Where Penguins reign supreme, seals and whales are the kings, and the birds fly around in teams….

It has been a dream of mine to visit Antarctica along with the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and I have finally accomplished that.  Being that these places have very fragile ecosystems and a lot of the animals and birds found here exist nowhere else on earth, make it a very intriguing place to visit.  Aboard the ship Ocean Endeavor for almost three weeks, gave me a chance to these hard to visit places that many people will never get to go to. 

The Trip looked something like this:

Leaving out of Ushuaia, this trip was meant to go to Antarctica first, then followed by South Georgia, then the Falkland Islands.  However, because of weather conditions and the Avian Bird Flu, we reversed our course first starting out in the Falklands which is a British Overseas Territory. We then headed down to South Georgia Island, which is another British Overseas Territory, and finally to Antarctica!!!

To get from one place to another, you must have a few days at sea, however on board the boat there are enough classes to keep you busy about the history of all these places we will visit and information about the flora and fauna we will see along the way.  One that that kept me busy on the boat was photographing all the birds that spend most of their lives flying out in the ocean.  With great sunlight I was able to get some interesting pictures of some of the Albatrosses, Petrels, and Prions among other birds while out on the wide-open ocean.

Of course from the boat, on days at sea, you can get some amazing photographs of glaciers, mountains, the crushing waves and different landscapes seen nowhere else on earth. Included in this was the famed biggest iceberg in the world which broke off from Antarctica after being trapped in Antarctica since 1986. The famed iceberg A23a is about 4000 square kilometers, roughly three times the size of NYC.

Falkland Islands

Like mentioned before the Falkland Islands are a British Overseas territory that Argentina also claims this territory naming it Islas Malvinas (but that is for another history lesson). Most of the people on the island are of British descent and a few other nationalities. The islands are extremely beautiful with different wildlife in all of them. We had a total of three days around the islands going on shore for most of them with a chance to see a variety of birds, a few different penguin species and some beautiful landscapes.

Port Stanley is the biggest town on the islands with just about over 3500 people. A walk along the town with a beautiful cemetery, restaurant bars, beautiful houses, and old church gives you a sense that this place is calm and serene. I had a chance to walk all the way to the west part of town then back to the east and saw pretty much everything as I also read the history along the way. This would also mark the only town that I would see on my trip.

Our first look at the beautiful wildlife on the Falklands was the West Falkland area of Grave Cove. Grave Cove has some graves of some old whalers but the most magnificent aspect of this place is the landscape and animals. With one of the biggest Gentoo Penguin colonies on the islands, you cant help but see all of the breeding pairs together, or walking around, or just going for a swim. The sun was pretty much perfect here so the photography is amazing. With Skewers and Hawks looking to have an easy meal out of Penguin eggs, it was quite an interesting sight to watch. There were ducks all over the Falklands and most of them had just given birth to ducklings, so that was always a nice surprise to see!!!

West Point island was our afternoon stop and is located in the NW point of the Falkland Islands. Here after a short hike you can find the beautiful Black Browned Albatross amongst some of the other bird species. As they nest in the Tussac Grass on the edge of cliffs, you can see them flying near and far with their slow motion landings. In and around them you will find the quite angry looking Rock Hopper Penguins which nestle themselves in between the Albatross areas.

The next stop in the Falklands was Carcass Island. This island was interesting because of the fact we got to see the Magellanic Penguins for the first time. Besides seeing one lone one moving around, I was also able to get some beautiful photos of ducks on the other side of the island after a long walk through the some very annoying Tussac Grass, I reached the other side and were able to see a plethora of different birds including ducks eating from the shore in the sand as well as the Oyster Catcher which is a very bizarre but interesting looking bird. Of course we had the nesting loud Gentoo Penguin colonies all over the island!!!

Our last wildlife stop in the Falkland Islands would be no other than the Famous Saunders Island. This Island is the fourth biggest and also serves as a sheep farm. This would be the first time we are introduced to the famous King Penguins with their offspring which look like fluffy kiwi fruits. This was in my opinion the most magnificent scenery in the Falkland Islands with the penguins on the beach covered up by the windy sand blowing at them!!! Here we also saw the Gentoo Penguins protecting their nests from the scavenger birds as well as the angry looking Magellanic Penguins high on the slopes of the mountains. The pictures indeed here tell a magnificent story of survival!!!

In order to get to the South Georgia Islands, we had to spend three days at sea in some rough waters (not as rough as it usually is), however it made it fun walking around on the ship. Editing photos and going to photo classes and lectures over animals is how the days at sea were usually spent!!!!

South Georgia

At the start of the trip, we were unaware if we would even be able to get into South Georgia because of the Avian Bird Flu and the shutting down of different landing sites to see the animals. We were hoping for the worst and got welcome news when at certain sites, we would be able to land and see the magnificent animals that roam this beautiful landscape!!!!!

Before we got off, we were able to sit on the boat and just watch penguins do their thing and jump out of water. Trying to capture this was no easy task, however I was able to get some pretty good shots of these little guys going for a morning swim….

Our first stop was Fortuna Bay. This bay is teeming with wildlife with beautiful rugged snow cap mountains. This was probably one of the best places on the trip for different wildlife including the King Penguin, the Fur Seal, Elephant Seal (Jabba the Slugs), Giant Petrels, Brown Skua’s and Tern Birds. As we departed from the boat the rain really started coming down which would in turn be our worst weather of the trip, however the rain soon turned to snow as it made for some beautiful photos, but a very wet camera. Some of the shots here were amazing and the only thing that would make this experience better would to stay on the land for a whole day more!!!! Pictures here are worth 1000 words!!!!

