Antarctica: The ice. The animals

So, maybe it is because I have just returned and haven´t put enough distance behind it, but it is possible that Antarctica is the most amazing place that I have ever visited. The ice is so beautiful. It is all over the place, giant icebergs, just floating about, all over, and at the base, the blue glacial-colored water all around it contrasting with the deep, dark ocean color. We had a lot of snow so there was fresh snow on everything. Again, I will try to add links to someone else´s pictures as mine could not even try to capture it all. The mountains, hills, ice, it is all incredibly beautiful. On the boat, there are smaller zodiacs (strong, rubber motorized launches) that we would take for landings. The landings were the best part. You just walk around and there are hundreds or thousands of penguins. They don´t fear humans at all so they walk right up to you and all around you. In fact, you have to be careful not to step on them. My favorite were the gentoo penguins but they were all so cute and so funny. You just watch them and laugh as they waddle around. We also saw a number of seals...both on land, swimming, or a couple of times lounging on a small ice floe that we passed by in the ship. One of the highlights was the first day that we saw the Orca whales...we were in the zodiacs and they surfaced right next to us...about 4 of them and swam around for awhile, it was so exciting. We had additional sightings of them a number of other times as well. We also saw a Minke whale that swam past our ship...just inches away. There were really beautiful birds as well...albatrosses, petrels, etc. My favorites might have been the Antarctic Terns and the Arctic Terns that migrate all the way from the Arctic circle. And even when we didn´t see animals, just motoring along in the zodiacs, meandering around the beautiful bays, or around the icebergs, was really incredible...even on the cold, snowy days. But we had many days with hours of beautiful sunlight which made the ice just glisten. And the sunsets...they lasted for hours. Really gorgeous. We also did landings at a volcanic beach which is reportedly warm water but it was really about one degree warmer than the actual sea. But you could dig your hands into the volcanic sand and it was very warm. We visited an old whaling station and Port Lockroy, a British station created during WWII which now houses a small musuem. I am so glad that I decided to go and only regret that the trip wasn´t two or three days longer. I miss it desperately and I imagine in a few days I will return to enjoying visiting new places but as of now, I´m still missing the ice...and the penguins...all of it really.