November 9-13 - Antarctica

 Winding Down

 We have been very lucky with the weather and most of what I wanted to capture has been done.

The day was beautiful and I thought it would be a perfect day to get a little more recording of the Weddell Seals so we headed out to Turtle Rock to see what we could find. Turtle Rock has a seal colony that is being studied by Dan Costa's group. Dan had finished his research and we were able to go out undisturbed to visit the seals and their pups.

Packed up in a Piston Bully

We followed the sound of a newborn pup and his mother. He was so loud that I was able to capture the sounds of him sucking and swallowing!

The next day I revisited the Pressure Ridges which have provided me with some of my best photographs.

The frost flowers on the sea ice seem to reflect and refract light and produce a rainbow of colors

Hands get freezing cold while out in the snow...

...so in addition to hand warmers, you can put your hands on a warm stomach if you can find a brave soul.

Pressure Ridges with Mt. Erebus in the background