Antarctica at Last!

The Captain gave an informative talk yesterday showing us why he decided we must head right for Antarctica...a High and Low were coming together that would cause winds of 50+ mph and waves of 30+ feet for much of our passage. By leaving early we would avoid it all...so we were happy with his decision.

After 2 days of relatively calm seas in the Drake Passage during which Chris and I read and slept, we finally reached Antarctica's islands off the northern tip. It was snowing and foggy and windy! But...we did manage to see many penguins in the water and on shore along with volcanic islands covered with snow. (The temperature at noon was 37...but colder now at 5 pm.) There was lots of volcanic activity here in the 1800's. Lots to see right now but too cold and windy on our verandah, so we'll go to dinner and see things later when the captain heads back so we are sheltered. (The penguins look like lots of tiny dolphins in the water.)

OK...back from dinner and several magnificent hours of watching gorgeous icefields, whales, penguins, etc. The weather partly cleared enough to see the huge glaciers...miles and miles long at their face and the rugged mountains above them. During dinner we watched many whales off in the distance and I just got in from seeing one just off our side who dove and "fluked" before I could grab the camera. This is definitely a different world and as so many have said...it's 10x (at least) more than Alaska in terms of ice and glaciers. It's hard to turn in tonight, but the sun rises before 4 am and it MIGHT be a clear day tomorrow they say.