Antarctica

[Petri]

Found a few clips from the trip to Antarctica last year. We didn't plan any serious video footage so the "trip video" is pretty random, wobbling footage is from iMovie stabilization

Best part is the penguin from 0:55 and the second half with the footage from Drake Passage.. Also available in 720p hi-def.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQyTbOr4GdI[/youtube]

A great trip, highly recommended. Choose a boat with less than 100 passengers, makes the basic logistics much easier. Buy the trip directly from the organizers, not through a 3rd party. The conveniences on the ship are pretty much meaningless, if you want internet, rent your own satellite phone.

Our trip was with One Ocean Expeditions, which I would highly recommend (they've changed ships since then) and the guides were just great, from the US, Canada, Australia and Argentina. Unfortunately we had booked our trip through Polar Cruises, they have a nice web site but the moment you paid the initial fee the service was crap and non-existent. Other people on the ship who had booked through them said the same.

A few of the 3700 photos..

 

[julianne]

Petri, Thank you for sharing this. It makes Alaska look tame by comparison. I was mesmerized.

 

[MIke R]

if only I could......

wow....thanks for sharing

 

[KevinS]

Thanks. Love the penguins.

 

[Petri]

Love the penguins.

Unfortunately a camera don't catch the smell

 

[bto]

Fascinating...glad to see it through your eyes as watching the part on the ship made me seasick. Beautiful scenery....brrrrr!

 

[LindaP]

Hey Petri,
Nice photos! My son saw penguins when he travelled in the south of Chile a couple months ago....very cool.
How long a trip is that for you?

 

[Petri]

We did a 10 night / 11 days "Antarctica peninsula adventure".

First three days are on the sea, first from Ushuaia through the Beagle Channel and then two days in the Drake Passage.

Fives days in Antarctica.

Two days in the Drake Passage and arrival to Ushuaia the next morning.

The timing and weather can make a big difference, we were pretty lucky with both and even the weather in Drake Passage was relatively mild (and still we didn't see one third of the people on the return, a few got pretty sick..). Just a week earlier some of the places we visit were not doable and they didn't see any sun. Our Auckland B&B hosts daughter was there a week later and there was much less snow (or perhaps she was on a ship that didn't go south enough).

We did about two landings a day, a small ship so everyone was able to go. We saw just a few other (small) ships during the time, even one private sailing ship! And of course stamped our passports at both the Argentinian and Ukrainian stations.

If one compares the route to e.g. the Lindblad Expeditions / National Geographic trip, we went a bit further south than they do (http://www.expeditions.com/Day_By_Day65.asp?Expedition=128&Destination=283 and Itinenary Map from the end)

I would like to do the Antarctic Circle Voyage that goes much further south. Antarctica summer is surprisingly green around the King George islands and the white scenery further south was more dramatic.