I had the option to take a Shackleton Route over the mountain to Stromness Whaling station but decided against it and instead got my camera gear together for a great afternoon excursion at the bay. As we were not allowed to go on land because of the Fur Seals trying to attack the hikers, we instead took zodiac cruises around the bay and saw some of the best wildlife there is to see. Cruising around the bay we were able to see a very lazy fur seal on top of an iceberg just looking at us, birds flying around everywhere, Elephant Seals lazing away in the day only getting up to give you a smile, and a very rare light brown fur seal on the land. Overall this was a great zodiac ride to look at everything going on without getting too close to the animals. With the way the fur seals acted, I would rather stay away from them!!!!!!

Grytviken is pretty much the only outpost (with a post office) on the island. It is where the British Antarctic Survey runs out of and is a sparsely populated place during the summer months with even less during the winter months. Besides so many animals everywhere, as well as the remnants of an old whaling station, you can have a great look at Ernest Shackleton’s Grave which is across the bay from the station. With so many Fur Seals and Elephant seals around here, it makes it a wonderful place for photography.

As we tried to get to Cooper Bay in the afternoon to see some Macaroni Penguins, the waters were just so rough that it was impossible to land, so we got to see the Penguins from a distance and as we drove off a rainbow appeared going right into an iceberg.

We instead went to Gold Harbour and took a Zodiac cruise around the Harbour. With the Fur Seals and Elephant Seals moving about, the King Penguins moved about the beach with their young in an effort to get some sun. The landscape here was amazing as the backdrop was a giant glacier that is melting giving way to a lovely waterfall.

Of course the penguins were doing their matrix thing out of water again which is just beautiful to watch!!!!!!

As we left South Georgia we started to take the three day Scotia sea route to Antarctica. It was pretty much an easy crossing with seeing many birds and icebergs along the way (see above with worlds biggest iceberg). Now it was time for the LAST CONTINENT!!!!!

Antarctica

Getting into Antarctica has always been a dream of mine and finally this dream was coming true. As we arrived to the peninsula, the rugged mountains of South Georgia and the Falklands were a distant memory and now we come to snow and icebergs just about everywhere.

Mikkelson Harbour was our first stop. With beautiful hills covered by penguin prints and penguin colonies dotting this landmass, it is no wonder that people did not want to leave. It was fun hiking up to the top and watching the penguins have fun along the way. As we stepped on our Zodiac Cruise we were greeted with a beautiful splashing tail of a Humpback Whale and I was able to squeeze off some beautiful shots of this magnificent animals.

What was just as impressive as the wildlife in this area is the landscape, with the rolling mountains of snow and the icebergs everywhere, it made for a photographers dream!!!!

Cierva Cove is a stunning cove thats in Hughes Bay, along the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. This would be one of my favorite places in Antarctica for scenery and icebergs as we saw so many different shapes on our Zodiac drives around here:

The two penguin types around Cierra Cove are Adelie which make up more of the population and Gentoo which I only saw a few. The landscape of the penguin trails were amazing here as was seeing them swim. I even witnessed a Gentoo swimming with a bunch of Adelies!!!

Our next place was Danco Island which has a massive population of Gentoo Penguins that seemed to be in mating season. Watching them play in the water along with sliding down their penguin highways and photographing this made it a very nice destination.

Of course besides the wildlife here, the landscape is absolutely stunning along with all of the ice in the water broken off from icebergs, made this a really special area…

Our afternoon trip took us to nearby Useful Island. This is a granite island with a fair amount of snowfall. At the top we were able to find a nice rookery of Chinstrap Penguins which is the first of these we have seen. They seemed to be very noisy and always screaming at each other. On other parts of this small island you can find the Gentoo Penguins sometimes sliding across the ice and into the water and you can never forget the random Weddell Seal who always looks up at passing people with a beautiful cat face…

Of course with all the ice and mountains around, it would be foolish to ignore what is around this lovely island.

Of course when in the Antarctic you must do a Polar Plunge to join the club. I had done the plunge in the Arctic in June in northern Alaska and now it was time for me to go full circle. I think this was a bit more cold….

Our very last day on the continent would have some great landscape photos yet again with some beautiful Gentoo Penguins doing what they like to do, sit on their eggs, eat ice, mate, and make a lot of noise. This is where I was able to relax and sit with one of the rookeries for a while and see what was going on as a lot of Skuas flying around, trying to get the eggs of the penguins.

Our last afternoon on this wonderful continent at Cuverville Island saw me seeing the lovely Gentoo Penguins again, this time I go to see one chase the other during a fight which I was able to snap off some great photos!!!

The rest of the photography was beautiful as the penguins were going about their business mating and falling into the sea as well as a lone Adelie Penguin just sitting on the iceberg looking around. The highlight for me was on our Zodiac Cruise we found a Weddell Seal on an iceberg and as it yawned it gave us a nasty look that meant we probably woke it up!!!

As we left the peninsula on our two day trip back to the mainland of Argentina in Ushuaia, we were greeted by a family of Orcas or Killer Whales. While it was almost dark and they were a long distance away, I managed to squeeze off a few not so good shots

Would I say Antarctica is as good as I expected? I would say a heck of a lot better with so much scenery and wildlife, it keeps you guessing what will happen next. South Georgia and The Falkland Islands were also right up there because of the scenery in that area with the animals and all three places complimented each other perfectly. The price I paid was worth it and I contemplated going back again to spend more time…only time will tell…