Antarctica – 2007

Feb. 10, 2007 

We left L.A. Airport a few days ago and flew to Santiago Chile. We spent a few days in Santiago, seeing its sites.

We took a tour of the city and saw many beautiful buildings and the park up on the hill. We then sailed for Argentina.

We spent a few days in Argentina and visited a cattle ranch. We had a fine dinner of thick, beef steaks with all of the trimmings and watched the gauchos do their stuff with ropes and horses.

The ship we sailed on was a small icebreaker. The crew was well trained and treated us very well.

We had docents who spoke to us about what we were to see everyday.

We went out often to see the whales and take pictures of them from our small “pangas” quite near by. It was a little alarming at how close we were able to get to the whales.

That water is very cold, and if you go in, you’re gone in a few moments one way or the other.

The views of the ice bergs were incredible. The ice changes color the older it is and the farther down you look to the bottom of the berg. The water is perfectly clear.

We went to several stoney beaches, left the pangas and even walked through a camp used by the early explorers. There were still canned goods on the shelves in the broken down building.

It was a little creepy to be in a camp used so many years ago. The men who lived here are all long dead.

The walruses cover the beach and you must be careful to keep your distance. They don’t like people blocking their escape routes to the sea.

We have seen all of the unending wildlife that exists, here.

The penguins came up to us and pecked our trousers to see what they tasted like. They were not impressed.

These animals have not been hunted here for a very long time and have little fear of man.

The cycle of life goes on here as it does everywhere. The animals all have young ones to feed and must kill or be killed.

Perfection