Category Archive

This is looking back into Lemaire Channel after we had just past through it on our ice-breaker.  The mountains out of the frame to the left rise as high and are as dramatic as the ones you see here on the right side of the channel.  Hard to believe there is even room for a boat to pass through this spot!  This is my favorite area of Antarctica, and fortunately we pass through this channel twice – Southbound and again Northbound.

Sharing this for Janine – it is her favorite penguin photo from my trip.  🙂

Running Zodiacs in this amazing environment was one of my favorite activities down in Antarctica.  Although, walking around the penguin colonies, or taking a hike up an old volcano was also really cool.  Heck, who am I fooling, it is all amazing!

So I’m honored to say Cheeseman’s Ecology Safaris has hired me to return!  It is going to be a wonderful trip that will also include the Falklands, South Georgia and the South Orkney Islands..  Looks like many of the staff from last year’s trip will be returning, including a long time Alaskan friend of mine Hugh Rose who again will be the Expedition Leader.  He does a wonderful job as leader – not a lot of people have 15 years of guiding experience down there like he does.  Little did I know when I meet Hugh aboard a Kenai Fjords Tour almost 20 years ago how that chance meeting would impact my life so many years later!

You can read more about the trip here:  Cheeseman’s Antarctica Trip.  I  believe it is almost sold out.

As a side note, the gentleman taking my photo on the back of the Zodiac is my friend Rawdon who will be joining me on my bear tour for the third or fourth summer in a row!

Underwater iceberg patterns revealed when this iceberg became grounded.   Brown Bluff, Antarctica.

Few Antarctica trips have the time to attempt so head South of the Antarctic Circle.  Of those, ice keeps many from making it.  Of the few that are able to reach this remote portion of Antarctica, most don’t have the permission to visit this amazing historical site that is been pretty much left undisturbed for over 50 years!   We were very fortunate to make it this far South, and that our EL Hugh Rose was able to work out permission to visit!  It was fascinating seeing just how people lived down here so many years ago.  Here is the interesting story on this location taken from the sign on the side of the building:

This relatively unaltered British scientific base from the late 1950’s provides an important reminder of the science and living conditions in the Antarctic during this period.

It was established in 1956 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) as Base W and closed in 1959.  The base was primarily built for ongoing survey, geology and meteorology work, and contributed to the science programme of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957.  The normal occupancy of the base was 8 to 10 people.

The location of the island contributed to the base’s short history, as the sea ice was seldom firm enough to allow travel to the peninsula.  Ironically, when the time came to relieve the base in 1959, difficult ice conditions meant that the ship was unable to reach the island.  The base was secured for winter and the FIDS team were forced to sledge over 30 miles over the sea ice in order to reach the ship, taking with them only the minimum of their belongings and scientific records.  Apart from being briefly occupied for 6 month in 1965/66 by a visiting party of three from Stonington Island, who became stranded when the sea ice went out, the base has remained unoccupied since 1959, and much of the original contents are in place.

The site remains in relatively good condition and consists of the main hut, emergency store, dog pens, anemometer tower and two steel radio masts.  Many original materials can be found inside the main hut and scattered around externally, providing an evocative insight into the way the base was occupied during this period.

Whale bones on Jougla point on Wiencke Island, Antarctica.

I understand that this whale didn’t just die here, but this is from a collection of whale bones from around Antarctica and include humpback and blue whale bones.

Adelie Penguin, Brown Bluff, Antarctica.

It was always fun to watch penguins enter the water.  Typically, none of them wanted to be the first to jump in – presumably out of fear of being eaten by a lurking Leopard Seal hiding out under the iceberg.  Once one went safely, they would all go.  Although the first one to jump usually wasn’t extra brave, but typically pushed in by the gathering mob behind it.

Danco Island, Antarctica.

I left on my trip to the desert before I was finished sharing images from Antarctica so I thought I would share a few more.

This was from a evening dash up a small hillside at sunset on Danco Island.  This was around 9:30 in then evening – one of many memorable evenings in Antarctica.