...and, dear reader, thank you for *your* understanding.

We’re in Cierva Cove, on the Antarctic mainland coast. Some of the best icebergs we’ve seen!

Ready to venture forth and do battle.

These guys were making quite a racket. Still trying to figure out how to post video with super-slow wifi. In the second photo, virtually impossible to see but the distant rocks in upper right are just solid Chinstrap penguins.

We’re anchored at Half Moon, near where a British cruise ship tried to navigate these waters, about 6 weeks ago. 😎

Barbara shoots hot air from the hair dryer into her socks, before we head out.

Our first tabular iceberg this trip. And a real beaut. You could land a 747 on this sucker.

Wifi can be so weak that photos are challenging, much less video. Testing a new way to upload....

I’m not sure we saw a Wendell seal the whole trip, when we were here before. This time, it’s the first animal we spot. He’s blissfully dreaming of krill. The Gentoo penguin will the first of many, we hope.

We take zodiacs from the ship to the sites, there are no piers or jetties in Antarctica. Getting on and off the zodiacs can be a bit of a challenge, if the seas are rough.

Gear assemblage begins in approx 35 minutes.

We’re here! Well, actually, we’re in the South Shetland Islands, but they’re part of Antarctica. We’ll technically set foot on the Antarctic mainland tomorrow or the next day.

A feature around the ship, during the Drake Passage.....

Btw, my favorite learned anecdote about Ushuaia, from 4 years ago, when we were here the first time. Let’s say you sail out of Ushuaia, either east or west. If you maintain the exact same latitude, the first and only place you will eventually come to is....Ushuaia.

Ok. We have left South America behind - just sailed out of Ushuaia Argentina, into the dreaded Drake Passage. The Captain came on the ship’s PA system and said that while we would be in protected waters until after midnight, around 2:00a or so, we’ll be out there doing battle with Poseidon. Little code words like “we hope” and “with luck”, suggest that we might be bouncing around like a cork throughout the night. I’m ready to rock and roll.....in this case, the good kind.

Lichens growing on the fenceposts at the sheep ranch. We don’t have a lot of lichens in Hawaii. 😎