Crossing the Drake Passage: a short clip

I took a short clip from the bridge on our way back to Ushuaia.  These conditions are relatively calm and barely register as swells as per the captain and staff.  We were apparently quite lucky both on our way to and from Antarctica- if this is calm I would never have survived a rough passage!!

Friends with (photography) benefits: Clif

I'd like to share some of the amazing photos taken by some of my new friends who happen to be extremely skilled photographers.  My new friends Clif, Stacey & Joe have captured some of the best moments of the trip in a way that many of us could not.

If you're on Instagram, I promise you will not regret following Clif's feed @levartz.

Cliff was there for one of the funniest moments of the trip: when a Skua picked up my GoPro and tried to run off with it.  Fortunately the Skua dropped it and I recovered the GoPro that was rolling at throughout the incident.  Check out the clip here.

Clif is amazing at capturing moments; he's somehow mastered the art of capturing whatever actually made the moment one worthy of taking a photo if that makes any sense.  I mean- look at the face on this seal! 

I love this picture. The Elephant Seal calf and the penguins around him on the beach- too cute.  Side note: Elephant Seals do not eat penguins, hence their harmonious existence at Deception Island.

This is the version Clif chose for Instagram; I'd love to share the original later- it is such an amazing photo that it almost looks fake.  

This photo is just so perfect there are no words. It captures exactly how it felt when we looked at this scene in real life.

Who doesn't like some good tail?  I gave up trying to capture whale tales and just enjoyed watching them; thankfully Cliff and others had faster fingers and better camera skills!

Another one that does not need any words.

A few more of my favorite photos

Here are a few more of my favorite photos from my instagram feed. They're all no filter other than the enhance control.

An iceberg that appears to be glowing with blue light from within.   Check out my post on blue ice if you're interested in why this happens!

Another blue rippled ice wall.

The perfect sunset in Antarctica.

Quiet early morning skies at Goudier Island

The sky was so blue and the cloud formations changed so quickly.  I captured a few photos in the early morning before our kayaking excursion at Goudier Island.

The snow on the mountains appear so perfectly white in this lighting.

In a matter of moments the light would change and completely change the way the landscape looked.

This was taken within a half hour of the photos above and shows the sun peaking through the clouds.

Another shot showing the sun and it's reflection on the water.  This was early morning but felt like it also could have been dusk.

Blue mornings

Some of my favorite moments included the time just before we prepared for the gangway.  Our kayaking group would meet in the mudroom to get in our gear about a half hour before gangway, when we would board the zodiac and cruise to our kayak launch site.  After we had our gear on we usually had about ten to fifteen minutes of quiet time to just enjoy the scenery before the rest of the passengers spilled out onto the deck.  It was often difficult to tell what time of day it was because the sun's position and light were so different down there.  These are some unfiltered photos captured one morning with my Olympus T2.