ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCE

We're now officially "expeditioners" and no longer cruisers! We've crossed and are south of the 60 degree parallel in our exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands. We have a team of lecturers who have amazing credentials who, in addition to giving lectures in the showroom, rotate on the bridge for commentary during the day as we cruise the passages and islands. I only wish I could remember all the information they give us!

Our first day was phenomenal weather-wise. Everyone told us that they had never experienced such perfect weather -- outside of about an hour of wind at 6 a.m. The early morning fog lifted, the sun came out, the wind died down and the sea was calm, so most of the peaks and coves they pointed out were clearly visible. We were able to identify the penguin colonies by the pink coloration of the snow -- they eat krill, a red-orange fish that produces red droppings. We were also fortunate to see penguins floating on ice flows fairly close to the ship, and several species of seabirds swooping down over the wavelets.

We passed Esperanza Station, and the Argentinian settlement established in 1952. The first Antarctic human birth was here in January, 1978, and people still live here in their bright red houses. Hope their internet access is more stable than ours is!!

The icebergs are unbelievably white and amazing sizes and shapes. On some of them we could see the striations like the rings in a tree that indicate their age, and were told that some can be 7,000 to hundreds of thousands of years old! Only 10% shows above the water line, which makes their size even more incredible! They're mostly fresh water, but may also have some sea water in them. The top down shot shows the white is above the surface, and the light blue mass is underwater.

At dinner we saw three whales playing off the port side of the ship, and one of them even waved his tail at us before he disappeared! Too fast, and too far away for a picture, though …

Tomorrow we continue cruising through Paradise Harbor and Hope Bay drinking in the beauty of this incredible world.