Antarctic Adventure Begins - Aboard MV The World!

Many of you have heard that I have signed on to participate in two expeditions to the Antarctic this Austral summer. I'm typing this at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, prepared to make an overnight flight to Buenos Aires and then Ushuaia Argentina.

It has been 13 years since I last visited the Antarctic. Back then, I was still shooting film and this will be my first visit to the White Continent with a digital camera. To say that I am excited about this adventure is an understatement. But, like most things in life, all of that is tempered by the fact that my lovely wife Helen will be left to tend the home fires without me for a few weeks (hardly though as she has plans to spend quality time with the grandchildren in Phoenix and take a few hikes into the Grand Canyon - she never sits around waiting for life to come to her - she goes out and gets it!). Thank you Helen for allowing me this opportunity to be an explorer again! Our rendezvous in January will be fantastic and I am already looking forward to it.

I will be sailing on a very unique ship this time, The World. She is a privately owed "yacht" with nearly 200 private residences. She is over 600 feet long and easily the largest ship I have ever sailed on. Check out some of her past voyages and other details at this web site.

Attached are a few of my previous Antarctic photos from the 1990's and early 2000's. As always, thanks for reading my blog. I am hopeful that I can post from the White Continent.

Pampa Strait - February, 2002. Of course the weather isn't always this nice but when it is, there is no place more beautiful.

Antarctic trips often include sea kayaking these days, this scene just off Anvers Island, January, 2000.

Vista from the top of Paulet Island, February 1994. Note the ship off shore of the island and the whitish areas on the beach. These whitish areas are all penguins - there are up to 20,000 nesting pairs in this view.

Chinstrap penguins at Bailey Head, Deception Island in 1994. This is a class 5.9 landing and not often attempted but well worth the effort.

Patterns in penguin rookery, Bailey Head, Deception Island.

Penguins are often the initial attraction for people to Antarctica but the landscape soon takes over. It will be my pleasure to share some of the spectacular scenes from this icy wonderland such as this scene from Charlotte Bay. The mountains here rise 3,000 feet from the shoreline (bottom) and are draped in about five hundred feet of ice and crevasse. Till the next time, cheers.