The Traveling Widower

Tag: antarctica

  • More Antarctica Photography

    December 18th, 2025

    After two full weeks of puttering around the house, I finally dedicated a day to go through the two 500GB SD cards that I used for the Sony A7 cameras (A7IV, A7RV) on the Antarctica trip. Most of the images I have posted so far on the blog or Facebook, were captured with my phone, with a smattering of images from the cameras from a cursory pass I made of the SD cards while still traveling. I’ve just been lazy, putting this task off until yesterday. 

    This turned into a significant effort:

    1. Each card had at least 1300 separate images, each with a JPEG and RAW version. You can shoot a lot with 10 frames-per-second.
    2. I first went through each of the JPEG versions, deleting duplicates or images that I knew I’d never do anything with. Digital cameras are wonderful – unlike film, it costs nothing to take a lot of lousy shots. But if you take hundreds of images, you still have to review each one. 
    3. After going through the JPEG versions, I used the list of remaining JPEG’s to compare with the RAW images, and delete the same files. Once that was done, I then did a backup of the remaining images to my two archive drives. I will probably need a new, dedicated archive drive sometime in the near future. More toys. 
    4. Phew!  That was a lot of work. I decided I needed a glass of wine after that. 

    The end result of this process is about 650 images that need a more detailed review – still a lot, but much better than 2600, and all of them are pretty darn good. Some are amazing, and really capture the vastness, magnificence and beauty of the ice covered Antarctic landscape. And of course, there were more fun images of penguins. 

    So now I have to work on the remaining batch images, and determine which ones I want to submit for club competitions, print on acrylic (I’m turning my house into a photo gallery), or just share with friends and family (and everyone else) on the blog. I’ll probably take my time on this, but will eventually wind up with about 50 or so, “keepers”. Maybe more. A lot more. I might wind up just putting together a digital photo book for the trip, and post that on the blog.

    I have also started reviewing some of the videos I shot with my phone and the Sony A7IV camera. I have just started dabbling with video this past year, first with the GoPro, and just recently with my latest Pixel phone. I had never used the slow motion or time lapse feature that are available on both iPhone and Android cameras – fun stuff. I also tried out video on the Sony camera once or twice on the trip, since it is supposed to be one of the best features of this camera. I intend to post one or two of those in the next day or two.

    And finally, since this post seems to have evolved into another discussion on photography, I’m buying myself a Christmas present today – a new camera lens. I mentioned before that I really want to reduce the amount of gear I bring along on each trip. The camera backpack I lugged around in airports this past trip weighed in at 20lbs. That did not seem so bad on the trip down to Ushuiai, but seemed to weigh even more on the way back, as I dragged my tired body through seemingly miles of airport corridors. I also want to avoid having to carry two cameras on hikes if at all possible. It was really difficult managing two heavy cameras/lenses while stumbling around on the snow and ice when we were visiting the penguin colonies – we were not allowed to put anything on the snow, so I had to have someone hold my pack while I switched cameras. Awkward at best. 

    I’m hoping that the Tamron 25-200 lens will become my go-to for most on-shore activities, and only travel with that and the 150-500 lens. And then there is the Baja trip in February – we are limited to 6.5 pounds for carry-on, and 30 pounds for the checked bag. The Sony A7R5 weighs 4.5 pounds with a lens, and my smallest camera bag weighs 2 pounds. I will likely only bring the new lens for this trip, and one camera body. Ouch. The GoPro will fit in my pocket, or in the duffel bag. And I will have my phone as well. If the grey whales do what they are supposed to (come up to the boats for a back rub), then I should not need the long lens.

    OK, enough geeky camera stuff. Here’s a couple of images from my recent review. Oh, and I will have a post or two before February – I’m heading off to the coast in January, to visit the elephant sea lion colony at the Ano Nuevo State Park. They have docent-led walks to watch the huge males fight during mating season. No penguins though.

    A since I mentioned it, short video clip, as we cruised through an ice field:

    And maybe a few images:

  • Antarctic Wrap-up

    December 1st, 2025

    ”Hey it’s good to be back home again”
    “Sometimes, this old house, feels like a long lost friend”
    ”Yes and hey it’s good to be back home again”
    John Denver, Back Home Again

    I finally made it home after 19 hours of flight-time collectively on three separate flights starting in Ushuaia Argentina, to Santiago Chile, to Atlanta and then finally to Sacramento. Phew. I put in a couple of miles of walking though airport terminals, waited in security and customs lines multiple times, had some pretty good meals (1st class on international flights), and managed a few solid hours of sleep for a change. It’s now Monday, and I’m pretty much back to my boring life – it’s weird being alone again after sharing this incredible experience with 130 people, many of whom knew me by name (and not just because we wore name tags). But, it’s still nice to be home, and I’m looking forward to light meals, no alcohol, and working out daily. And I already go my chipped tooth repaired! My dentist said the Lindblad physician did a great job with the temporary fix.

