From February 9, 2008 to February 27, 2008 We took a cruise to Antarctica. We embarked in Buenos Aires, Argentina and
cruised to the Falklands (Melvinas). A 4 wheel drive bumped and shook us to a Rock Hopper penguin rookery. These penguins
have long mean slanted eyes and orange feathers on their heads that make them look like they just got up. Unforunately, the
adults were out getting food and all we saw were the 20 young ones waiting for food.
Then we headed to the Antarctic. Can you name all 5 oceans? Well, at this special spot around 60 degrees south the temperature
of the water drops 4-5 degrees. This is the Southern Ocean. Our first iceberg sighting was a berg as big as 16 Chicago
city blocks. We cruised past the Antarctic sound and to Elephant Island. On the next day we went to Paradise Bay, which was
filled with bergie bits (the size of Arctic icebergs), and small icebergs called growlers (from the sounds they make against
the hull).
We left after a few hours and headed farther south toward the Lemaire Channel. Fortunately, the fog cleared as we approached
and our captain assisted by an ice pilot (who was once the captain of the Canadian Explorer that sunk around Thanksgiving).
We were lucky enough to sail to 65 degrees south and eventually reached 65 degrees 7 minutes, the farthest South a cruise
ship has ever gone! On the way north we visited Deception Island which is an dormant volcano with areas where the water is
as warm as a thermal bath. Many nations have their experimental stations here. Chile has a military camp. Some of the soldiers
are married and have children, so there is a small school and some children are native born Antarcticans.
