This Christmas break Ed and I had the amazing opportunity to visit our 6th continent- Antarctica! Due to a wonderful gift from a family member, amazing last minute cruise deals and Ed's awesome deal skills we embarked on a 20 day cruise from Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina with stops along the way in various small cities in Chile, Cape Horn, Southern Chile, Southern Argentina, Antarctica, Falkland Islands, and Uruguay.
I plan on sharing pieces of our trip in stages as I reflect, but will start with the icy continent.
We spent 3 days floating around the waters of Antarctica, viewing wildlife, taking lots of pictures of landscapes and enjoying the pleasant summer weather (hovering around zero degrees). We had some of the most amazing weather I could have imagined: sun for 2 days and low clouds for the third. This allowed us to want to spend times on the decks and get a wonderful view of the surroundings.
We saw so much wildlife: penguins, whales, penguins, scientists, penguins, seals, and more penguins. Did I mention penguins?
As part of our cruise we had 3 experts on board giving lectures and leading our sight seeing. They offered around 20 different lectures on topics such as: historic explorations, birds, the Antarctic treaty, living in Antarctica, and current research. Our experience was enhanced by their wonderful information and detailed commentaries as we floated along. We also stopped at one of the US stations (Palmer) and picked up 10 scientists and support staff who gave a talk and a Q&A session.
Here are ten facts I learned about Antarctica that I thought I would share with you!
1. Antarctica is not "owned" by any one country. There are 7 countries who claim territories, but that is not really counted. Antarctica is governed by the "Antarctic treaty" which was written in the 60s and any country that wants to do research or have any entrance to the continent must sign it. It governs environmental laws and the use of military.
2. Icebergs are fresh water pieces of ice broken off of glaciers.
3. The ice on Antarctica is over a mile thick. Scientists have been able to drill all to the way to the land underneath. They have even found fresh water (not frozen) under all the ice.
4. There are many rules to going to Antarctica that we had to follow: no eating or smoking on outside decks, the ship was not allow to use or carry heavy fuel, no loud noises, etc. This is to protect the natural environment and keep it as pristine as possible. We also were not able to leave the ship. The rules state that there must be less than 500 people on board (we were with about 1400) and only 100 can disembark at a time.
5. The Drake Passage (between southern South American and Antarctica) is considered one of the roughest seas in the world (we hit a great day and it was very calm).
6. There are only a few land dwelling animals native to Antarctica, the biggest being a beetle measuring 3mm in length.
7. While we were there it was just after summer solstice and it was light for 22 hours of the day.
8. Antarctic waters begin at 60 degrees South Latitude. We were as far south as 55 degrees.
9. The USA has 3 research stations. One is on the Antarctica Peninsula (where we were), one is closest to New Zealand and the third is at the geographical South Pole.
10. Antarctica is bigger than the continental United States. It is also home to the world's largest desert.
Well... there you have it! Now for some pictures!
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| We saw many whales jumping and blowing! |
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| Around the Chilean research station were a ton of penguins. |
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| The Chilean station... the brown is because of penguin poop :) |
