Antarctica 2007

After a 10-month wait, Joan and I are finally on our way .

2009-01-23T18:43:10Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
After a 10-month wait, Joan and I are finally on our way .

We flew from San Francisco to Washington DC, then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was our hotel in Buenos Aires. It was a long trip, but once we got there, the hotel and weather were g ...

2009-01-23T18:51:45Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
We flew from San Francisco to Washington DC, then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was our hotel in Buenos Aires. It was a long trip, but once we got there, the hotel and weather were g ...

After a short rest, we did a bit of sightseeing. This church was in a beautiful area near our hotel.

2009-01-23T18:43:07Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
After a short rest, we did a bit of sightseeing. This church was in a beautiful area near our hotel.

The next morning we flew to Ushuaia, Argentina, which is at the very tip of South America. This is the approach into Ushuaia. All boats going to the Antarctic Peninsula depart from Ushuaia ...

2009-01-23T18:51:03Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
The next morning we flew to Ushuaia, Argentina, which is at the very tip of South America. This is the approach into Ushuaia. All boats going to the Antarctic Peninsula depart from Ushuaia ...

We spent our first day in Ushuaia sightseeing on foot. The next morning we awoke to find our ship had docked. It's the odd-looking yellow one.

2009-01-23T18:38:40Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
We spent our first day in Ushuaia sightseeing on foot. The next morning we awoke to find our ship had docked. It's the odd-looking yellow one.

Her name is the Kapitan Khlebnikov. She's a working icebreaker of Russian registry staffed with an all-Russian crew. She isn't beautiful, but you wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley. ...

2009-01-23T18:48:34Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
Her name is the Kapitan Khlebnikov. She's a working icebreaker of Russian registry staffed with an all-Russian crew. She isn't beautiful, but you wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley. ...

Ushuaia is the southern-most town in the world, nestled near the end of the Andes mountain chain.

2009-01-23T18:36:04Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
Ushuaia is the southern-most town in the world, nestled near the end of the Andes mountain chain.

The Beagle Channel.

2009-01-23T18:26:23Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
The Beagle Channel.

To entertain us while the Khlebnikov was being cleaned and restocked, Quark (our expedition company) took all of us to Tierra del Fuego National Park.

2009-01-23T18:45:26Z

sharon osberg (SharonO)
To entertain us while the Khlebnikov was being cleaned and restocked, Quark (our expedition company) took all of us to Tierra del Fuego National Park.

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

2009-01-23T16:23:11Z

Antarctica 2007

After a 10-month wait, Joan and I are finally on our way .

We flew from San Francisco to Washington DC, then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was our hotel in Buenos Aires. It was a long trip, but once we got there, the hotel and weather were g ...

After a short rest, we did a bit of sightseeing. This church was in a beautiful area near our hotel.

The next morning we flew to Ushuaia, Argentina, which is at the very tip of South America. This is the approach into Ushuaia. All boats going to the Antarctic Peninsula depart from Ushuaia ...

We spent our first day in Ushuaia sightseeing on foot. The next morning we awoke to find our ship had docked. It's the odd-looking yellow one.

Her name is the Kapitan Khlebnikov. She's a working icebreaker of Russian registry staffed with an all-Russian crew. She isn't beautiful, but you wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley. ...

Ushuaia is the southern-most town in the world, nestled near the end of the Andes mountain chain.

The Beagle Channel.

To entertain us while the Khlebnikov was being cleaned and restocked, Quark (our expedition company) took all of us to Tierra del Fuego National Park.

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

After leaving the park, we went to a beautiful spot in the mountains for a traditional Argentianian barbecue lunch.

Finally, it was time to board.

Here's Joan giving a tour of our spacious accommodations :-)

The bridge. Except when the weather was really bad, we were allowed to visit the bridge way up on the ninth deck. From the bridge, we had access to outside decks with ladders leading to th ...

I think the red ship is the MV Explorer, the one that went down after striking an iceberg two weeks after we returned home.

We're in Drake's Passage now, the most unruly stretch of water in the world. It will take us 2 days to reach calm water, but the good news is amazing birds will be with us the entire way. ...

A younger wanderer. Sadly, albatross are seriously endangered.

Black-browed albatross.

Another wanderer.

Time for the lifeboat drill. Unlike passengers on some cruise ships, the passengers on the Khlebnikov pay very, very close attention to life boat instructions :-)

As lifeboats go, this one is really comfy....quite large with a roof.

Our first sunset at sea.

Next day, we see our first ice. The oily looking film is what sea ice looks like as it begins to form.

A snow petrel flying over pancake ice.

It was a near white-out, but this was our first iceberg sighting.

Every little yellow dot is an iceberg!

The bar. This place got quite popular as the weather forced us to stay on the ship.

That's Joan. We were frequently the only people outside. The weather didn't matter to us.... we just bundled up and found something great to look at or photograph.

An emperor getting ready to enter the sea. I made this same journey to Snow Hill Island last year, but conditions were very different this time around. It was stunningly cold, with temper ...

Even though we finally reached the edge of the ice, our helicopters couldn't fly because of the white-out, so we made the best of it onbaord. That's me.

Things started looking up.

The ship rammed through the ice and came to rest next to this huge iceberg (for perspective, note the 2 penguins at the base of the berg) . Except for a few adjustments to keep from getting ...

During the times when the helicopters couldn't fly, we went on ice walks out to another distant tabular iceberg.

Here's what we found..... seals like to haul themselves out of the ocean, then waddle long distances over the ice to get to big icebergs where they can rest somewhat protected from the wind.

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

As with the penguins near the iceberg, the person on the right gives perspective here.

When the sky is clear, sunsets in Antarctica are spectacular.

See the penguins?

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Next morning, the helicopters go on a reconnaissance mission. Yes!! We can fly. We'd been confined to the ship and surrounding ice for nearly 2 days and we're definitely ready to go to th ...

Our base camp about 1 mile from the rookery. These tents are set up in the morning and taken down at night.

It's a beautiful sunny day, although it is a bit chilly.....about -10 degrees.

Everything is a shade of blue except the penguins.

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The outer edge of the rookery.

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

We were surprised to find chicks in all sizes. A naturalist told us the rookery looked much healthier this year than last, with many more chicks. Maybe the extreme cold is what they needed ...

Magnificent!

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

A bathroom with a view :-)

All too soon, it was our turn to go back to the ship. We were divided into groups with assigned times for departure and return. The 1 mile hike to the rookery from base camp, and back agai ...

This was taken from the helicopter.

Unfortunately, bad weather moved in the next day, so the helicopters were again grounded. This is when the temperatures reached lows I'd never experienced and the winds reached blizzard lev ...

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo

For most of the year, penguins live solitary lives at sea, but during the breeding season there's safety in numbers for them. Before hopping out of the sea for the long march back to their ...

This is an Adelie penguin far from where he or she belongs.

Emperors jumping from the sea to begin their march.

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And more emperors going back to sea to feed.....

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After a day of ice-walking, it was time for the Halloween party.....

...and a sunset that hopefully means a nice day tomorrow.

Well, not exactly. We're grounded again.

Here we're repositioning the ship so we don't get frozen in.

Next morning and the helicopters are flying again. Joan and I are in the afternoon group, so we go for a morning ice-walk.

sharon osberg (SharonO)'s photo