and beak like crampons and ice axe. They like it up there because they have no predators while resting up there. I think they must have an elevator up the center of the iceberg.
Speaking of Penguin Predators, we’ve seen tons of whales. Yes, tons. Mostly Humpback Whales, but I saw a couple of Orcas without a camera to prove it. And there are birds closer to land who enjoy a Penguin lunch… I met a guy who saw one snatch a Penguin and play tug-of-war with another bird over the meal. And he showed me the pictures to prove it!
The hardships we have had to endure are plenty…
- How can you sleep when it is so beautiful outside?
- It’s really cold outside!
- How can you take time out to eat when it’s so beautiful outside?
- Sometimes it’s really windy outside!
- How do you sort through 3,500 some pictures (And counting…)
- The Internet is either nonexistent or extremely slow. (You’d think we were at the end of the earth or something!)
Ok, so all of these “hardships” are meaningless… as to the cold and wind – no problem. I just wore long johns, jeans, a T-shirt, a sweater, two sweatshirts, a jacket, hat and gloves. Simultaneously. I felt like the Michelin Man. And while many times we’ve had 60mph winds, many times it has been extremely calm, and the captain and others have repeatedly said they haven’t seen such great weather in the last 3 years.
The Internet problem is real, however. So I am trying to put up a couple of pictures, chosen almost at random, and when we get back to the U.S. of A. I will try to pick out my favorite 3,000 or so 😉 and either post them here or print out a book.