The expedition we have enjoyed for the past three weeks is closing a rather large loop around the Scotia Sea. When we left Ushuaia, Argentina the path our ship National Geographic Explorer would take was fairly well known, but what wonders we would see along that path were not.
First the Falklands with magnificent black-browed albatross colonies mixed with pugnacious rockhopper penguins. Then onto South Georgia where wildlife is so abundant that you literally have to get out of the animals way when you land on one of the beaches. After that we ventured south past 60 degrees into Antarctica. Instead of the earth tones and greenery that we experienced earlier now we were in a tonal world of black and white. Between the snow and rock and the front and back of a penguin, everything was dramatically contrasted. Only when we say footage from under the water did the colors reappear. Amazing purples and oranges, reds and greens, all on creatures whose lineage goes back farther than mammals or birds.
Today the colors reappeared as the ship rounded Cape Horn and headed up the Beagle Channel. Grass, trees, foliage of all kinds greeted our weary eyes. It would take several hours to transit the east-west body of water that separates Chile and Argentina before we dock in Ushuaia. Our expedition will have covered about 3,800 nautical miles, during that transit we have formed many memories and lasting impressions of the incredible places we visited.
