We went to Antarctica over the Christmas/New Years holiday 2106/2017. Temperatures at that time where we were were in Antarctica were warmer than temperatures throughout Oregon. Antarctica was a strange place to go to escape from the cold.
We left Ushuaia, Argentina on the Summer Solstice. It snowed in the surrounding mountains and a little bit in town that day.
Other than our return trip across the Drake Passage when we had about 30 mph winds with snow and 3 foot swells we enjoyed great weather and calm seas.
It is a rarity for passengers to go ashore twice every day when the ship is in areas where landings are possible (as opposed to being in transit). We did.
During a typical cruise of this type, we were told, all - or nearly all - of the penguins have chicks at the same stage of development. We saw chicks at all stages of development.
We expected to have a trip that was basically in black and white. There were nearly always amazing scenes that included icebergs, mountains, sun, blue sky, clouds, blue and green waters, whales, and quite a few types of birds and seals. But there was not a single tree.
We were told to expect awful smells when we were near and in the penguin rookeries - but apparently we were early enough in the season so we did not encounter that problem.
