Antarctica s vastness and its pristine condition can be overwhelming. Here, nature rules; humans are

Recap Of An Antarctic Adventure Four Reasons To Consider An Antarctic Cruise - Cruise Reviews, Ship Reviews by The Avid Cruiser Cruise Reviews, Ship Reviews by The Avid Cruiser helping you make informed vacation decisions through cruise reviews, ship reviews and destination reviews, personal, passionate, informed and inspired Navigation home Blog | News Cruise Reviews Port Profiles River Cruises Podcasts Live Voyage Reports @avidcruiser disneyland tickets way cheap Home » Recap Of An Antarctic Adventure Four Reasons To Consider An Antarctic Cruise Recap Of An Antarctic Adventure Four Reasons To Consider An Antarctic Cruise December 30, 2013 By Ralph Grizzle Leave a Comment Share with a friend ... I have now stepped on all seven continents, proof of purchase confirmed by this stamp in my passport from a Ukrainian research station that we visited during our voyage. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle
Sunday, December 22, 2013 — This morning, to mark the end of my Antarctic cruise on Silver disneyland tickets way cheap Explorer , I boarded a charter flight in Ushuaia, bound for Buenos Aires. It is remarkable to think that in the span of a few days, I will have traveled from seas of ice and landscapes of snow-draped mountains, from rocky perches populated with wobbly penguins and snowy fields of sedate seals, from the world s coldest, windiest and driest place — from a remote continent across the dreaded Drake Passage to the town at end of the world, disneyland tickets way cheap where I boarded an Airbus 320 to conclude a wonderful trip in bustling Buenos Aires.
Here, in this vibrant capital disneyland tickets way cheap city, temperatures (and tempos) are throbbing. Far from feeling the grandeur of Antarctica, I am in a hot and busy metropolis — as intense as the tango that originated near this city more than a century ago. Wildlife and nature are not spectacles here, as they were on the White Continent.
While the contrasts between Buenos Aires and Antarctica could not be greater, this short break in Buenos Aires, this pause between a life-enriching journey and my return home, provides the perfect platform to reflect on what will go down as one of the most rewarding travel experiences of my life.
There are at least four reasons that my Silver Explorer voyage to Antarctica was so memorable to me. These are perhaps reasons for you to consider planning your own voyage to the last continent on earth to be discovered and charted. 1. Seven Continents Done: Check That Off The List Zodiacs made landings possible. Without them, we could only do a scenic cruise disneyland tickets way cheap and go back to Ushuaia without ever landing, said Silver Explorer Expedition Leader disneyland tickets way cheap Kara Weller. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle
My two feet have now padded ground on all seven continents. disneyland tickets way cheap For many of the 114 guests aboard Silver Explorer, securing a foothold on the seventh continent was a worthy achievement in and of itself. One couple on our voyage even went so far as to renew their wedding vows in Antarctica. Navigating an ice-strewn sea back to Silver Explorer. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle
Clearly, we were part of an exclusive group of travelers: Only 40,000 people visit Antarctica annually, according to statistics disneyland tickets way cheap from the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators  (IAATO). And only a little more than half of those visitors actually set foot on the continent.
While Antarctica awes even travelers who do not stand atop its frozen ground (vessels carrying more than 500 passengers are not allowed disneyland tickets way cheap to execute landings to bring their guests ashore), to actually plant two feet on Antarctica is quite something else. Landings, as opposed to cruise-only voyages to Antarctica, allowed disneyland tickets way cheap us to get up close and personal with penguins. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle
There are two things that make going ashore possible. disneyland tickets way cheap Small ships . IAATO guidelines stipulate that no more than 100 visitors shall be ashore at any one time in any one place in Antarctica. With only 132 guests (and only 114 on our voyage, which was full, but some suites were occupied by solo travelers), Silver Explorer was able to rotate all guests ashore efficiently so that at least two landings could be executed each day. Zodiacs . The flat-bottom, virtually indestructible, inflatable boats could land us on beaches and take us on tours in places that even our small ship was too large to reach. Zodiacs were essential to the Antarctic experience.  Without them, we could only do a scenic cruise and go back to Ushuaia without ever landing, Silver Explorer Expedition Leader Kara Weller told us during our first full day of the voyage.
My advice: If you plan on visiting Antarctica, pack your boots (or rent them as I did ) and get yourself ashore. Just make sure you re on a ship, such as Silver Explorer, than can deliver that experience. 2. Up-Close disneyland tickets way cheap Encounters With Penguins Other Wildlife
Only by stepping ashore can one experience up close encounters with penguins, seals and other wildlife (abiding the 5-meter rule, of course, which stipulates maintaining a distance of about 15 feet from wildlife). With such easy access to the animals and their lack of fear of humans, my traveling companion — Vancouver-based videographer Chris Stanley — and I were able to snap photographs that we will enjoy showing our friends and family for years to come.
