This morning I woke to ice on three sides of the ship. Being trapped with ice all around made for a wonderfully peaceful night of sleep and I felt energized all day. Weather around the ship was beautiful – sun poking through the sky and relatively warm. Unfortunately, 20 miles away, surrounding Snow Hill, was a wall of clouds that made helicopter visits to the emperor penguin rookery impossible. No [...]
What a day! Today we entered Antarctic Sound, also known as Iceberg Alley. And what a place it is! Gigantic table icebergs float everywhere, and on smaller ‘bergs Adelie penguins perch in the dozens. I’ve seen one seal as well and this morning a whale rose near the ship. The ice is getting thicker as we enter the Weddell Sea and the ship now shakes occasionally with the impact. Less [...]
The ship has been rocking back and forth since around 2 am this morning. Swells look to be about 12 feet high, and the crew calls this the Drake Lake. This is versus the Drake Shake which is what I’m hoping for on the return trip. A few of my fellow travelers hope for the same, but we’re definitely in the minority. Most passengers are walking around with the little [...]
The Pacuare is located between Costa Rica’s coastal lowlands and the country’s highest mountain range. Besides being home to thousands of species of birds, insets, reptiles and mammals, Pacuare is home to Costa Rica’s most important nesting ground for leatherback turtles. On our Turtles and Rainforest trip, our travelers have the unique opportunity to visit the Pacuare Reserve and stay at an active scientific research station, which doubles as lodging [...]
From Patagonia to Costa Rica, traveler, Shannon Beineke, weighs in on ecolodges and the regions where you can relax your head, take in remarkable surroundings and enjoy examples of effective ecotourism at work.
Last week came news from the Galapagos National Park that Lonesome George — the last Pinta Island Tortoise in the world — may yet become a father. 5 perfect eggs were found in the nest of one of the two female tortoises that share a corral with ol’ George. It will be another 120-130 days before the incubation process is completed and before it is known if the eggs are [...]
Located in the Yucatan Peninsula, tiny Belize is bordered by Mexico in the north and Guatemala to the west. But don’t let its size fool you. Only 14,270 square miles wide, Belize is home to the largest barrier reef in the Western hemisphere offering some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world. Traveler, Christa Visperas, elaborates below and shares some of the best locations in Belize [...]
Happy Mother’s Day! In celebration of the day’s holiday, I thought I’d share one of my favorite mother-daughter trip journals. Adventure Life staff member, Julia Kocubinski, and her mom, Sue, took a trip to Ecuador’s cloudforest, Quito, Banos, and the wildlife rich Galapagos Islands last November.
The following article was written by Galapagos traveler M. Sparga. Thanks for the contribution! The first time I went to the Galapagos Islands, one of my traveling companions had his cap blow off into the sea while we took a dinghy from our cruise ship to one of the islands. Another tourist joked that we would probably run into a sea lion wearing the cap later that [...]
