This post is about the Antarctic experience not a photo gallery of the scenery. I do have many photos but since this is not a travel blog I am not going to include many. You can find photos by going to the internet and looking up the Antarctica. There is very little darkness at this time of the year but because of the clouds we did not see the Southern Lights. Also, Antarctica is made up of 97% ice and 3% land. The land portion is in the area that we are visiting.

The first day I looked out my window and there was the Matterhorn floating by and 5 minutes later a giant rectangular box. I bundled up in my Antarctica fashion outer wear but not Long Johns yet as I wanted to test the water so to speak. I ate breakfast and the scenery was incredible. The sun was out and the sky was blue. I then ventured out on Deck 8, Lido Deck aft and was hit with a blast of icy wind that was unbelievable. After snapping a few shots I went back to my cabin to warm my hands and put on the Long Johns. I was very well decked out in my arctic wear except I could have used heavier gloves.

Back on deck I continued to snap photos. The photographer on the ship was in seventh heaven and was so busy shooting the scenery she would forget the passengers. She did take a shot of me and I look like a Russian. We spent most of this day in Paradise Harbor and had excellent narration by some of the scientists who boarded there’

I loved the icebergs. They come in all different shapes and by using your imagination you could see animals, vehicles or any other object. It was like looking at clouds or bubbles in the bathtub and seeing images.

The second day we were mainly at Hope Bay but it was no longer sunny. Overcast but much warmer and no wind for most of the day
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This is the day we saw whales, seals and penguin colonies. I still needed my Antarctic ensemble but didn’t need hot chocolate to warm my hands. I finally did go inside and was talking to Joan (see previous photo) when an iceberg drifted by with a lone penguin on board. This little guy must have known he was on stage as he pranced and jiggled and generally put on quite a show. I had my binoculars with me and after some of the passengers and nearly all of the Lido staff watched him through my binoculars the big boss came by to (I believe) chastise the staff for neglecting their duties. He then watched the penguin through my binoculars and all was forgiven but I noticed the staff did get back to work.

The third day the weather did not cooperate at all. We got up to snow and it snowed all day. Most of the staff have never seen snow let alone touch it so they were out making snow angels on deck and even made a snowman. I didn’t have my camera with me so I don’t have a photo of the snowman. With the weather conditions being so bad I did not dress for the outside. The captain kept moving on to new places but nothing was really visible and finally we left to circumnavigate Elephant Island.

At one point just after the ice captain left for lunch an iceberg which was hidden by waves on radar appeared visibly to the crew and evasive action was taken which means more crockery was lost but better that than a hole in the ship. Also later in the day to navigate away from an iceberg that was as big as the ship the Captain turned the ship on a dime. This is a very interesting maneuver and quite disconcerting. Again, crockery flew.

I will leave you with these words. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!