During the regular Recap Briefing, a daily presentation disneyland tickets way cheap about all that we had seen during the day and what we would experience the next day, one of the expedition team members told us that no one was indifferent to penguins. A penguin s ecstatic call. © 2013 Chris Stanley
Indeed, the penguins were both mesmerizing disneyland tickets way cheap and amusing. We could (and did on some days) spend hours observing disneyland tickets way cheap them. In my post  Penguinology 101: Preparing For A Voyage To Antarctica , I wrote that I hoped to see King and Emperor penguins. To see those species, however, you will need to do the longer cruise itineraries, which include South Georgia disneyland tickets way cheap and the South Sandwich Islands, another trip now on my bucket list. Wobbly and a bit clumsy on land, penguins are agile aquabats in the water. © 2013 Chris Stanley
On the Antarctic Peninsula, we saw mostly disneyland tickets way cheap gentoo, chinstrap and Adelie penguins — waddling about, protecting their nests, collecting pebbles (to build nests), stealing pebbles from other penguins (also to build nests), crapping — all modes of penguin life. Click here to read about my first penguin encounters .
In addition to penguins, we saw many seals, mainly disneyland tickets way cheap the elephant and Weddell species. We discovered that the most fun way to observe and photograph the seals was on our bellies in the snow, with cameras poised. Like the seal, I too was on my belly when I snapped this photograph. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle During the enrichment lectures on Silver Explorer, we learned that seals use their whiskers to monitor movements in the under-water darkness. disneyland tickets way cheap The seals whiskers are so sensitive that they can perceive vibrations of the fish that they are chasing. © 2013 Chris Stanley Weddell seals, we learned, can dive to as deep as 2,450 feet( about 750 meters) and stay under water for more than an hour. © 2013 Chris Stanley Resting after a dive. When diving for food, seals can lower their heartbeats to as low as four beats per minute in order to conserve energy and remain underwater for long periods of time. © 2013 Chris Stanley
Antarctica is a place where superlatives are easily exhausted. It is exuberantly awesome. During our twice-daily landings, we walked on glaciers and hiked up snowy bluffs, activities that rewarded our group of modern-day explorers disneyland tickets way cheap with the most beautiful views that you can imagine.
When sailing, we looked out on mountains covered in snow and seas of chunky disneyland tickets way cheap ice. Often, w e stood out on deck (or on our verandas) as Silver Explorer, disneyland tickets way cheap a ship built for polar exploration, navigated sublime ice-choked channels. The beauty of Antarctica was simply breath-taking. All hands on deck: Cruising Lemaire Channel. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle
I had seen documentaries about Antarctica. I had read articles disneyland tickets way cheap accompanied by beautiful photography, but nothing came close to actually experiencing Antarctica. It is so vast, and a place of such extremes, that it deems descriptions insufficient.
Antarctica s vastness and its pristine condition can be overwhelming. Here, nature rules; humans are small and insignificant. Penguins pay scant attention to visitors, and seals seldom bother to look up at those admiring them. To visit Antarctica is a humbling experience. Antarctica is on such a large scale that it humbles disneyland tickets way cheap humans. @ 2013 Ralph Grizzle
A few factual superlatives: Antarctica is the world s coldest, driest and windiest place. It is the earth s largest dessert, its largest wilderness area. It is a land of extremes. Earth s coldest temperatures were recorded here in August 2010: -94.7C (-135.8F). In July of this year, the mercury plunged to -92.9C (-135.3F).
Figures like those may have you asking whether Antarctica is too cold for a cruise. Nope. Temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula, which is where we spent most of our time, averaged around the freezing mark during the Austral summer. One day was so warm that I removed my parka.
In fact, we were traveling at about the same latitude (but on the bottom side of the world) as Stockholm, Sweden. We never crossed the Antarctic Circle disneyland tickets way cheap , which was quite a distance farther south — and presumably blocked by ice. On the day that we hiked at  Cuverville Bay , the weather was so warm that many Silver Explorer guests removed their parkas. So that we would not have to carry them with us on the hike, we partially submerged our parkas under the snow so that the wind would not blow them away. © 2013 Ralph Grizzle
On nearly all of my cruises, I ve met wonderful people, but I ve yet to be part of a group that bonded as well as ours on Silver Explorer. Perhaps it was the powerful shared experiences of the collective that created such a strong spirit of camaraderie among the 114 guests. If only the rest of the world could get along as well as we did on that voyage.
And we were far from homogenous. In a previous post, I mentioned disneyland tickets way cheap the diverse internat