The Traveling Widower

Tag: photography

Top level category for photography related posts

  • Ice Everywhere

    November 24th, 2025

    This is one of those rare trips where the bar just keeps getting set higher every day in terms of how you’ve set your expectations for the potential activities of the day. It just gets better and better. I thought the two penguin colony visits would be hard to beat, but I was way wrong.

    Yesterday (Monday) was the start of our trip back North, eventually heading back through the Drake Passage to Ushuaia. The NatGeo team was hoping to visit two locations this day, both with penguin colonies, each of which offered potential opportunities for getting onshore, hiking, and maybe kayaking as well. The itinerary each day was always filled with “potentials” and “hopefull” activities. And plenty of alternatives.

    I was up early, mostly dressed with the necessary layers of clothing, and headed up for breakfast on the 8th level lounge. The weather was brisk, but clear. As we were eating and conversing, I noticed that the sea was suddenly filled with patches of small chunks of ice (referred to as brash). As we continued on, the brash patches became a continuous sheet, and larger chunks of ice were mixed in (called bergerbits….really). And then the ship started rolling – once they hit patches of ice, they had to pull in the side stabilizers which control rolling. The chunks soon turned into much larger chunks, and soon we were cruising through sizable icebergs. Bigly ones, all shapes and sizes. 

    As we approached our destination, it became obvious that we would not be hiking, penguin watching, kayaking or even Zodiak cruising. Time for Plan B. We did pass by another cruise ship, the first we’ve seen, which had cleared a small patch around the ship, and had a few Zodiacs out in the water. But there was no possible way to approach the shore.

    The Resolution captain helped to design this ship, and is an absolute expert in Antarctic navigation. The Resolution is extremely high-tech – it has four separate engine pods which can turn 360 degrees, plus there are fore and aft thrusters. The ship can literally stop on a dime, turn in any direction and remain in a stationary position using the thrusters. It also has state of the art sounding equipment, and a drone for remote navigation. So, off we went, picking out way through the ice pack, and using the drone to find the best channel out to a rarely visited bay where hopefully, we could get out and enjoy the beautiful day.

    The trip through the ice fields was incredible – most of the passengers were glued to the observation decks or lounge windows, watching the strange shaped icebergs as we slowly worked through the maze of ice. There was a constant bump and grind as ship either ran over or pushed aside the ice. It was a beautiful day to be outside as well – bright and sunny, a bit over freezing and not too much wind. Eventually, we made it to this incredible bay, surrounded by glaciers and peaks, with enough clear water for the ship to stay in position and launch the kayaks and zodiacs. The water was perfectly still..but the icebergs were all moving around. More on that in a bit. 

    I decided, for the second time, to pass on kayaking and just head out on one of the Zodiac boat tours. You see more, go further, and do not have to worry about getting an expensive camera wet. I was lucky for once to get a front seat on the pontoon side, which makes it easier to get unobstructed views for photography – no arms, heads or orange jackets in the way. It was absolutely incredible winding our way though huge icebergs, with all kinds of weird shapes, and eventually making our way to the edge of the glacier. I must have said “Wow” a hundred times. Words just cannot describe some of what we saw. 

    Navigating through this maze was a challenge since most of the icebergs are floating and moving about with the wind, tides and currents. Channels that we moved through on the way in were blocked sometimes, but there was always an alternative path to follow (although one boat was stuck for a while until the ice moved). After an hour of cruising, our boat driver began picking our way back to the ship – and this is when we started finding wildlife. Penguins of course. Some feeding on krill in the water, and a few lazing around on the icebergs.

    We also encountered a crab eater seal (they don’t really eat crabs) lazing away on an ice flow, close to the ship – nice photo op.

    Once everyone was back on board, the real fun started for the captain and bridge crew – finding a way out to the main passage. It was slow going the entire way since there was thick brash, and many larger chunks and icebergs the entire way.

