An Antarctic Adventure

You cannot help but be stunned by the sheer volume as these three feet high, tuxedo wearing birds slip and slide their way around their mud caked rookery, with well over 100 thousand of them it’s not the sort of thing you tend to forget.

They constantly preen as they defend their pebble made nests from an unwanted neighbor, the seal hunting skuas and big clumsy seals. Brown down-covered young chicks clamor about, thrusting their beaks into their mothers’ mouths for undigested fish. antarctica cruise information is only a click away.

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Feeding the chicks is a full time role for an adult penguin. When the mother returns with fish from the ocean a ritual of pecks and bows happens before the father heads off for his turn in the icy sea.

Penguins actually aren’t really very cute. They’re pugnacious and pushy, foul-smelling and noisy. Being able to stand amidst them, draws increasing numbers of visitors to Antarctica every year. It really is the vast frozen continent at the bottom of the world.

Penguins aren’t the only attraction. There are other sea birds, albatross, dolphins, whales, seals, and beautiful icebergs that look like mythical creatures and glaciers. If you’re looking to learn about antarctica vacation, visit their site for more details.

Then, there’s the thrill of visiting a remote wonderland where fewer people than it takes to fill a football stadium have been before. Antarctica is nature’s cathedral, Earth’s last frontier. Reaching there is an adventure by itself. Although this trip is a bit costly, it certainly gives you your money?s worth. Those who go from the United States brave at least 20 hours of air travel to Ushuaia, Argentina’s southern-most port, or Punta Arenas in Chile, Cape Town in South Africa, or Christchurch in New Zealand. All these ports are equally convenient for proceeding to Antarctica by ice-rated expedition ships. Withstanding days of travel in rough seas, this is by far the only way passengers can reach the big icy continent.

The continent of Antarctica is much bigger than the U.S. and the shelves around it make its surface over three times as big. It’s a vast desert of ice, two miles thick, accounting for 70 percent of Earth’s fresh water preserves and so heavy it dents Earth’s surface.

A choice of nine ships and exciting itineraries will be on offer for tourists wanting to visit Antarctica between February 10 and 18. Except for one ship that carries 400 passengers, all the others carry a maximum of 200. Rather than enjoyment, the emphasis on these voyages is on learning the nuances of life in Antarctica.

The ships use zodiac rafts to land passengers near penguin rookeries and seal colonies or put them ashore at Antarctic research stations where scientists study everything from what keeps Antarctic fish from freezing to how the hole in the ozone layer causes global warming.

Research stations are maintained by the U.S., Argentina, Chile, China, Russia and other parties to the Antarctic Treaty. The Antarctic Treaty imposes a strict code of conduct on the participating nations with regard to keeping Antarctica as a borderless continent, not conducting any commercial or nuclear activity and using it as an environment friendly science laboratory. Tourists are seen as a nuisance by some research stations while at a few places they are most welcome.

At Argentina?s Esperanza station at Hope Bay there is a recreation centre, work areas, a school and a church besides their work areas, all in the form of orange-colored pre-fabricated bungalows and tourists are allowed to wander all over the place. Everyone and everything around including the military personnel, their team dogs, the meteorologists, the children and even the penguins seem to be enjoying each other?s company.

Chile’s Teniente Marsh station, the largest of nine bases on King George’s Island, has a post office, provisions shop and restaurant. Not too far away is China’s Great Wall Station where you can lay your hands on casual wear and curios. The United States’ Palmer Station, the large base on Anvers Island, limits tourism, allowing select ships to stop only at specified times during the season. Living quarters and research areas are extremely sensitive areas and are inaccessible to tourists.