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Antarctica penguin rookery

Remote and rugged, Antarctica is filled with exotic wildlife, and its monumental, other-worldly scenery is beautiful in a way that staggers the imagination. When ancient Greeks went exploring, they called the farthest place they could dream of Ultima Thule. And today, Antarctica remains the farthest place out there; to explore it is to enter our planet’s ultimate Ultima Thule.

We sail south on splendidly outfitted and surprisingly comfortable ice-strengthened ships and even an icebreaker, complete with bar/lounges and libraries, and private baths for most cabins. (They also have a clinic and physician on board, and satellite telephone and fax capacities for incoming calls and faxes.) On-board naturalists lecture, hobnob, and help identify the Last Continent’s lavish wildlife. Our voyages from Ushuaia, Argentina, head into Drake’s Passage, where crabeater, Weddell, and leopard seals, pods of orcas, and fleets of seabirds bring the seas and skies to life. We weave in and out of celebrated ice and sea-mountain passages, and Zodiac ashore on the Antarctic Peninsula and the spectacular South Shetlands to hike, study, and photograph the teeming wildlife. Departing from Tasmania, we explore the Ross Sea, socializing with emperor penguins and investigating the mysterious Dry Valleys, Franklin Island, historic Terra Nova Bay, and the incredible Drygalski Ice Tongue. On first seeing mainland Antarctica from the Ross Sea, Robert Falcon Scott observed with bookkeeperish precision that “the golden light on this wonderful scene of mountain and ice satisfies every claim of scenic magnificence.”
Antarctica travel map
A Semi-Circumnavigation of Antarctica (2008) A Semi-Circumnavigation of Antarctica: The Phantom Coast
Highlights: Ushuaia, South Shetland Islands, Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas, Ross Ice Shelf
Antarctic islands: South Georgia penguins An Explorer's Antarctica
Highlights: On-board naturalists, South Georgia Island, Paradise Bay, Anvers Island, King George Island, Port Lockroy, Le Maire Channel, Deception Island, South Shetlands, penguins, seals
South Georgia Island - Shackleton Crossing South Georgia Island - Shackleton Crossing
Highlights: Antarctic Peninsula, South Orkney Islands, Bay of Isles, Albatross Island, Stromness Bay, Grytviken, Dave Hahn crossing leader, Peter Hillary adventurer in residence
Great Antarctic Explorers - Ross Sea Expedition The Ross Sea Expedition: Great Antarctic Explorers
Highlights: Scott's hut, 1901-1904 Discovery Hut at McMurdo Sound, Sir Ernest Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds, hut at Cape Adare, penguin rookeries, Dry Valleys, Antarctic exploration
Emperor Penguin Safari Walking with the Emperor Penguins
Highlights: Icebreaker, Weddell Sea, Emperor Penguin rookery, Snow Hill island, Antarctic Peninsula
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