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!