We are here. The Antarctic peninsula!
2 degrees and calm. Visibility variable. Sadly I am barking like a fur seal! Ah well such is life at least it is a good excuse not to do the polar plunge this afternoon. I am not sure I would have the strength to haul myself back out.
We plan to land and zodiac cruise at Portal Point.
Portal Point lies at the entrance to Charlotte Bay on the Reclus Peninsula, on the west coast of Graham Land. It was named by the British after they built a refuge hut at this site in 1956, enabling them to use a nearby snow slope as a gateway up onto the Peninsula plateau. The hut was occupied between 1956 and 1958 when regional survey and geology research were conducted. The building was dismantled in 1997 and taken to the Falkland Islands where it is now an exhibit in the museum at Stanley. (We saw it). Portal Point is surrounded by mountains, crevassed glaciers and glacial tongues that extend down to sea level. This is a continental landing!
One penguin, a few weddell seals and heaps of humpbacks and amazing ice bergs. I am still not feeling great but I was not going to miss out on standing on my seventh continent.
Garrie is grinning all the time but, as he says, taking everything in is hard. It is a dream come true. You feel as if you are in a documentary. Everywhere you turn is different.
Brightness is also overwhelming. My eyes hurt every time I took my sunglasses off to take a photo. The landscape is simply amazing.
The silence is fantastic – we could hear the humpbacks blowing from the land and we had a few come very close to the zodiac.
Our mountaineering group. Sadly I struggled to walk the flat area. I imagine their views were fantastic. Roped together in case of hidden crevasses.
Still it’s not bad down here either.
A bit hard to tell what type of seal this is but think he was a weddell.
Our walking track.
Again incredibly lucky as it was like a millpond and sometimes it can be rough and windy. Our zodiac cruise was also spectacular.
We saw the humpbacks “logging” which is when they just about come to a standstill on top of the water and are sleeping.
As much as I love the wildlife, the ice bergs are also fascinating.
Antarctic shags.
Definitely a Weddell seal this time.
Still lots of ice, whales and landscapes to enjoy on this zodiac cruise.
How amazing is the Antarctic Peninsula?
Antarctica 2019 
Colours and shapes impossibly beautiful. I so much like the granite mountains springing directly from the snow and ice. Spectacular.
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Thanks Roger. Always nice to know someone is actually reading these things. It certainly was the most spectacular holiday yet.
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Cheryl, you should turn this adventure into a travel book. It is an amazing journey and the photographs are fantastic.
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I always have the blog printed into a book but just for our pleasure. I’m not sure if you know that I am a writer? Two marketing books published via Simon & Schuster (long out of print) and a wildlife manual I self published. The novel is still a work in progress. lol. maybe I’ll get back to writing seriously one of these days.
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It is a spectacular part of the world. We sailed through the Magellan Straits and Beagle Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The scenery was staggeringly beautiful – so rugged and yet so sublime with towering mountains and glaciers coming right down to sea level. We were glued to the ship’s rail the whole day. Your adventures right onto the land and ice will stay with you for ever – and you will forget about having been a bit unwell.
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A brilliant record of your never to be forgotten journey!
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thanks John. xx
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