my travels in pixels

These penguins are in the middle of nowhere Day 13 - March 11 2020 Paulet Island Iceberg on the way to Paulet Island Paulet island is where we zodiac and go on land this morning. The water is like glass with just a few ripples, as calm as I’ve ever seen it out here. It is cold, 0°C, so I will be wearing different gloves and a balaclava. The sunrise this morning was beautiful but already above the horizon when I got up. We had been told that the island was volcanic rock and that we might see some cormorants. My group were on land first and will then changeover on the island to zodiac around in the waters. On land we saw the hut where 20 men spent 8 months over winter because their ship was crushed by the ice of the Weddell sea. Only one man died due to a heart condition. The island is now home to Weddell seals, fur seals and cormorants. Annie took photos of all of us individually in front of a blue iceberg – the bluer they are the less air they have in the water crystals. Unfortunately ...

My first iceberg sighting Day 11 - March 9 2020 The first day of sailing to the Antarctic Peninsula. Rougher seas today that took hold yesterday afternoon. You can’t walk in a straight line as you zig zag down the hallways. Standing in the shower is an unusual experience. Luckily it is narrow, although it doesn’t seem small and there are the rims that hold the soap and shampoo bottles in that you can hold onto if necessary as well as a seat.  We had a number of talks to keep us occupied: Pinipeds of the peninsula (seals), photographing birds in flight and the penguin species we will find on the peninsula. Did you know that birds replace all their feathers once a year. The ones on the wings are done symmetrically so they can keep flying. They showed the first part of the Shackleton movie with Kenneth Branagh but the quality when it was blown up on the screen was awful so I left and watched it when I got home. Shackleton was trying to get to the south pole again. He had tried once be...

Gold Harbour not called so because we were there when the light was indeed golden Day 10 - March 8 2020 Gold Harbour Gentoos molting I forget that they are birds until they lie down like a duck There are bullies in all parts of the world Okay, it's unanimous, a swim this afternoon Elephant seal - either a young one or female, I'm not sure We tried for a second time to get into Gold Harbour and this time we were successful. There was a little bit of drizzle and our group would go on land first and do the zodiac cruising after breakfast. So a 5:30 wake up call let us know that we would be called at 6am and as we were first I got down there a few minutes earlier to get started as I can’t fit my socks on with my slip on shoes. We are getting dressed and undressed 2-3 times a day. Two pairs of socks as the boots you choose must fit two pairs and if you only wear one it’s a little too roomy. Although there was drizzle it was a balmy 8°C, so no jumpe...