January is the perfect time of year to visit Antarctica. We started our expedition on January 30 and it turned out to be the most incredible time to visit the continent. Newly hatched penguins had now grown to adolescence. They developed the most curious nature by the time they had grown a bit. When we’d land on the shore after a good day of kayaking or exploring on the zodiacs, young penguins would waddle over to see what we were up to.
Chinstrap Penguins, named so because of their obvious chinstrap pattern on their face
An adolescent penguin comes over to say hello
The wildlife of Antarctica was outstanding with whales breaching, seals sleeping, birds flying, and penguins playing right before our eyes. But it was the landscape of Antarctica that truly took our breaths away. Dave has been going through photos from years past putting together photography compilations of our travels. Many of his stunning photos had never seen the light of day due to catching flights and moving onto the next location. He has become adept at going through images quickly, choosing the best, sharing them with our readers and moving on.
Beautiful layers of blue ice in the icebergs
But on a closer look, we realized that he was missing many of the best of the best. Well, no longer. The best images have yet to come. You’ll be seeing a lot more of these amazing photo stories from Dave in the coming weeks, right here every monday. And today enjoy!
Antarctica in Photos
Beautiful Antarctica Ice and skies
A penguin looks back over the shore of the continent
A Beautiful whale breach: This whale stayed with our ship for 45 minutes!
A whale shows off his tail in this amazing whale fluke capture
Antarctica Ice
Iceberg reflections in the still water
Ice, Ice and more Ice
Old Whaling Stations
Old oil drums on abandoned whaling station
Old abandoned whaling stations can be visited when taking an expedition to Antarctica. This is a ruin on Deception Island. Back in the day it was a large whaling station where they slaughtered whales for their oil.
Crumbled building on Deception Island
Exploration
We even camped on the continent of Antarctica
Each day we’d leave the ship to go out and explore by zodiac
Our guide, Solen Kayaking around an iceberg
We spent several days kayaking in Antarctica. It was the most serene and peaceful thing we’ve ever done. There was nothing but the sound of ice crackling and our paddles dipping into the cold water. We could move silently as to not disturb wildlife and we came very close to seals sleeping on floating ice, penguins jumping and we even had a whale breach right behind our group of 12 paddlers.
Wildlife
Seal basking in the sun
this guy looks so content!
Can’t get enough of penguins
The Penguin highway in Antarctica.
A penguin checks out his own reflection
Let us be honest with you. Penguins smell. When you land on shore to observe a colony, the stench immediately hits you. It’s a mixture of fish and feces. However, they are so darn cute that soon your nose gets used to the smell and you could sit for hours watching them. We saw a lot of penguins in Antarctica, but each viewing was as exciting, cute and fascinating as the first.
We never tire of penguins in Antarctica
When visiting the continent you are not allowed to approach penguins closer than 5 meters. But, if you stand or sit very still, they may approach you and that is completely allowed!
A whole lotta penguin love going on
Stunning Beauty
A glorious way to start the day
Brash Ice leads out from an Iceberg
Snowcapped mountains of Antarctica’s mainland in the distance
A stop at the British Base is a must. You can do some shopping and send a postcard home!
Whale bones pieced together to make a full whale carcass. It’s huge!
Whale bones are common to see when walking on beach shores at abandoned whaling stations.
The tranquil scenery of Antarctica
Paddling the calm waters of Paradise Bay, Antarctica
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