Bringing in the New Year
We embarked aboard the Seaventure from Ushuaia, a small town at the tip of Argentina. After smooth sailing through the Beagle Channel and across the Drake Passage we landed early and celebrated with a New Year's Eve zodiac ride.
Antarctic Penguins
We photographed 7 different penguin species on this workshop! On our first two land excursions we visited Gentoo Penguin rookeries. Our land excursions lasted from 2-4 hours and gave us amazing access for bird photography with plenty of time to explore the sites. We learned how to get eye level images without sitting or squatting on the ground.
Chinstrap & Adelie Penguins
For some of our outings we photographed from the zodiacs. We scoured the shoreline for penguins jumping into the water and congregating near shore. Each penguin species has distinct personalities and behaviors. The Chinstraps were very emotive and liked to dive and porpoise through the water.
Humpback Whales
We had excellent whale activity on this workshop. At one point in Charlotte Bay we photographed 15 different Humpback Whales. Most of our whale photography was from the zodiacs, with several close encounters right near the boat. In addition to the Humpbacks, we saw a Southern Right Whale, Fin Whales and a Minke Whale.
Seals, seals and more seals
Antartica is a land of plentiful seals. We were very excited to photograph a yawning Leopard Seal on an iceberg early during the trip. We also photographed Weddell Seals, Elephant Seals and adundant Southern Fur Seals.
Days at Sea
We photographed three major locations on this workshop, Antartica, South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands. In between these locations we spent several days at sea getting from one location to another. On our sea days we held classes and Image Reviews and photographed exotic seabirds near our boat. We also took a detour to visit iceburg B-15-AB. It orginally calved in March 2000 and was the size of Jamaica.
King Penguins on South Georgia Island
The colonies of King Penguins on South Georgia are vast and overwhelming. There are over 450,000 breeding pairs in 30 different colonies. We had great weather for our excursions and marvled at St Andrew/s Bay and the Salisbury Plains as well as other less known, intimate locations.
Exploring the Colonies
Walking near the huge colonies of penguins is an experience that will last a lifetime. It is hard to imagine the noise, behaviors and yes, smell of so many animals living in such a small area. We used wide angle lenses to capture the large scene and 400-600 mm to photograph individual birds.
Seals Everywhere
South Georgia has a wonderful array of species that co-exist side by side in the colonies. Baby fur seals are all over the ground, waiting for their mothers to come back from the ocean to feed them. Elephant Seals lie on the beach, sometimes waking to spare with each other. Brown Skuas and Giant Petrels fly overhead looking for unprotected eggs or small chicks. Our group carried walking poles to keep the curious seal pups away.
Falkland Islands
We ended our grand tour with three land excursions on the Falkland Islands. This brought our penguin count up to 7 species. We also visited an Black-browed Albatross rookery and loved the close access to nesting chicks and feeding behavior. Other birds like Magellanic Oystercatchers and Falkland Steamer Ducks roamed the beaches in colorful foliage.
A big thank you to the 20 photographers who joined us for this amazing adventure. What a great group of explorers! We could not have pulled this off without Marcelo & Elsa at Patagonia Adventure Tours. They took care of all of the logistics and we focused on the photography.
Want to join us in Antarctica? We have already started an Interest List for a new tour of Antarctica that travels below the Antarctic Circle. Penguins, Whales, Seals and plenty of glacier ice. Join the Interest List by sending us a note.
Credits:
Tom Bol and Cree Bol