Tuesday, March 30, 2010

ANTARCTICA: Charlene is back

Charlene and son Donovan had a great "adventure of a lifetime" on their trip. Several images from the trip and journal thoughts are posted below.

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February 8: Snares Island -
one of the New Zealand sub-antarctic islands

Snares crested penguins, they live only here

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February 14: At Sea -
on the Southern Ocean aboard the Spirit of Enderby

Seven foot plus swells
Outside decks closed to us-Not Safe!
Bridge was fun - took this picture - hang on,
the pitch was like a roller coaster!

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February 16: Cape Adare -
we are at 70.54 degrees south latitude

A view of Cape Adare
Too much pack ice, from a storm, against the shore to land
On way to the Ross Sea, will try again on our return

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February 19: Cape Evans, Antartica -
location of explorer Robert Scott's Terra Nova hut

Adele penguins on our way to the hut
Our vessel Spirit of Enderby is in the distance
Icy, rough zodiac landing
We were in a holding pattern for awhile to see if winds and swells would drop so we could land
Only the most fit were advised to try it - and the hike to the hut

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March 1: Campbell Island -
another of the New Zealand sub-antarctic islands

The narrow board trail to the top of the ridge - for views, and albatross, and hiking through tussock grasses
This also shows some of the terrain and our vessel Spirit of Enderby in the distance
Some sun today and not as cold as Antarctica!
This was taken at the beginning of the trail -
we hiked up for 45-50 minutes

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March 1: Campbell Island -
Bay (of) Campbell Island

View as we hiked up the narrow board trail to be with the albatrosses and view the lovely scenery
A bit of sun today

More later . . .

Monday, March 29, 2010

ANTARCTICA: Map of Charlene's Travels

Our travels near New Zeland, at beginning and end of the trip

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Our travels on and near the Antarctic continent

Friday, March 26, 2010

ANTARCTICA: Macquarie Island - February 10 & 11


Welcome
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Charlene with Royal and Gentoo penguins
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Beach landing in Zodiac on Macquarie Island.
Local residents come out to greet us.
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Charlene hangin' with the locals.
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Donovan hangin' with the locals.
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Curious, curious, curious.
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Two contestants in the Happy Feet scene look alike contest.
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Casting call for the crowd scenes in Happy Feet 2
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Gentoo penguins
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King penguins
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This was part of Joseph Hatch's Macquarie Island operation that
 harvested penguins and elephant seals for their oil. [1890 to 1919]
Obviously not my favorite spot.
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A "cord" of female elephant seals.
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A male elephant seal
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"You do know we can see you?"
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Saturday, March 20, 2010

ANTARCTICA: Bergy Bits and Pieces

February 14 - A Bergy Bit. Yes, it is an offical term.
A bergy bit is a chunk of glacial ice less than 15 feet is size.
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February 14 - A Blue Berg. The ice in the parent glacier has undergone many years of of compression, thawing and refreezing so that air originially trapped in the snow/ice is no longer part of the ice. Therefore light is not reflected around inside the ice. When light is reflected inside ice the ice appears white.
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February 16 - A large Tabular Iceberg. This massive flat-topped
iceberg was off the coast of the Antarctic mainland.
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February 16 - Shoveling ice off the deck
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Celebrating crossing the Antarctic Circle
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at 66 degrees 33 minutes 43 seconds South Latitude
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for which the "first-timers" received the Mark of the Penguin
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February 18, at 3:53 AM - We begin entering the Ross Sea
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February 18 - Headed into the ice
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