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!!

My first GoPro project from Antarctica

I'm not a computer genius nor am I anything close to intermediate level when it comes to anything related to photo and video editing.  It was a challenge just learning how to use the GoPro effectively and even more challenging to download, upload, edit and post clips.  I've been messing around with GoPro Studio for a few weeks and finally decided to try putting a project together.  Creating a project involves going through all of the footage, loading the footage with interesting clips to the studio and then splicing them together.  My first project is simple but captures my favorite moments from our morning excursion at Neko Harbor.  You'll get to see our actual continent landing, our encounters with penguins, and our departure from the continent as we tow the kayaks to a very quiet launch point.  At the end you'll see a clip taken from the nose of the kayak as I paddle through an inlet.

I have not added music yet and have muted the sound but I'll post an update when I find a song that fits!

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.

The sunset I promised...

In my posts about Lemaire Channel and the French Passage, I referenced the amazing sunset we experienced.  As promised, I've put together some photos shared by my fellow passengers as well as my live GoPro footage (scroll to bottom for footage).  Special thank you to Vicky and maybe Stacey/Clif for most of these pics!

This is another amazing photo captured by someone else as we began our sunset journey.

We stood on the bow and watched the sun drop into the horizon.

The colors were so intense- everyone captured such different views and angles of the sun.

I love thee colors in this photo.

The clouds changed shapes and colors as quickly as the sun set.

Almost gone...

One of my favorites because of the colors. Love.

I'm not sure who captured this photo but I think it's Vicky & Sully. 

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And here's my live GoPro footage of the sunset. It was so perfect.

If I had to pick my favorite excursion….

On March 21st, we had our continent landing at Neko Harbor.  This was by far my most memorable excursions and I'd love to post all the amazing photos I took in my fabulous yellow kayaking suit as I stepped foot on the continent of Antarctica. Sadly those photos are sitting at the bottom of Wilhelmina Bay with my Olympus that went overboard during our afternoon excursion that same day.  Fortunately I have GoPro footage and the photos take by some of my new and amazing friends from the trip.  Separately, one of these new friends loaned me her backup small camera to use for the remainder of the trip so my selfies with bergy bits could continue!  (More on the role of selfies on our trip later!) 

GoPro clip of the continent landing:

 For those of us that chose to kayak this morning, we only had about twenty minutes on the continent before we left to launch.  Those who stayed behind were treated to an amazing hike.  I'm so thankful that I chose to kayak this morning as I had a really incredible experience kayaking into some really remote and almost never visited inlets.

Gentoo Penguins marching across the beach at Neko Harbor on the most perfect morning. 

A closer look at the Gentoos marching along.  The one on the left looks like he needed a bath- they are often filthy from sliding around in their own feces! 

I love this photo captured by Vicky.  She chose to do the hike instead of kayaking at Neko Harbor that day and captured some great images like this one.  I love how on a clear day like this the black and white penguins stand out against the blue water.  I also love that our ship is in the background.  

Another shot of the marching Gentoos.

A few more photos from our shared collection:

Close up of one of the friendly Gentoos.

I love this picture because it comes closer to capturing the amazing colors in the sky that day.  Also that strange looking guy in the red is Joe, another new friend who happens to be an actual pro photographer and scotch drinker.  More on all of the amazing people I met in a later post though...

Another Gentoo.  They're so adorable in spite of their stench.

GoPro clips of the friendly Gentoos in Neko Harbor:

  

A lonely Gentoo heading in the opposite direction.

We left the continent and launched our kayaks far away from the landing site.  We paddled through some of the most beautiful and untouched inlets.  I was completely awestruck by the size of the glacier walls and mountains surrounding me that day and I discovered how mesmerizing ice can be.  The really old ice is easily recognizable by it's clear and dimpled appearance.  I remember taking tons of selfies with ancient bergy bits- it really would be awesome if someone found my camera in 20 years or so and discovered all my photos of which half were selfies with various icebergs.

Calm and reflective water and enormous walls of ice surrounded us.

We felt so tiny next to these walls of ice.  The deep blue crevasses were incredible.  

Heading straight through some dense brash ice.

More from Goudier Island & Port Lockroy

Day 5 of the trip took us to Goudier Island and historic Port Lockroy.  The former British station is now a museum that I believe shut down for winter about a week before we arrived.  That morning's kayak excursion was amazing.  The sky was clear, the sun was out, we kayaked through brash ice for the first time and witnessed an amazing feat of nature when a Leopard Seal caught and killed a penguin within feet of our kayaks. (I'll write a separate post on what we witnessed that morning including the GoPro footage.)

As we launched the kayaks, the sun was trying to come through the clouds and everything appeared to have a hazy glow.  Within a half hour the skies cleared to a bright blue and the sun illuminated everything around us.

Our surprise welcoming committee of Gentoo Penguins

Gentoos perched on snow covering some beautiful blue ice.

The Gentoos taking a quick nap.

Port Lockroy Station, a British research base that was turned into a museum. 

A quick clip from the GoPro:

Kayaking next to glaciers and mountains.

A deep blue ice cave.

As we kayaked around the bay we ran into some more penguins and some sea birds.

I think those are skuas flying by the penguins. 

I was amazed at how blue the sky was when we had clear days. 

Our ship in the distance.

Kayaking through what is called "Brash Ice" - it's so much fun to here the crunching as the kayak breaks through the ice.  It's really easy to get stuck on larger pieces of ice though!  Fortunately I didn't need to be rescued by our guides but we all had a couple close calls.

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.