Images from Antarctica, Page-1

We arrived at Argentina's most southerly town, Ushuaia, in the late afternoon. Ushuaia is a major tourist destination for anyone heading to the Antarctic, as this is where most of the ships depart from. When we arrived in Ushuaia we had no plans to head to the Antarctic ourselves, although I must admit that the idea had crossed my mind. After spending the evening in our hostel chatting to a guy who was heading to the Antarctic the following day, we started to think about splashing out and going ourselves, but it was going to cost so we decided to sleep on it.
The next morning I awoke with my mind made up - you only live once and a trip to the Antarctic was too much of a temptation to turn down! Viv wasn't quite so enthusiastic, but she soon changed her mind. By 1pm we had paid for our tickets, which at Ł1450 each wasn't cheap, but what the heck, what are credit cards for. Even our travelling friend Kate got carried along with our excitement and decided to come along. We had three hours to get on the boat after paying for our tickets, which didn't leave a lot of time to stock up on a few goodies for the 10 day trip.
At 6pm we set sail to the Antarctic, and what was even better was that it was my birthday! The evening went smoothly, but when we woke up in the morning it wasn't quite so smooth as we had headed out into the Drake Passage - the roughest stretch of water in the world!
We spent two days crossing the Drake Passage, getting tossed about like a tennis ball in a court! We eventually set eye's on the Antarctic coast, with our first sighting being King George Island. Because we had arrived early we had our first landing at Hennequin Point, which wasn't the snow covered scenery we expected, but it was our first foot on Antarctic soil, which was amazing enough in itself!
We spent a few hours wandering about at Hennequin Point where we saw our first penguins, before heading back to the ship. The following morning we visited the Argentinian 'Jubany' station on King George Island. We then headed on to Aitcho Islands, where we saw our first colonies of Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins.


Leaving Ushuaia behind as we head for the Antarctic	Viv trying to steady herself on the outer deck of the boat

Heading across the Drake Passage was anything but smooth sailing	Our first sight of Antarctic land - King George Island

Some Prion's accompany the boat as we arrive in the Antarctic	A whale vertebra on the shore of Hennequin Point, our first landing King George Island and the Antarctic

A dinghy heading to shore at Hennequin Point	A lone Adelie penguin looking like he's been shot on King George Island

An inquizitive Skua having a good look at the camera	A Gentoo penguin on Aitcho Island

A group of Chinstrap penguins and their chick's	A Chinstrap penguin heading towards the sea

The desolate home of the penguins	Aitcho island, home to Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins

A couple of Gentoo chicks	Chinstrap penguins perched high on the island

A Chinstrap chilling in the snow	Nothing but penguins and beauty

A couple of Gentoo penguins chilling on the shore	One of our first sighting's of an iceberg

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