Good Morning, Antarctica!

This is what I saw when I woke up on my first morning in Antarctica.

 

 

And here's Bev the Polar Explorer before her first Antarctic excursion, where we saw...

 

Whales!

 

Penguins!

 

A Leopard Seal

who bit the Zodiac I was on plus one other! We tourists, in our ignorant bliss, all thought she was cute. The naturalist guides who knew better were scared as heck. They said she was definitely not cute. We were told to kneel down inside the zodiac and keep our hands in.

and lots of blue ice.

Back to the ship.

 

And here is polar explorer Bev ready for her second excursion of the day. She will set foot on an Antarctic island, which is still considered part of Antarctica. She is psyched to try her mid-range zoom lens on her new camera. (Most of the shots to date have been with the standard lens, and some iPhone shots.)

 

More blue ice!

And lots and lots of gentoo penguins.

I tried to get a video of this cutie as s/he waddled past me, but then my month-old camera died. No, it wasn't a dead battery. I had the professional photographer on board take a look at it. He uses the exact same equipment, has several of this camera, and swears by it. He tried various things. His conclusion: Your camera is sick. So after spending a bucket of money on a camera and three lenses, spending time learning how to use it all, after my 1st day in Antarctica, I am stuck with using an old iPhone. At least I have that as a backup. I gave myself the night to be upset.