    It was fun being able to stay on the bridge, watching the pilot in the Captain Kirk seat, working the controls, making minute adjustments to point the ship through narrow spaces between the icebergs. Not a good time to make a mistake. They all gave a sigh of relief when we made it to the main channel. This was a big deal for the captain and the crew – we visited an area that was uncharted, and most likely never visited by a commercial cruise liner. 

    What a great day. I’m still having a hard time coming up with the right words to describe how incredibly beautiful this place is. Unfortunately, the trip is almost over, but I’ll have a lot of really special memories engrained in my brain. I needed some recent happy memories – definitely got some from this trip

  • An Amazing First Day

    November 21st, 2025

    This post will cover what turned out to be a bonus day on the trip. Usually, it takes a full two days to traverse the Drake Passage, and activities begin the day following our arrival. The passage was kind to us (although there were a few who required medical assistance) – no extremely heavy seas, and we made it through fast enough to arrive at the tip of Antarctica mid-day Thursday. The day started out well – clear skies, and we awoke with the ship surrounded by Humpback whales. I opened my curtains to view spouts everywhere. There were also Orca’s out there as well. 

    Since we were cruising along to hopefully reach a location where we could get out on the ice to visit a penguin colony, the ship did not stop for the whales. But it was still an amazing sight to see so many of the critters, including a big pod of Orca’s. There were also large numbers of sea birds following the ship – 3 or 4 types of albatrosses, and a bunch of others I’m not familiar with. The observation decks were crowded with bird watchers and photographers for the first two days of the trip.

    The first view of Antarctica is astounding as you get closer to see the details of the huge peaks and walls of ice.

    At this point, most everyone was dressed in their orange parkas, standing out in the viewing areas photographing the incredible scenery.

    And to celebrate reaching our destination, the staff came out with trays of bubbly. Hot cocoa with Baily’s Irish Crème would have been better. It was really cold out there. I’m glad I found my old expedition hat – toasty warm. We keep the orange coat, which has a fleece jacket inside.

    The NG trip leads decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and our early arrival by scheduling our first excursion – the passengers were split into multiple groups and then shipped off for either a Zodiac cruise around the icebergs, or a hike on shore to view a penguin colony (you got to do both). This was the first time we had to get fully dressed with multiple layers, along with the incredibly heavy/awkward much boots, and the ever present life vest for the time spent on the Zodiac. By the time you are fully dressed, you kind of look like an orange penguin, sort of waddling around. 

    The landing was something of a challenge to get up a rocky, icy slope from the Zodiac, but staff members were spaced out to help the decrepit old folks like myself. The rest of the hike to the main penguin colonies was just a walk in a snowy path. Sort of like being back in Colorado. Hiking sticks helped a lot.

    The penguins, mostly Gentoo, were all over the place – large and small grouping and individuals wandering around on the penguin highways which are paths worn into the snow. The ground around the large groups was stained red from the bird poop and the fragrance was quite strong. Sort of like passing by a sea lion population. We had an hour or so to wander around the colonies – it was an amazing experience, not just seeing the penguins – the view of the glaciers, snow covered peaks, glaciers and icebergs was overwhelming – I was speechless at times. Plus the weather was absolutely perfect – an almost cloudless skies and temperatures in the balmy 30’s

    And now for a few penguin photos:

    There were times while I was wandering around in the snow, that I just had to stop and take in the incredible beauty of the moment. This was a lot like the time in Glacier Bay, where I put down the camera and just soaked in the incredible solitude and magnificence of the surrounding landscape. This was even better. 

    This was posted a few days since we visited the penguin colonies. I’ve been shooting hundreds of photos each day, and just have not had a chance to keep with the blog, and probably will not post again for another day or two. Every day is filled with excursions and activities on the ship, and I’m not getting a lot of sleep either. The sun does not set until 11:30 right now, and sunrise is just a few hours after that. It’s very weird going to sleep at 11:00PM with the sun just starting to set. My internal clock is really messed up. 

    9:30PM…..still daylight

    But the strange lighting makes for some photographs.