Antarctica
I was told that you go to South Georgia for the animals and to Antarctica for the ice. It is pretty hard to argue that the animals on South Georgia aren't a compelling reason to go there but the reality is that both places are amazing for their animals and for their scenery.
The King Penguins on South Georgia are amazing, both individually and in their massive colonies. It is hard to compehend how the parents find their chicks in all that noise and chaos. The Elephant Seal "weaners" are curious about anything and everything. Stand still long enough and you will be the centre of their attention, sit down and they will be all over you!
Arctic
An amalgam of a couple of trips across the Arctic, cruising around Svalbard, visiting Iceland and western Greenland.
Penguins
A selection of penguins I met during my cruise from Argentina to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Lots of images to choose from but I've managed to prune it down to one per species.
Polar Bear encounter in Svalbard
While cruising off the east coast of Spitsbergen naturalists on the bridge noticed a polar bear lying on the snow. As the captain manoeuvred the ship closer the bear looked up but seemed unconcerned about us and continued its nap.We soon noticed that there was also a female bear, with a cub, lying on the snow close by keeping an eye on the old male bear.
While we were trying to work out what was going on with these three bears the old male got up, stretched, exposing his battered frame and then started to pull something out of the snow that he had been using as a pillow.
For the next hour we watched on as first the female and cub approached the male bear and then a further two bears made a beeline across the ice for the old bear and his prize.
