Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) at Fairbanks Alaska - March 2017

I shot these pictures using my Canon 5D Mark II with a Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 FX Lens with shutter speeds of 5 to 7 seconds and an ISO of 1600.  I also used Feisol CT-3442 Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod with a Photoclam Pro Gold 05 ballhead.

Oh forgot to mention...these were taken between 11pm and 1am in Fairbanks Alaska on March 5th and 6th in -40 F temperature. Enjoy!

 

 

Day 2 - The first 7 to 8 pictures are in sequence to show to formation of the Aurora. each picture takes about 7 seconds to be created.

 

 

Day 19 - Nov 26 - At Sea, Bound for Ushuaia, Argentina - Heading back home!

"In memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in his splendor, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man..." -Sir Ernest Shackleton 

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface. The ocean's name, derived from Greek mythology, means the "Sea of Atlas." The oldest known mention of this name is contained in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC. This ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending in a north-south direction and is divided into the North Atlantic and South Atlantic by Equatorial Counter Currents at about 8° North latitude. Bounded by the Americas on the west and Europe and Africa on the east, the Atlantic is a component of the all-encompassing World Ocean, linked to the Pacific Ocean by the Arctic Ocean on the north and the Drake Passage on the south. A man-made connection between the Atlantic and Pacific is provided by the Panama Canal. On the east, the dividing line between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean is the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica. The Atlantic is separated from the Arctic by a line from Greenland to northwestern Iceland and then from northeastern Iceland to the southernmost tip of Spitsbergen and then to North Cape in northern Norway. While some authorities show the Atlantic Ocean extending south to Antarctica, others show it as bounded to the south by the Southern Ocean.


The Drake Passage was kind to us. Not the same seas as we had experienced on our way into Antarctica. The Seas were pretty calm except for a few rouge swells for a couple of hours! Another day and we reach Ushuaia tomorrow and will be spending a day in Ushuaia visiting the local maritime museum and do a little bit of shopping before heading to Airport to catch my flight to Washington DC. 
What an incredible journey it has been for me, the memories will last a lifetime. I hope this blog of mine has opened your imagination of the miracle continent and that you will plan a trip to this magical place. Adios my friends! 

Day 18 - Nov 25 - Port Lockroy and Fast Ice Landing!

"Strange. There is always sadness on departure. It is as if one cannot after all bear to leave this bleak waste of ice, glaciers, cold and toil... " - Fridtjof Nansen, 1912

This morning we visited Port Lockroy, used as an anchorage by whalers and established as Base A by the British in 1944, as part of a secret wartime initiative to monitor German shipping movements. This expedition was code-named Operation Tabarin, after a well-known Paris nightclub, because team members would be staying there during the darkness of the Antarctic winter. After World War II the station continued in a civilian capacity until 1964, when it ceased operations. This historic base was recently restored, and is now open to visitors as a museum. They have souvenirs for sale (information packs, hats, pins, patches, t-shirts and first day covers), as well as a post office. 

Jougla Point, Port Lockroy - A pretty big colony of Gentoo penguins and Blue Eyed Shags! Check out their blue eyes! 

In the afternoon we found some fast ice to walk on. The ship cuts through an ice sheet that is stable for us to walk on. We then just walk out of the ship onto the ice! It was a fun last day in Antarctica. 

We set sail to Ushuaia, Argentina around 4pm. Good bye Antarctica….until next time! Yes there will be a next time! 

Day 17 - Nov 24 - Dorian Bay and Palmer Station, Antarctica

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver 

Dorian Bay is a cove on the NW side of Wiencke Island, located 0.5 mile E-NE of Damoy Point, in the Palmer Archipelago. Damoy Point is the N entrance point to Port Lockroy harbor, on the W side of Wiencke Island in the Palmer Archipelago. The point was discovered and named by Charcot's French Antarctic expedition (1903-05). From inner Dorian Bay, the land rises gently from a bare, rocky landing to two huts, one a well- maintained and stocked British refuge hut, the second a small Argentinian hut. We spotted an incredible sight of Orcas attacking a Leopard Seal while on Zodiacs! This is absolutely a rare scene to witness.

