2023
Antarctica
When penguins fly...
Hopping off the zodiac, I hung back as my comrades hustled up the hill to explore the penguin colonies. I was fascinated by some penguins entering the water and followed a group to observe them. As I saw them swim away I squatted and positioned myself to photograph them if they returned my way. After diving for a while, they turned tail and head straight back to me, I was thrilled and shot a number of high speed photos hoping to capture a shot as they sped towards me. Happily, I was able to catch this shot which was one of the winners of the cruise photo contest in Wildlife category. I just happened to capture this the day after an educational lecture on penguins and a parody on penguins flying. Penguins do fly!
Atlas Ocean Ventures
World Voyager Cruise Ship
I am not a cruise ship girl (other than scuba diving liveaboards which are NOT cruise ships lol) so this was a new experience. Fortunately it is a smaller cruise ship to navigate the Arctic waters and we had around 120 passengers to 130 crew so we were quite spoiled I must say. Expedition leaders were very experienced, fun, and engaging. Crew was friendly and thoughtful--we all knew each other by name. After cruising with Atlas, don't know how or why I would try anyone else!
Snow Waves
Antarctica is a very surreal experience. From the cruise ship and the zodiacs I was able to capture completely untouched snowscapes that even the penguins have not set foot on.
Was excited to observe icebergs calving and with a sound like multiple avalanches breaking free floating into the sea. The bluer the icebergs, the older the ice may be, even millions of years old!
On Top of the Bottom of the World
Penguin colonies manage to find the best seats in the house to congregate and nest. With global warming and ice melting, penguins have more land to breed; however, they have less krill to feed on.
Big attitude in a Small Package!
Gentoo penguins have orange-red bills and feet and a white cap stretching from eye to eye. They can reach speeds up to 36 km or 22 mph and dive to depths of 170–200 metres or about 560–660 feet. They are so entertaining and live large so I was struck when seeing this little guys size next to the orange cone.