Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica Trip

One day in January 2012 I was on my own in the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park, about a four hour drive from my home in Missoula, Montana, watching wolves. The temperature was -20F. Two weeks later I was in the Antarctic, where it was never less than 50 degrees warmer. Go figure. Traveling from Missoula is seldom easy. The voyage to the Antarctic began with four flights, to Minneapolis, Atlanta, Buenos Aires and, finally, Ushuaia. Although there is some dispute about this, Ushuaia is generally considered to be the southernmost city in the world. It is situated on the Beagle Channel, named for the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin's famous research vessel.

After a late evening arrival in Ushuaia, I had a full day free to explore the city before the scheduled time to board our vessel, the MV Ortelius. The Ortelius is an ice-strengthened vessel built in Poland in 1989 for the Russian Academy of Science. Now Dutch owned, it was operated by a Russian crew and a multinational expedition staff - German, Danish, and Argentine. The passengers were mostly European, along with five Americans and others from Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand, a truly eclectic group. I spent my day in Ushuaia walking along the waterfront, photographing birds - species of terns, gulls, cormorants, geese, and a caracara, that were all new to me. It was windy, but the temperature was in the fifties, so it was comfortable with a fleece top and a medium weight wind breaker. It was a wonderful way to begin the adventure. At 6:00 PM I boarded the Ortelius and was shown to my cabin, which I was sharing with two other men, one from the Netherlands and the other from Chile. I've been on a number of large ship cruises (not my ideal vacation but they were corporate trips) and each began with an emergency drill in which the passengers collected their life preservers and gathered at an assigned public area. The Ortelius, too, had a safety drill, but in this one we all boarded one of the two lifeboats - a useful exercise, and an experience that makes me quite happy that there was no need to use the lifeboats except for the drill.

Under the command of a pilot we headed out of port and east into the Beagle Channel, bound for the Falkland Islands. Meanwhile, we gathered for dinner and our first presentation by the expedition staff. And we were told that we should prepare for weather once the pilot disembarked and we entered the South Atlantic. I'm fortunate in that I don't get seasick, so the ocean conditions didn't trouble me. Attendance at meals throughout the first full day at sea, however, was somewhat limited. And the conditions were challenging for photography. I was able to get some reasonable photos of Northern Giant Petrels (yes, ''northern,'' - we were in Antarctica before we saw any Southern Giant Petrels), Black-browed Albatross and Southern Royal Albatross, along with a storm petrel - how do such small birds survive in the open ocean? I say ''reasonable photos,'' and in the edited format they are, but in the unedited versions the horizons were often 20 or 30 degrees off horizontal, the result of the motion of the ship through the wind and waves. The conditions made it impossible to stand on the foredeck but I was able to find some spots near the stern from which to observe and photograph, and spent almost every available moment there. The ocean is a special place, particularly in heavy weather.

The next morning we were in what felt like calm water, at West Point Island, off the northwest point of West Falkland. When the expedition staff tried to land, however, they determined that the surf conditions were too rough for a safe landing. (All our landings, except the next day at Stanley, were wet; the ship provided high rubber boots, necessary for the landings and for what they called ''mud'' - but with millions of penguins on shore we knew better.) The disappointment was palpable, as West Point is where we had hoped to see Rockhopper Penguins and nesting Black-browed Albatross. We did see some rockhoppers in the water, but it wasn't the same. To understand why, I recommend viewing the BBC/David Attenborough series from 1993, ''Life in the Freezer.'' Nothing I could say can match viewing the episode of that series that includes the rockhoppers - which we watched the previous night on the ship. As for the Black-browed Albatross, it had become a favorite of mine when I first saw one (albeit of a different population) in New Zealand.

We were back on the ship by 6:00, and on our way to South Georgia Island, more than two days to the southeast. Once again I spent whatever time I could on deck, although in 20-30 foot seas it was often difficult to find a spot where it was possible to manipulate binoculars and camera and at the same time maintain secure footing. Still, there were Black-browed Albatross, Wandering Albatross, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, petrels, prions, storm petrels and shearwaters. And thanks to digital cameras, which allow manipulation of images to straighten horizons and magnification of a portion of an image I was able to get photos that were good enough to satisfy me. One would have to see the unmanipulated photos to appreciate fully what I mean.

I was scarcely prepared for South Georgia. I had, of course, read about Ernest Shackleton, and knew generally about his trek across the mountains and glaciers of South Georgia after having crossed the Southern Ocean in an open boat with five of his crew. But I was unprepared for the scale of the mountains and the abundance of glaciers. The only flat areas were right along the coast, and not even there in many places. It is a stark and incredibly beautiful place - a place that one hopes can be preserved. South Georgia has very strict requirements for visiting ships. Visits are limited to 72 hours. Boots and other gear must be washed between landings so as to avoid transferring biological material from one site to another. The number of visitors allowed on shore at certain locations is limited, so we were taken ashore in two shifts. And the ship was required to be blacked out at night to avoid lights from the ship attracting birds (mostly prions and petrels) that fly to and from shore after dark, thereby avoiding predators.

South Georgia has very strict requirements for visiting ships. Visits are limited to 72 hours. Boots and other gear must be washed between landings so as to avoid transferring biological material from one site to another. The number of visitors allowed on shore at certain locations is limited, so we were taken ashore in two shifts. And the ship was required to be blacked out at night to avoid lights from the ship attracting birds (mostly prions and petrels) that fly to and from shore after dark, thereby avoiding predators.