Antarctica Trip: Ten Things Antarctica Taught Me

Not once, but twice, I missed a close encounter with humpback whales. As my zodiac was taking me to shore, a humpback visited others right outside the ship's gangway. And the kayakers where greeted with a humpback and her calf as they made their way around Half Moon, our last day on the continent. But don't feel too bad for me, as we approached …

The short answer is it has to do with the the light spectrum, and the way light is filtered through the ice. The thicker the ice, the more blue-green color it displays. Regardless of what our on board geologist, Wolfgang, might suggest, the blue color IS NOT a result of reflecting light off the blue eyes of the rare Antarctic ice worms... Oh, …

Volcanic activity -- BAH! Don't let that steam rising off of the shoreline fool you; the polar plunge was as freezing as it was fun! I suppose, however, that large floating pieces of ice in the bay should have been a clue that we were in for a chilly dip.

Our ship, the Lyubov Orlova, is named after a famous Russian actress. It is a tightly-run ship with passionate crew. Our daily agendas (which showed up in our cabins each night like clock-work) included a "Russian word of the day." I did an excellent job butchering the language, but returned home with Spasiba (thank you), Zdravstvuite …

When we were camping at Paradise Bay, the curious penguins decided to visit us at all hours of the night -- literally right outside the tent -- and practice their best squawk. Other visitors that night included a friendly sheathbill who thought our tent was the perfect place to perch. Our tent had the poop to prove it.

One of our expedition staff grew up in Owatonna, MN - just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from my hometown. And, as we boarded the ship, Renee was reunited with a former professor!

A member of our expedition team, Russian born Valdimir has taken over 120 expeditions to Antarctica (each that included roughly 4 days in the Drake). Needless to say, we were in very capable and experienced hands.

Both Julia and Renee and eight other passengers went sea kayaking during our trip -- and at least one of them was able to bring a lucky charm through customs. In one afternoon, the kayakers had up-close encounters with a humpback whale and her calf, a leopard seal, watched an iceberg break in two, and dodged a compression wave.

And Antarctica brought it enthusiastically to the surface. Here's just a few of the species I can add to my developing bird-log: Magellanic Woodpecker (spotted during our hike in Tierra del Fuego before we embarked), black-browed albratross, giant petrel, Antarctica shag, snowy sheathbill, Antarctic tern, South Polar skua and Gentoo, Adelie and …