On the Quest to see pingüinos

[JohnM]

Hanging out for your take on this.



Don't disappoint...

 

[VPS]

Hanging out for your take on this.

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Don't disappoint...

I’m practicing my photoshop techniques for this

 

[drron]

What a wimp.still has his long pants on.

 

[Daver6]

Hanging out for your take on this.

View attachment 212387

Don't disappoint...

Do you ever have your shirt on?!

What a wimp.still has his long pants on.

That's for both our benefit and the penguins'

 

[drron]

Well having done a polar plunge in both Antartic and Arctic waters in just my togs within 6 months I say he is a wimp.
Though unlike the red bandanna guy in the Antarctic I wasn't in budgie smugglers.I can assure you at those temperatures they reveal nothing.

 

[VPS]

Right on with the show. The next few posts are going to be very picture heavy. This was cruising around Pleneau or Iceberg Alley as it's called. We didn't land anywhere but did go out in the zodiacs and it was just magical.

Day 11 - 23rd January


Just a couple of tails





and then they put on an amazing show





While we were cruising around they were always bringing out drinks and nibbles

 

[VPS]

The colours and the shapes of the icebergs were just phenomenal

More whales

 

[VPS]

More icebergs and scenery




Eric just leaned over the side and pulled this out of the water so people could see how clear it was - it was incredibly heavy too



and this is what it looked like when it was back in the water



A seal trying to have a nap while people are cruising past

More gentoos


The seal did move occasionally but wasn't fussed about people being around

 

[VPS]

And yet again more icebergs and a penguin swimming along




Then whales - we were lucky and saw quite a few but they weren't easy to photograph


Sometimes the light on the ice was just magical
The reflections were mesmerising

 

[VPS]

Every evening when you were in the Antarctic we had a briefing at 6.30pm about what time your group was going and what we were going to see and a few other things. It was recorded and you could watch it later in the evening in your room if you wanted to.

This night and it was light almost 24 hours by now they just said no one is coming to the briefing tonight when we have views like this so the expedition leader just did his briefing over the PA

 

[VPS]

I meant to mention earlier when I posted this photo that the pink colour is from the algae that are there - always something going on

 

[VPS]

Day 12 Neko Harbour
The light on the mountains was spectacular as though someone had a light behind it. I woke to lots of fog and weather changed constantly – one minute you could see the mountains and the next there was just fog and mist and then there were some whales outside my window



There's that boat again

The people that were on the first zodiacs were unlucky because it was so foggy but by the time we landed it was clear. You could walk to the top of the hill and get good views but I just stayed down the bottom.

 

[VPS]

More Gentoo penguins
You can see the one at the back left feeding it's chick

Messy little buggers - talk about not cought!ng in your own nest

 

[VPS]

More scenery and more penguins





I had my little Sony point and shoot and felt a little inadequate at times but I was OK with what I got

You can see the blue bands that we had to wear when we got off and we had to board our cards in the pouch and we were scanned off and on


I don't think this seal moved the whole time


bringing in the kayaks

 

[VPS]

More scenery and the polar plunge



This isn't me doing the polar plunge - I was way too chicken

 

[Daver6]

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These two pictures as especially stunning! This trip looks beyond amazing.

 

[VPS]

After all that excitement it was time for afternoon tea while watching the world go by and that night there was a special dinner in the Colonnades.

They had full on high tea every afternoon in the Observation deck bar but there was so much food at meal times this was the only time I partook and I just had the light version

 

[VPS]

These two pictures as especially stunning! This trip looks beyond amazing.

Thanks - it was spectacular. Although I culled through all the photos I wanted to keep, which was about 2500 then I had to stop and think about the best ones to put on here. Sorting them out has taken hours but brought back some wonderful memories. At some stage I would like to print a couple of them off for my walls.

 

[VPS]

Day 13 Cierva Cove
When I woke up today it quite misty and was snowing. I had 8am zodiac ride so up and dressed quickly.

Today I discovered that the light gloves I was wearing weren’t waterproof and it was a bit chilly but beautiful out on the water while it was snowing. I did have thicker gloves but it was hard to handle the camera with those on. If I have any advice for someone it is to get a long strap to hang your phone and camera around your neck so you can’t drop them and to put a tie onto your gloves so you can’t lose them.

No landing but saw chinstrap penguins in the snow and leopard seal with lots of birds. The island here has Argentinian base and there was a lot of moss on the rocks.

 

[VPS]

All of the photos are mine so far but someone took this one of the Chinstrap penguin that I thought was superb. He took some amazing photos but his camera was much more expensive than mine