While on a Galapagos tour or an Antarctica cruise you can literally trip over the wildlife if you’re not paying attention. However, we can all use a little advice on spotting those elusive or skittish species. Having a great guide during your travels is always key, but here are a few other helpful tips to practice when on your wildlife adventure. 1. Get up early — turn in late. Dawn [...]
Sweepstakes is now closed. Stay tuned as we announce the lucky winner! It’s not easy to get to one of the most isolated places on the planet — but we’re making it easier than ever to make an Antarctica adventure happen for polar travelers with our Antarctica for Two Sweepstakes! Enter now for a chance to win $20,000 dollars to take you and a friend on an Antarctica cruise. Sweepstakes [...]
We always like to think that our trips are life-changing — but even we couldn’t have guessed how one Antarctica adventure would completely transform the life of one of our travelers. Adventure Life traveler, Kendra Gonnerman, contacted us last week with the following message. Dear Adventure Life, I have been wanting to write this story and let you know how one trip can change a life forever. In January, [...]
When deciding when to visit Antarctica, time of year does make a difference, but deciding which time of year is “best” depends on what you are looking at getting out of your Antarctica adventure. Specific wildlife sightings – mating season – new hatchlings – weather – icescapes – mud – penguins poo smell at its worst/best…? While January is typically considered the heart of the Antarctica travel season, visitors shouldn’t [...]
December 3, 2011 We arrived at Macquarie Island about 7am. The sea was calm and the weather was foggy with light mist. We were met by park rangers from the ANARE station for a walk around the Isthmus. The Isthmus was teaming with wildlife including huge male elephant seals, king penguins and rock hoppers. We spent about 2.5 hours on the Isthmus and then took a quick zodiac ride to [...]
December 1, 2011 and December 2, 2011 The days were spent cruising north to Macquarie Island. The time was spent attending lectures, cleaning our gear for our anticipated visit to Macquarie Island. The sea was rough with swells up to 20 -22 feet which was enough to cause some passengers to stay in their cabins. Other passengers boldly ventured outside on the fly bridge. (This is Laurie’s fourth visit to [...]
November 27, 2011 The Ross Ice Shelf came into view about noon. Size of France and is about 600 miles The vastness cannot be captured in with any lens. The icy cold winds coming off the shelf stirred my imagination about the explorers that had to tackle this massive piece of ice before beginning their journey to the south pole. November 28th, 2011 Sadly, we continued to head north out [...]
November 26th, 2011 Much to our surprise, the winds increased to 44 knots which again prevented the helicopters from flying to Ross Island for sightseeing. The expedition leader gave up on the weather and decided we should head north, approximately 140 miles northeast to the Ross ice Shelf. Then, as soon as ship started backing up, the wind speed decreased to 30 knots, just enough for us to take a [...]
November 25, 2011 Our plans for visiting McMurdo and Ross Stations, Scott’s Discovery hut at Cape Evans and hiking Observation Hill were delayed by the weather. Here in Antarctica, “weather is our master”, our expedition leader, Shane Envoy, has reminded us many times. Whiteout conditions and 40 knot winds lasted throughout the day with temperature of 30 degrees below zero when considering the wind chill factor. During the afternoon, the [...]
November 24, 2011 Our visit to the Adelie Penguin Colony was cut short by white conditions with 40 knots per hour winds. All passengers were on the island which was a ten minute helicopter ride from the icebreaker. After one hour on shore, the wind and snow flurries increased until the icebreaker was no longer visible from shore. By that time, we were spread out over a one mile stretch [...]
