Travel: Antarctica, South Georgia, & Falkland Islands

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ushuaia, Argentina

"End of the World". Ushuaia, at the southern tip of South America, is the most popular gateway to Antarctica.

Ushuaia, Argentina

View of the Beagle Channel with a popular tourist attraction of Les Eclaireurs (the scouts) Lighthouse.

Ushuaia, Argentina

Les Eclaireurs (the scouts) Lighthouse on a small island in the Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, with the snowcapped Andes mountains in the background

Martillo Island, Beagle Channel, Argentina

A Magellanic penguin (spheniscus magellanicus), with the Andes mountains in the background. These were the first wild penguins I'd ever seen.

Adelie penguins on an iceberg in Antarctica

Antarctica

South Georgia Island

First view of the mountainous South Georgia Island coastline as an expedition ship arrives from the Falkland Islands at sunrise.

Glacier at the head of Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia Island, South Atlantic Ocean

South Georgia Island

Panoramic view of the beautiful glacier face and dramatic snowcapped mountains in the Drygalski Fjord.

South Georgia Island

Closeup view of the textured surface of a glacier face, with jagged, snowcapped mountains in the background, in the Drygalski Fjord of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean.

South Georgia Island

A piece of ice calving off a glacier face in Drygalski Fjord.

South Georgia Island

Colonies of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) and king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) share the beach and coastline near Salisbury Plain on South Georgia Island.

Grytviken, South Georgia Island

The South Georgia Museum, built in 1991, in the former Norwegian whaling station, now a popular stopover for Antarctic cruise ships. 53,761 whales were processed here, until they were eventually hunted to economic extinction. Now all the old gear is rusting away, but interesting to see.

South Georgia Island

Antarctica cruise ship passengers with cameras and matching yellow parkas observe a group of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in their natural habitat.

South Georgia Island

St. Andrews Bay, where thousands of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) congregate on a rocky beach near a glacial stream running into the Atlantic Ocean.

King Penguins Standing against Mountains on South Georgia Island, South Atlantic Ocean

Sea of Penguins

A huge colony of adult and juvenile king penguins on a beach in St. Andrew's Bay, South Georgia Island.

South Georgia Island

A small group of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) walk on a pebble beach near Salisbury Plain.

South Georgia Island

A small group of adult king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) walk along the pebbled beach of St. Andrews Bay on a clear sunny day.

South Georgia Island

A group of king penguins, (Aptenodytes patagonicus), standing together on South Georgia Island, surrounded by tussock grass, with mountains and a blue sky in the background.

South Georgia Island

Panoramic view of thousands of King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) on Salisbury Plain, an annual breeding site, on South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.