My gift to you.....more Antarctica photos!!!

From our "tourist day" at Tierra del Fuego National Park. We had a bus ride, a short hike, photo ops at the end of the world and a big asado (barbecue). I saw a few birds here and there but didn't have a book so I let it slide. The Magellanic Woodpecker lives in the park but we were not lucky enough to view it. Think Pileated but HUGE and black.

The photos above and below are from the day we landed on the Antarctic Peninsula. As you may recall, we had to stick to the South Shetlands Islands due to the unbroken fast ice surrounding the peninsula. This was the day we earned our certificate for making our Antarctic continental landing....honestly, it was underwhelming. I mean, I'm not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth but our time on the continent was not any more amazing than the rest of the trip.....except for the certificate suitable for framing. Anyway, there was a Brazilian station (unoccupied at the time) where we got out and milled around for awhile. The photo below is the coolest because the huge mountain in the background is part of the peninsula and is just a taste of how spectacular the scenery is. It reminded me of what Denali looked like.....simply massive.....and I was sorry we weren't able to see more.

Deception Island

Another research station....can't remember whose this was.

Fancy a Shag on the snow?

I Love shadow pictures...especially with penguin footprints.

Yes, we saw another ship! Notice how we are all fascinated....we waved a lot but they didn't wave back. We think. Not sure. Either way, our boat was the best boat.