Below is a small sample of the photos. Stop back for more spectacular photos by the end of the year.
List of New Updates: Last update January 4, 2009
Home of 15,000 Emperor penguins
New Photos
The winter hut of Ernest
Shackleton at Cape Royds with the volcano Mt. Erebus on Ross Island in the
background. The mountain is puffing steam all the time. It last erupted
about 20 years ago.
The white dots show the expedition actual route on a Google Earth image.
The red line shows the approximate edge of the ice pack (65 degrees South latitude) and the reason an icebreaker is needed.
Drygalis Ice Tongue in the early morning (5:40 am on Dec 4, 2008). That is a solitary Emperor penguin on the ice floe on the lower right side. The top of this extension of a glacier is about 100 feet (30 m) at this point. This is near the location of the huge B15 iceberg several years ago.
A single Emperor penguin is a sight to remember.......
.....but seeing 25,000 of them with their chicks is beyond comprehension!!!
These chicks will march to the sea in January or February. For now, the parents feed them quite well.
Chinstrap penguin
Adelie penguins on the ice
A remote shelter with our Zodiac in the foreground
Weddell seal
Gentoo penguin
The ice ....
The Ross shelf stretches for hundreds of miles ...
.... a helicopter landing helps put the size into perspective. The yellow dots near the helicopter are us!
See my photo below taken at this location.
Adelie penguins on the nest. These are all males keeping the eggs warm and protected while the females walked 35 miles (each way) to the open sea to get dinner.
The icebreaker stopped by ice. Even six engines and 24,000 horsepower is not enough.
Icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov
Just one of countless blue and white icebergs.
Stop back for the story behind these and many more photos. I expect to have much more posted by December 31.
Guest book - Antarctica 2008
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Here I am on top of the Ross Ice Shelf - less than 800 miles from the South Pole and over 8000 miles from home.
The flat white ice surface extends forever south into the horizon. The sun is up 24 hours and is very intense. The temperature is a balmy 25 degrees F with no wind on this day.
The little red life preserver is there in case the ice breaks off and I fall 250 feet into the cold ocean below (29 degrees F).
(posted Jan 2)
(In the 2008-9 season perhaps 60, 000 tourists will visit the Antarctic Peninsula about 1000 miles south of Ushuaia. This icebreaker ship with its 100 passengers is the only tourist ship that goes past that part of the continent.)