We were REALLY going to pack a lot into today, but as is often the case, Mother Nature had other ideas. Our plans were to do a 6 AM landing in Andvord Bay, but at 5 AM Expedition Leader Susan Adie’s voice came over the ship PA system to announce that the wind had picked [...]

Note: The date of these postings is not necessarily the date of the day described, as I’m playing catch-up with these entries, due to spotty satellite and time! The order of the visits is correct however. As we head south, as one might expect, the temperatures are dropping. The snow on the sharp, rugged mountains [...]

Tuesday, December 24, 2009 During the night, we sailed south from Elephant Island to some of the outer islands of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is the point of land closest to the South American continent.

After leaving Coronation Island in the South Orkneys, we headed northwest towards Elephant Island. Icebergs became more numerous and much, much larger. We passed many big tabular bergs, some 150 feet tall and more than a mile long on a side. These had come from the Weddell Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 We continued to luck out with moderate seas. Only one night of fairly serious rollers. New scopalamine patches appear behind ears, to ward off the evil spirits of seasickness. Peter Hillary gave a great talk about his ascent of Mt. Vinson on the Antarctic mainland.

Saturday, December 19, 2009 We did a morning landing at Jason Harbor where there was a small shack built in the early 20th Century as a emergency refuge for stranded whalers and other travelers. It also is a great beach for fur seals, elephant seals and king and gentoo penguins. A young elephant seal promptly [...]

Despite the terrible reputation of the stretch between the Falklands and South Georgia, our passage was easy – smooth seas and light winds. Dawn found us anchored off the shore of Salisbury Plain, one of the best king penguin rookeries anywhere. Read more…

We’ve been incredibly lucky so far — except for a few hours of moderate seas after leaving Stanley’s harbor, it has been extremely smooth sailing on our passage to South Georgia Island. This is where we cross the Antarctic Convergence Zone, a notorious breeder of bad weather and nasty seas.

A night and a day of sailing rolling seas brought us to the Falkland Islands. The first islands appeared on the northeastern horizon in the early light: relatively low and devoid of any trees. The climate is too harsh for them.

No need to whine about modern long-distance air travel. If you’ve done it recently, you know the routine. Survival is the key.

First off, I’d like to suggest a modification to the old cliché. A journey of more than a few miles begins with 1,000 steps. As in packing. Constantly shifting airline rules require a level of planning that used to be relegated to the expedition into deepest Africa or, say, the Space Station. So much to [...]