MS Fram at the dock in Ushuaia, Argentine
The dock in Ushuaia, Argentina
Leaving the dock.
One of the former Russian ships now used for expeditions. This is the Grigoriy Mikheev.
Ushuaia, Argentina
On deck going through the Beagle Channel.
Smooth sailing in the Drake Passage.
Wandering Albatross hundreds of miles from land.
Wandering Albatross
A Cape Petrel following the ship.
The first iceberg.
Icebergs.
Passing the first iceberg.
Iceberg
Another iceberg
Nice blue lines on a iceberg.
After 36 hours, we see the South Shetland Islands.
South Shetlands
One of the Argentine outposts in Antarctica.
Half Moon Island.
Launching the Polar Cirkel boats for our first shore excursion.
The expedition team leaves first.
Away they go.
The Polar Cirkel boats waiting between trips.
Survival kits brought on shore each time in case we get stuck on shore for a while.
Chinstrap Penguin.
A boat that did not make it back.
A Fur Seal on a rock at the water's edge.
Chinstrap Penguins making a stink on top of the rocks.
Chinstrap Penguin and the MS Fram at Half Moon Island
Fuzzy young penguins.
Chinstrap Penguin
Antarctic Tern and Brown Skua
Kelp Gull and Snowy Sheathbill near the water
Brown Skua, not a friend of the penguins.
Rock climbing to the nesting sites.
Passenger from the ship check out the penguins.
The fur seal...leave me alone.
Getting back on the Polar Cirkel boats.
Deception Island
Getting ready to enter Neptunes Bellows on Decption Island
Neptune's Bellows
Abandoned whaling station on Deception Island...the caldern of a volcano
Tanks used to store whale oil.
The old whaling station looks very bizarre here.
Leaving through Neptune's Bellows again.
Gerlache Strait
Iceberg in Gerlache Strait
Another ship in the distance in Gerlache Strait
Almirante Brown station (Argentine) in Paradise Harbor
The Dutch sailing ship Europa.
Penguins in the water.
Some of the crew take a break.
Gentoo Penguins.
Maintenance at the station.
MS Fram at Paradise Harbor.
The hill that will be climbed.
Part way up looking back,
View from the top.
I did not climb the rock though.
Looking down from the top planning my descent.
Gentoo Penguin
Shag (Cormorant) rookery.
Bringing the boats back in.
On deck.
There is a seal in the water next to the big iceberg.
We are a little ways south, like more the 64 degrees.
Getting ready to pass through the Lemaire Channel
Leopard seal on an iceberg
More seals on the ice
Crabeater Seals on the ice
The Dutch ship Europa in Lemaire Channel
Snow slides down the mountain.
Blue cracks in the ice.
The Lemaire Channel
The fireplace on the boat...in widescreen.
Petermann Island.
The red building is an Argentine rescue building
The Europa passes by.
Gentoo Penguins on Petermann Island
Pretty cute.
Feeding time
Who has the right-of-way?
Shags at the edge, Gentoo Penguins on the right.
Let's check out these pants.
Penguin tracks
Icebergs stuck in a cove on Petermann Island
Brown Skua
An Adelie Penguin on the right with Gentoos in the background
Stand around and molt/
Corinthian II at Port Lockroy
Port Lockroy
Getting ready to load the boats
Inside Port Lockroy. It is preserved in the state that it was abandoned in the 1960's.
Whale bones
Penguin amoung the whale bones
The Polar Cirkel boat storage on the MS Fram.
Cutting though ice after leaving Port Lockroy
Breaking through the ice.
7th deck observation lounge
Another former Russian research ship, the Professor Molchanov
Bigger icebergs
Another penguin colony
Looking for whales in Wilhelmina Bay
Read the sign
A really cool iceberg
The iceberg has a hole in the middle of it.
The MS Nordnorge makes a midnight rendevous
Tabular iceberg from an ice shelf.
Penguins out on the ice
Brown Bluff
Esperanza at Hope Bay
Checking the landing conditions
Too much ice at the shoreline, bring the boats back.
You could put an airport on this one.
Arctowski Staion on King George Island
The Polish research station Arctowski
Two chinstraps and a Gentoo
Antarctica's two plant forms - grass and the little flowered thing.
Shag
Abbey Road
Unloading
The hot tub on the ship.
Chiean Air Force plane
Leaving Arctowski
King George Island
Drake Passage sunset
The bridge
Our captain, Rune Andreassen
The Drake Passage getting a little rougher
A wave sprays the 7th deck windows
Splash
Big splash
Turn on the wipers
rough seas
Wind about 50 mph
Back at Ushuaia with the monsterous Splender of the Sea at dock (the Fram is 12,700 tons, the Spender of the Sea is 70,000 tons)
This shows the scale of the various ships
The MS Fram back at the dock
