Yes, our Antarctica wildlife experiences were incredible but I gotta say, what I was most excited about, pre-adventure, was seeing the beauty of the place. And it did NOT disappoint.
My only concern with sharing these pix is that you’ll think they’re PhotoShopped because they are SO. INCREDIBLE. Rest assured, my editing prowess is limited to cropping. It really looks like this . . . actually, in real-life it’s even more jaw-dropping/remarkable. Pictures can’t capture the size/colour.
Heads up: I don’t even know if these are the best pix . . . I took a zillion and I’m including the first ones from my camera roll that drew my attention.
It was all so beautiful.
A well-traveled friend who visited Antarctica a few years ago said it was the most “otherworldly” place she’s been to . . . i.e. she didn’t feel like she was on earth. I think she’s right.
I tried many times to capture the idea that what we see on top of the water is only 10% of an iceberg’s size. But it was impossible . . . the magnitude is unfathomable. Here’s some feeble attempts with smaller icebergs/growlers (see below for info on the name).
A few notes
- An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 metres (50 feet) long that’s broken off a glacier or ice shelf and is floating freely in open water.
- Those whacky scientists have come up with great names to classify the sizes (growler, bergy bit, etc.) Details are below from a slide from one of our daily recap sessions (which btw were fantastic . . . there’s so much appreciation gained from learning the backstory of what we’ve seen).
- Apparently the water and ice aren’t really that blue. I think I said that in my Patagonia posts too. It’s the light refracting etc. My response to that? “Yeah, whatever.” The colour is pretty fantastic.
- Antarctica is melting, and that’s not good. If the Antarctic ice melts, the sea level will increase 70 metres (229 feet). Your Oceanside holiday place? Those cities that are on oceansides? Under water.
Here’s more info from a daily recap because scientists actually track ice bergs and give them quaint names like “A23a” and “B215”.
We went through the Lemaire Channel and had another unheard-of experience . . . the water was like glass. But I’ll save those for another day.
Ok. Join with me here . . . UNBELIEVABLE!
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