Bigtime Goes to Antarctica

Bigtime · #1 Posted **Jun 3, 2008, 9:33 PM**

My wife and I had the chance to travel to Antarctica with Quark Expeditions in February/March of this year. It was a fantastic experience and I would recommend it to anyone! Here are but a few pictures of the experience.

Some may ask why we chose to go down to Antarctica, besides just how damn remote and exotic it is. Well a big reason was it was the 7th and last continent for my wife to visit, and a great honeymoon trip that we will never forget!

If anyone has any interest in going, I highly encourage you to visit Quark Expeditions

Oh and one more fun fact, we had originally booked with GAP Adventures on the Explorer. Did a bit of scrambling back in late '07 when their ship sank!

Elephant Seals & Penguins

Minke whale following the ship on my birthday

On top of Danco Island

Fun with whale bones!

Paparazzi!

Hot Springs on Deception Island

Old whaling station, Deception Island

Sunset at Port Lockroy, a British station

Gentoo Penguin

Iceberg passing by the ship as we transit the Lemaire Channel

Adelie Penguin

Leopard Seal

Crabeater Seals

The Lemaire Channel, only a mile wide!

Antarctic BBQ!

The fun way down!

Our ship, the M/V Lyubov Orlova

Our penguin buddy

Just chillin' with me!
Flickr Album

ColDayMan · #2 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 12:02 AM**

Amazing.

Boris2k7 · #3 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 12:12 AM**

Very cool Bigtime. The pics turned out fantastic!

I wanna take it hooooooome!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2159/...f16537.jpg?v=0

Boris · #4 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 2:13 AM**

Awesome trip.

Tex1899 · #5 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 2:55 AM**

You win.

You're the man.

You've topped all that has been presented, and will probably not be topped...

UNTIL I GO TO ICELAND IN A FEW WEEKS!!!

And even then I'll only get to #2. You'll still be #1.

Nice photos.

Echo Park · #6 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 4:09 AM**

oh holy shi

KevinFromTexas · #7 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 4:14 AM**

Wow. What a trip. Ok, so the weather geek in me has to ask, what was the temperature?

plinko · #8 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 4:17 AM**

I was wondering about the temperature as well.

Beautiful pictures.

Jimby · #9 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 7:07 AM**

what an amazing adventure!

BnaBreaker · #10 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 10:21 AM**

Now THAT is an exotic vacation destination! I think the only thing that could top that is a vacation to The Moon. Incredible thread. Well done.

giallo · #11 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 12:50 PM**

A trip of a lifetime to be sure.
Great snaps!

Bigtime · #12 Posted **Jun 4, 2008, 1:25 PM**

Thanks for the great comments everyone!

To answer the question about the weather, it was 'summertime' down there when we went. How our expedition leader described the weather was like this:

"Everyday is pretty much 4 degrees celsius. Then throw in some changes due to wind or cloud for how it will feel."

So compared to most winters we deal with here in Calgary this was a cake walk! The trick was just to wear layers. When we were hiking up some of those hills you tended to get pretty warm, so to be able to peel off a couple of layers was a necessity so you didn't start sweating.

Over the course of the 11 night trip we apparently had some of the best weather of the season. Usually being greeted by blue skies and no wind. If you compare some of my pictures of specific places like Deception Island and Danco Island to other pics on Flickr you can see quite a difference.