My little Russian research vessel, the Alexsey Maryshev, left the port of Ushuaia, Argentina late in the evening on the 19th of January, 2009.
The Drake Passage was rough and took over 2 days to get to the Antarctic Peninsula. Every day we made two three-hour zodiac trips, landing on shore to see penguins, birds and seals. We dressed in multiple layers looking and walking like giant colorful penguins ourselves!
This place is teeming with creatures! We saw 3 different species of penguins (Adele, Gentoo and Chinstrap), thousands of them!
Old whaling villages.
Me and the guides on the boat with spiced hot chocolate.
