@CleoQc ...At two of the stops, the weather was too rough to disembark, which is a pretty common occurrence, but we had 8 shore excursions on the trip, and the view from the ship itself is pretty stunning. There are 4 days travel (two each way) through the Drake passage, which can be pretty rough seas, though it was a bit better than average when we crossed, so I feel pretty fortunate about how the whole trip went.

@CleoQc Antarctica tourism is definitely growing in popularity. There are limits to how many people can be in any one area at a given time, so it's best to travel on a small(er) ship which can get most of its passengers ashore at one time and also navigate the narrower coves and areas which will have better shelter from wind and waves. Our ship had about 140 passengers, and we made 10 different stops to different locations on the South Shetland islands and Antarctica...

@tired_panda Good question. As far as I know, you either have to book a vacation as a tourist or become a scientist and get lucky with your research. Though I suspect that part of the reason is such a wonderful place to be is that there are so few people down there at any given time

@asga the orca

@gblues Someone pointed out that how you feel about the photo depends on whether you are watching a penguin documentary or an orca documentary.

@CleoQc It was a lucky coincidence. In early December I was at lunch with some girlfriends and one was talking about how she felt sad because the Antarctic trip she'd been invited to go on with a different friend got canceled because the company went bankrupt, and her friend wasn't able to reschedule. I said "that sounds amazing" and we made a plan then and there and 6 weeks later we were in Antarctica!

@consumablejoy right!?! I thing that somebody needs to start an all penguin cable TV channel

Since people seem to like the penguins, I have to post this photo, which somebody else on my ship took. I think it belongs in National Geographic. We saw two orcas chasing a poor penguin which darted underneath our ship multiple times to try to escape. Zoom in on the penguin's face to see its expression.

@aurochs We also saw lots of humpbacks, a fair number of orcas and a few fin whales and there were quite a few albatrosses as well

@aurochs I didn't see leopard seals but we saw Weddell seals, which always appear to be smiling beautifically in their sleep:

@consumablejoy I have literally hundreds of them, which could be a bit overwhelming, but here are a couple more:

@pixelpusher220 yes, the best way to see them is definitely in their natural habitat.

@orci I definitely considered making the attempt!

@DebC right!?!?

@aurochs yes!!! We saw Adelles and Chinstraps as well, but I found the Genroos to be the biggest hams for the camera.

@Cognissart not at all! They are super curious.

@pettter They are so delightful. I could watch them for hours on end!

I recently returned from an incredible trip to Antarctica and I need everyone to look at my penguin photos.