This afternoon we had the rare opportunity to visit Palmer Station, the U.S. research station located in Arthur Harbour on Anvers Island. The U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) maintains three year-round stations in the Antarctic, the largest in being on Ross Island in McMurdo Sound, at the Geographic South Pole, and Palmer on the Antarctic Peninsula. Palmer fields some 175 projects during this austral summer and we were given an overview of some of these, as well as a tour of the laboratories and living areas. 

Palmer Station, Antarctica




In the afternoon we were supposed to head to Torgersen Island but had to cancel the plans because of ice build up in the area which prevented us from using the zodiacs. 

Tomorrow is our final day on the Continent. We are going to visit Port Lockroy and head back towards Argentina in the afternoon and then 2 days and three nights on seas….the dreaded Drake's Passage. Has been an amazing experience so far. 

Day 16 - Nov 23 - Neko Harbour & Paradise Bay, Antarctica

"They are extraordinarily like children, these little people of the Antarctic world, either like children, or like old men, full of their own importance and late for dinner, in their black tailcoats and white shirt fronts — and rather portly withal." - Apsley Cherry-Garrard. The Worst Tourney in the World

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The Gerlache Strait is named for Adrien de Gerlache, who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-99 on board the vessel Belgica. This expedition charted much of the Antarctic Peninsula region, and ultimately was beset in the pack ice near Peter I Island, becoming the first exploring vessel to ever over- winter in the Antarctic and south of the Antarctic Circle. Gerlache was joined by an international roster of notable polar personalities - his chief officer was a Norwegian named Roald Amundsen, making his first trip to the Antarctic; the ship's doctor was an American explorer and con-man named Frederic Cook, and the geologist and meteorologist of the expedition was a Polish scientist named Henryk Arctowski. 

Neko Harbour, our landing spot this morning, was named after the whale factory ship Neko which operated along the Antarctic Peninsula in 1911-12 and again in 1923-24. An unmanned Argentine refuge marks the landing spot which is surrounded by Gentoo Penguins, Skuas, Snowy Sheathbills and Kelp Gulls. There was a great walk to a viewpoint above the landing beach, and a glacier near the landing site. 

After departing Neko Harbour, we sailed a little ways and entered into a very scenic region known as Paradise Bay. This bay is aptly named because the surrounding mountains look as though they rise straight up to heaven. The Argentine scientific base, Almirante Brown Base is located on the banks of Paradise Bay, as is the Chilean scientific base, Gonzalez Videla. It has several colonies of penguins scattered on the surrounding slopes, as well as a colony of blue-eyed shags. Seals regularly haul out on the ice here. 

The most exciting thing I did was to Kayak in these waters. Yes, I kayaked in Antarctica! It was short lived because the current pushed and surrounded us with ice and we had to be taken back to shore by a zodiac. It was adventurous and exciting. I didn't take my camera so no pictures but am hoping that someone took my picture on a kayak! 

Day 15 - Nov 22 - King George and Halfmoon Islands, Antarctica

"Death lies before us, as we sail for the fountain of youth." - Captain Jack Sparrow

The wee hours of the morning were spent approaching King George Island, in the South Shetlands. William Smith first discovered this archipelago on 19 February 1819. Rich in wildlife, by the following season, dozens of American and British sealing vessels were busily exploiting the large fur seal population that bred here. Within two years the seals had been almost entirely eliminated, although populations have now recovered. 

Fildes Peninsula, King George Island is one of the areas in Antarctica of greatest paleontological interest, owing to the presence of outcrops with fossil remains of a wide range of organisms, including vertebrate and invertebrate ichnites, and abundant flora with impressions of leaves and fronds, trunks, and pollen grains and spores that date from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene.
There are several research stations here, including Frei (Chile) and Bellingshausen (Russia).

We were able to visit two of the research stations in Fildes Bay - Frei Station (Chile) and Bellingshausen (Russian). It is a busy time of year for the stations as they are in full summer research mode, but arrangements were made to land and and explore the outdoor portions of their facilities.

The Chilean and Russian Antarctic Stations

The Russians built a Church on the Base Station

We visited Half Moon Island in the afternoon. Half Moon is a small Antarctic island lying 1.35 km (0.84 mi) north of Burgas Peninsula, Livingston Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region. Half Moon Island has a sizable rookery of chinstrap penguins as well as nesting Antarctic terns and kelp gulls. This small island offers stunning views of surrounding mountains. A small Argentine Station (Camara Base) is located on the island.
A Chinstrap Penguin Colony

A Chinstrap Penguin