ICEBERG AHEAD!

Part 8 in my Journey to Antarctica. If you enjoy the stories and photos, please comment and let me know!

I'd never seen an iceberg before today. I've read about them, I've seen photos and moving pictures with them, but never with my own eyes had I seen one. It took my own eyes to realize how big these drifting blocks of ice can be.

Imagine how many whiskey balls I could make with one of those...

Somewhere in the ocean between the Falklands (Malvinas) and South Georgia, I first saw it through the mists on the horizon, thinking to myself how cool it was to see. As we approached I became more awed with the sheer size of it. How easily it could swallow our ship whole. Crashing into it would be like a rabbit charging into an elephant. I knew one of these things could sink a cruise liner (I'm looking at you, Titanic), but I never knew how easily.

Shag Rock

Further along the way, we came upon Shag Rock. A black rock formation made white over years and years of guano droppings being left on it, Shag rock is gets it's name from the thousands of birds that call this small rock in the middle of nowhere home. The Blue Eyed Shag is one of the more beautiful seabirds we saw on this trip, and watching them fly around our ship as we cruised near this stone was inspiring, although photographing them was a pain in the ass. The winds were somewhat strong when we approached the rock, so fewer birds were in the air, but those who were darted by, often skimming the tops of the waves as they searched for food.

Having said that, it was a challenge that pushed me to improve my tracking of moving subjects manually, as the auto focus would get lost trying to find a subject amongst the moving waves. As they say, though, the bigger the challenge, the sweeter the reward tastes: the few photos that I did get to be in focus and sharp, I am extremely proud of.