Mariner

I'm standing on a cliff in the wind. Below me, the huge crater of Iceland Deception copper-colored side of a cliff. In the black volcanic beach penguins and seals in competition for a place in the sun. A skua air patrols sky blue like an iceberg floating slowly out to sea. It 's the Antarctic continent and 7, the final frontier of adventure tourism. I'm on my way to the beach and the strip to my bathing suit to go in a hole,dug in the sand, which is now filled with hot water from the source. When I was in a glass, I think of the adventures that are my way in recent days.

I went to Antarctica with the pilgrim on the Akademik Ioffe, also known as the Peregrine Mariner. Originally built in Finland for several years as a Russian research vessel that has this comfortable boat chartered by a leader in adventure travel the world, AustraliaPeregrino. With a Russian leader friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic Canadian, Australian and British and equipped with modern facilities such as sauna, gym, bar and swimming pool, this ship was my home for the next nine days.

We left Ushuaia at 6 clock with the sun still high in the sky. One of the strangest phenomena of navigation in the South Seas in the summer, given the amount of light. When the sun rises long before anyone wakes up and not go to 11Clock. At night, there is never very dark and often, travelers on the bridge in the middle of the night watching the passing landscape and the animal world to see. The amount of light that gives you a lot of energy and sleep is often the last thing on your mind.

Soon, our little group of 32 passengers and 40 crew members left the calm waters of the Beagle Channel and went behind the stormy seas of the Drake Passage. The days are encouraged by the observation of several species of albatrosses, petrels and whales, andConference, the governing body. His enthusiasm is unparalleled in the industry and his love for the continent is clearly while driving. On board we had a naturalistic ornithologist, historian, photographer and expert in tourism management, each of which has given lectures and presentations in their fields.

After two days at sea, we entered the protected waters around South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula. On board, therethere were German scientists within the Bellingshausen, a Russian research center. From here we head towards our first landing site, near Puerto Mikkelsen. Here, an Argentine research station was abandoned on a small hill on a small island surrounded by majestic mountains. Chinstrap penguins have their own homes around the world and does not seem the least disturbed by visitors. I made my way between the two colonies on the other side of the island in the Weddell seal Sun.He turned to the side looking at me with curiosity, as I sat around a rock in the landscape around me. huge mountains covered with glaciers formed in the context of a picturesque bay with blue bit floating Berge of all sizes and colors and white everywhere. A few meters on a chin slippery rock, lost his balance and fell down and hit this clown being immersed in water. Back on the opposite side of the island of the Penguinsbathing in a tidal pool in the center of the colony. A hungry skuas was waiting for a chance to go for an egg in a nest.

During the months of January and February, the breeding season, these large birds often impedes their ability to perform a challenge and is making annoying penguin chicks weak. After two hours on the island, we took our inflatable boats, inflatable boats powered cruise ships used to carry passengers from ship to shore and the questionCruises in the waters surrounding the landing sites.

Pellegrino, always intended to test new concepts can dream of in the industry to find landing sites and other travel companies only known. This time it was greater than the width of 7 miles Gerlache Strait Zodiac inflatable boats, which had never happened before. Acceleration in the lake to sail between the icebergs of every shape and size, left behind fantastic sculptures from the forces of wind and water. We saw a hugeLyric of collapse of a mountain and dryer in a stream of water ice in the deep waters of the Gerlache. One of our landing site Wilhelmina Bay, where you travel in our Zodiacs, bird watching and wildlife, and ice fields overlap. We saw a leopard seal, taking care of a penguin colony nearby, awaiting their chance to reach an unsuspecting meal. Then there was a joint seals relaxed crab-up on an iceberg floating in the bay. Landed inActive foot of a glacier, where a person was likely before landing. With just over 10,000 visitors a year, the chance that at some point during the cruise, guests will be the first man to set foot in one place.

During our trip, we participated in the strengthening of the many tourist attractions, a specialty of the peregrine falcon. Walks are optional and are moderated and will lead to a colony of penguins on the cliff to a viewpoint overlooking the spectacular scenery, or explore theRemains of an old whaling station. Wherever you go in the solitude of the country, the look and feel amazing at the end of the fight in the world. On some cruise ships, passengers can take part in a field of sea kayak or on ice. Pilgrim is a pioneer in both assets and no other company offers this opportunity at this time. The kayak is for experienced paddlers only as an ideal embodiment of a roll is important in the cold waters of the Antarctic Peninsula.overnight camping can be done by anyone and, of course, an unforgettable experience. The silence around you feel like one of the first polar explorers in the comfort of your sleeping bag together.

There are many landings during our trip to remote places such as Iceland Cierva Trinity Orne and the port. Everywhere there are new discoveries and animals before colonies of gentoo penguins and herds of Cape Petrel pool close to our Constitution, a minke whaleCrossing the bow of the ship Albatross flight after the Akademik Ioffe. Macaroni and Rockhopper penguins and elephants can be seen in a number of landing sites, gentoo penguins acrobats porposing schools how to make their way through the deep waters off Iceland disappointment.

On the third day in the archipelago, we entered the caldera of Deception Bay of Whales in Iceland through the narrow straight known as Sailor NeptuneBellows. Here, we made our last landing before returning through the Drake Passage in the wilderness of Patagonia. Shortly before arriving in Ushuaia, Cape Horn in the perfect storm for a force of 9:25 foot storm surge. And 'there that raises a glass of sailors who were not in these troubled waters, and whose soul is far from done on the frozen continent of rest, the final frontier. We feel like a piece of our soul, there wasEven in the solitude of the vast glaciers and snowfields, mixed with cool night air, always turning in the blue waters of the Gerlache Strait.

I left the ship the next day and stayed for a while ', blinking in the sunlight and the sun rising over the mountains surrounding Ushuaia. This must be how Amundsen felt when he finally arrived home after their research in Antarctica. A lost soul asking where to go in the fight againstWant to turn around and make your way back to the southern edge of Mother Earth.