Antarctica Jan 2-14, 2001 Home Page Itinerary Photo Album Contact Us	Antarctica was absolutely fabulous -- truly other worldly.  We were on a tour (~ 100 people) aboard the Explorer, nicknamed “The Little Red Ship”, a boat originally designed to be an Antarctic research boat, so it was a hardy little ice breaker.  For any of you who have read "Endurance" or any of the books about Shackleton's voyage, this trip was a daily reminder of just how good we have it – with today’s protective and resilient clothing, with a fantastic crew and great food aboard ship, with emergency and communications capabilities what they are today – and just how badly those guys had it. We were on several of the islands and areas his group explored. Antarctica is indeed a strange place in that it’s a vast and harsh landscape – a horizon’s worth of open, chilly waters punctuated by imposing and eerily beautiful icebergs, but venturing onto the various islands reveals wonderful wildlife: penguins, seals, whales, and loads of birds. On other islands, there remain vestiges of old whaling days -- decaying wooden Norwegian fishing boats, whale skeleton graveyards, etc. but there's almost no present human life (with the exception of one UK and one Ukrainian research station -- bringing the grand Antarctic human population we saw to a whopping 15). There are tens of thousands of penguins everywhere – your nose locates them long before your eyes hone in. We saw four different species (there are 18 total) and each was so different from the other; I'd always sort of thought that all penguins looked alike.  We saw “Chinstraps,” which are aptly-named for a thin, black, strap-like band running from their ears and tucking tightly beneath their chins. This strap looks as though it’s keeping the beanie of black feathers tightly atop their heads. We also saw “Gentoos,” who stand apart from their penguin brethren with their bright orange beaks and feet. We also saw “Adelies,” who look the closest to the tuxedo-dudded penguins of the cartoons. Finally, we had the rare good luck of seeing one “Emperor” penguin. Normally, one doesn’t see Emperors in northern Antarctica; the South Pole is their usual address. The emperors are the largest of all the penguin species, and can be up to 4’ tall! Although different peguin species look different, what they all have in common is that they're really adorable and endearingly clumsy.  They waddle with their chests puffed out, their butts thrust out in the other direction, their "wings" jutting out at a 90* angle to their backs and they rock back and forth, but always look prepared to topple -- kind of like a little kid walking in spike heels for the first time.  Awkward though they are on land, once they topple into the water, they're little sea sprites, darting around and diving. For more details about our trip to Antarctica, you can read the ship’s daily logs for 01/04/01-01/14/01 or view our itinerary. Upon our safe return to Ushuaia via Cape Horn, we headed off to Patagonia for some fly-fishing, horseback riding, and fantastic Argentine steaks.
	Pictures From Antarctica (click on each to enlarge)
	The Explorer	Whale Tail	Hotspring Swim	Slovenly Seals
	Penguins A’Plenty	Ukrainian Vodka	Owl Iceberg	Whalebones
	Old Whalers	British Station	Antarctic Landscape	Out For A Hike