We first flew to Buenos Aires, spent one night there, and then flew to the southernmost tip of South America to a town called Ushuaia (oo-shu-eye-ah), where we caught the ship that took us and about 45 other people to the continent. Because the southern hemisphere was having summer at that time, we expected and found temperatures to be in the 30's most of the time. There was not a lot of darkness, but we had comfortable accomodations throughout the trip.

The least pleasant part of the trip was the boat ride across the Drake Passage. Going over, we had only about 15-foot waves and a gentle following wind; the trip across took two nights and one day. Coming back, however, we faced more like 25-to-30-foot waves and gale-force winds, more or less against us. That added about 24 hours to the return passage.
 

This map to the left shows the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula which we visited (circled). As you can see, there is much, much more of Antarctica that we did not see.

We spent most of the time on the ship, and we took two or more excursions to land per day aboard Zodiac inflatable boats, each of which held about 14 people. There were three extremely knowledgeable and friendly leaders for the trip.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Heath, Sally, Shannon, and Chris pause for a photo op during one of our daily excursions onto land.

  The landing of the Zodiacs often involved a brief wade in the icy water. Sturdy rubber boots saved the day.

  This was one of our favorite icebergs. They really are that blue.

Another favorite iceberg, taken on a perfect evening around 10:30 p.m.
 

On the left a chinstrap penguin; the two others are called adelie ("a-daily") penguins.

Probably my personal favorite photo, shot by Sally on the aforementioned perfect evening.

This shot says it all: penguins, people, snow and ice, icbergs, and the Zodiac heading for shore.

  Launching the Zodiacs was an exciting event in itself.

  We got to take a dip in a volcanic stream. The water in the background was about 33 degrees; Heath, Shannon, and several others in the group took a frigid dip there, too.

  Our main leader, Jonathan Chester, chose to display his penguin boxers.

  You can see how the chinstrap penguin got its name in this photo.

  A group of gentoo penguins follow paths through the snow as they make their way to and from the water.

  Cape Horn was a welcome sight after the rough return passage.