THESE IMAGES ARE FROM A 2014 TRIP TO THE ANTARCTICA PENINSULA. FOR MORE -- AND QUITE DIFFERENT -- IMAGES, FROM A 2008 TRIP, CLICK HERE, TO LOOK AT THAT GALLERY.
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Antarctica is an extraordinary place, both for the extremes of its mountains and ice shelves and for the vast population of birds and marine animals. The Antarctic Peninsula itself juts northward about 1,200 miles, from the Weddell Sea toward South America. Interestingly, it is the only part of Antarctica that lies north of the Antarctic Circle; and the northern tip of the Peninsula is only 600 miles south of Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America. The Drake Passage, which separates the two, is notoriously rough, and the passage can be quite an ordeal. The Antarctic Peninsula is the destination for almost all Antarctic cruises. Unlike the Arctic, which is only an ice sheet, the Antarctic is a continent, and quite a dramatic one. The mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula are high, with peaks rising more than 9,000 feet, and are generally considered to be a continuation of the Andes of South America.
Elephant Seals, Elephant Point, Telefon Bay 0707
Weddell Seal, Elephant Point, Telefon Bay 0714
Cierva Cove 0750
Cierva Cove 0869
Cierva Cove 0854
Cierva Cove 0881
Gentoo Penguin, Cierva Cove 0920
Crabeater Seal, Cierva Cove 0936
Crabeater Seal, Cierva Cove 0951
Crabeater Seal, Danco Island 2044
Cierva Cove 0963
Gentoo Penguins, Cierva Cove 1003
Gentoo Penguins, Cierva Cove 1006
Gentoo Penguin, Cierva Cove 1012
Gentoo Penguin, Port Lockroy 1140
Gentoo Penguins, Elephant Point, TelefonBay 0689
Gentoo Penguins, Yalour Islands 1670
Too close to a carnivorous & predatory Leopard Seal, Yalour Islands 1627