    With all the idle time on airplanes and airport lounges, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on this trip, resulting in the last post on this trip – how sad. Nothing to write about for a while. 

    Overall rating – Superb/Beyond Belief/Best Ever 

    We had the cruise finale meeting the last evening at sea, where the Lindblad captain said that this had been an extraordinary trip, even from his lengthy experience in the Antarctic. We went further south, beyond the Antarctic Circle, than cruise ships normally go, and went through thick ice fields to an uncharted bay, filled with moving masses of ice…and managed to send out Zodiacs for 2 hour exploration rides through the ice, and even let the kayaks out to play (but closer to the ship), all the while the captain and bridge crew had to keep moving the Resolution to dodge icebergs (phew..quite the run-on sentence). That one day was an extraordinary experience.

    Pretty much every stop we made was a step beyond anything I’ve seen or done before. We visited four separate penguin colonies, each filled with hundreds or thousands of these amazing little critters. Just watching them waddling around, swimming and porpoising in the ocean, or stealing rocks from their neighbors nests, was a sight to behold. The scenery around each site was beyond belief. I want to come back and see the penguin chicks some day, and definitely want to see the larger penguins (King) in the South Georgia Islands. Maybe 2027 (already looking into a cruise there).

    Every outing was different, and they were not all focused on penguins. We explored an old, abandoned British research station (Station W) on the Detaille Island – it’s been maintained as a self-service museum of sorts, in pristine condition, still filled with old cans of food, games, clothing, radio equipment. And a really disgusting looking bathroom (just a wood plank with a hole in it – and the researchers had to clean it out). I forgot how many men stayed there – about 16 I think. They must have been good friends. It was an interesting stop, and we all hiked up a hill for some great views of the surrounding coastline and glaciers. 

    I’ve already described our ‘stable shore ice’ outing – that was incredible. And like most of our time in the Antarctic, there were penguins and seals flopping around. It always paid to have your phone or a camera handy since wildlife just seemed to pop up on the ice out of nowhere. Catching those images was pure luck – which I never seem to have. I did get to try out ship hauling – who knew that this was a potential career for me.

    Another stop I have not written about was Crystal Bay(not sure about the name) – this was scheduled as a Zodiac/Kayak opportunity and once again, we lucked out with perfect weather. Blue skies, little if any wind, and a perfectly flat sea. There was not much wildlife to see, other than a couple of humpback whales (fluke shot below), but cruising through the icebergs was fun – lots of interesting shapes making for good photo opportunities.

    All NatGeo/Lindblad cruises allow 24/7 access to the bridge – I’ve checked with some of the other expedition type cruise companies, and from what I can tell, you have to get permission. The bridge on the Resolution was amazing – high tech, lots of room for guests to wander around, plus there was a large observation area in front, which looked down the very unique bow of the ship. The captain gave a 2 hour presentation on the design of the ship – it is an absolutely amazing ship. The bridge though was special – you could stand behind the pilot’s “Captain Kirk” chair, and get the same view they had of the navigation and camera view screens arrayed in front, and watch as they manipulated the thrusters and engine pods with what looked like game controls. It was a tech geeks dream to watch as they maneuvered through narrow gaps in the ice flows. 

    I am truly blessed to be immune to wave motion on ships – so many of the passengers had to deal with motion sickness during the Drake Passage (both directions). I slept like a baby. The ship’s physician was extremely busy those days. For me, I kind of enjoyed the passage – there was a lot to see – Humpback and Orca whales, and flocks of sea birds. I spent a lot of time out on the observation decks during out passage to Anatactica, attempting to photograph the different Albatross and Petrels swooping around the ship. The passage back to Ushuaia was rougher, but still not too bad. The forecast was bad for the next group going out – we lucked out.

    Overall, with our bonus day for getting there early, we spent almost 6 days wandering around Antarctica, covering a large area. The ship’s path in map below, when expanded (not able to do that in the blog) looks like someone just scrawled blind-folded on the map.

    I have so many photos to curate from this trip…and a lot of videos of ocean waves, floating ice, and stumbling penguins. I might eventually do a ‘best of’ and/or a slide show, and post them. Everyone loves penguins. Plus, I get to learn something new.

    I enjoyed sharing my trip on this blog. I hope you found this interesting. Comments are always welcome.