This is in the Antarctic Peninsula where most of the Antarctica stations are located. Very few are on the actual continent.
Can you spot the penguin swimming in the lower right hand corner?
The sun changed while I was standing on the deck. All of a sudden, the still waters mirrored the islands perfectly.
Midnight sunset over Antarctica. Our daily bulletin said the sun would set at 11:55 p.m. This was taken at 11:59 p.m. and the sun hadn’t gone down. I got cold and tired and went back inside.
I set an alarm for 5:30 a.m. to see Palmer Station, which is one of three permanent USA stations in Antarctica. At 6AM, 2 Zodiac boats could be seen in the distance. They were filled with people from Palmer Station coming to our ship for seminars and hair cuts — and fresh fruits and veggies. They get “freshies” every 4 weeks depending on weather.
In the peninsula when it’s not windy, the waters are super calm and it’s very quiet. You might hear a whale spout or a seal splash or see a penguin dive.
Just out of frame was a colony of about 1000 penguins. Even from the ship, you could hear them chattering. I’m glad we were distant enough not to smell them!
This is part of Deception Island. I think the deception is there’s a volcano lurking under that black soil. It looked like ash to me.
To the right are two giant glaciers. There are three in the area. The captain said that one had a name, but the others didn’t. But then, he said two had names. He was getting confused. It’s ice, it all looks the same.
There were two seals lounging on two separate pieces of floating ice — a male and a female. The one slid off into the water leaving a brown trail. They say to look for “dark” snow to find penguins. The same applies for seals.
It’s hard to see, but the water was rippling around the small pieces of ice. I thought it looked really cool. Pun intended.
Perspective is everything. Captain said he’d pull us close to a giant ice berg. How giant? This photo was taken from the 5th floor of the ship.
