Antarctica! Half Moon IslandOur first official stop in Antarctica was at Half Moon Island. I visited this island during my previous trip to Antarctica, but only by kayak, so this was my first time on shore (and my husband’s first time setting foot on Antarctica!).
We loaded into our zodiacs and headed to shore. They dropped us off on one end of the island and we then made our way by foot across to the other end. There were low-lying clouds that made the surrounding scenery look really spectacular - glaciers peeking out as the clouds shifted and moved - deep shades of blue, black and white surrounding us!
Once we arrived at the far side of the island, we were able to spend time in a rookery of chinstrap penguins. Though I saw them on my last trip, I saw them parenting and chasing around their chicks. This time, I had the chance to watch them in the hilarious process of nesting. We watched as penguin after penguin stole pebbles from their neighbors nest, bringing them to their own to build up their walls - only to have another penguin come and steal one of their pebbles. It seemed like such a fruitless labor - taking one, losing one, taking one, losing one, but it was entertaining to watch.
We hiked around to the different rookeries and then made our way down to the beach to relax and watch the penguins play in the waves. The nests were up on top of a tall hill (well, tall by penguin standards), and we could only imagine that their constant trips back and forth from the shore to the nest were exhausting (sometimes just to carry that perfect pebble...that will most likely be stolen as soon as it is in place)!
After a good couple of hours enjoying the “show”, we made our way back to our zodiacs and returned to the ship where we were greeted with a wonderful “warm-up” drink, complete with alcohol!
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.