Antarctica II - The Penguins Appear

Here is a link to more photos of penguins and seals

Penguin colony with sea lions lurking in background

Dawn comes early here, so we were up in the 5am hour to catch the show. And it is quite a show! Lot's of penguins, seals, and whales in the calm water making for a magical Antarctic morning.

We saw our first penguin colony and passed one of the Antarctic research bases that dot the land.

Antarctica is a continent surrounded by oceans, as opposed to the Arctic, which is an ocean surrounded by continents. Look at a map of this great land mass and notice the Antarctic peninsula that juts up toward South America.

It's the peninsula, really a continuation of the great Andes mountain chain, that attracts visitors like us. The rest of the continent is not accessible and it's off limits to visitors. In fact, tours to Antarctica are limited each year, and they only visit the northern reaches of the peninsula.

Chilean base

Nap time for seals

Mountains in the foreground, but look at the snow and ice in the background!

Antarctica Part I (The Arrival)

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Okay, it's really freakin' cold here! It's summer and the sun is up for most of the day, but the cold just stings!

The ocean temperature is 29 degrees and the land is covered in ice. And icebergs are everywhere, laughing at us. We coulda stayed in the northern hemisphere for this!

There are steep, vertical mountains along the shore but one can see the snow and ice layered over, yes, over the height of the mountains. I've known that the ice is thousands of feet deep here, but to see it! My god, it's awesome (as in fearful)! There's land along the shore line but the ice builds up and up and up into the distance.

And all of this water and ice radiates cold everywhere. It's colder in New York at the moment, but this just feels permanent (and, of course, it is).

I'm fascinated and thrilled to be here. I can't stay inside for missing the wildlife or the beautiful mountains of ice. But, I can't stay here and I'll be thrilled to leave and get wrapped back up in warmth!

Stay tuned for part II!

We are not alone! (Notice ship on left)

We had visitors from Palmer Station

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