Photo Album
The Ross Sea, Antarctica

Two days by air. Cross the international dateline. First stop, the land "down under". Board the ship, 5 to 7 days by storm-whipped rough seas. Then finally into the still and silent splendor of The Ross Sea. It is one of the most difficult places on the planet to get to. And one of the most magical.

The Russian icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov, made history traveling further south than any other surface ship in history. We used helicopters to land on the largest iceberg on earth. In some areas zodiacs allowed for close up and personal looks at the ice. We sat for 24 hours surrounded by sea ice and more than 20,000 nesting Emperor penguins, adults and chicks. We spent as many hours whale watching as possible and followed this up with visits to the sub-Antarctic islands of Australia and New Zealand. There we sat beside nesting albatross, the largest flying bird on earth.

We will return again this coming season. It is impossible to drink one's fill in one enormous gulp, so we must go back for another taste. Take a look at this photo album and I think you will agree.