Between December 19 and 28 of 2006 my mom, Marjean, and I traveled by the ship, Akademik Shokalskiy, from Ushuaia Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula and back.  

To get your bearings here is a map of the continent of Antarctica along with the southern portion of the continent of South America.  The red line is the route we took. 

And here is a map of the Antarctic Peninsula with the red line showing the route we took.

Here is a quick narrative of our trip along with some of the pictures we took.  Please click on any picture to see it at a larger size.  The port of Ushuaia is the base for a number of ships which take passengers to Antarctica.  We first spotted Table Island which is part of the South Shetland Islands.  Our first landing was at Yankee Harbor on Greenwich Island, also part of the   South Shetland Islands where we saw our first of many penguins to come including this Chinstrap. .   While anchored in Half Moon Bay off Livingston Island I too this picture  at MIDNIGHT on the summer solstice.  I could not get over how daylight it was.  Next we went to Deception Island,   which is a huge caldera.  We then went on the Paradise Bay where we cruised amongst the icebergs and enjoyed the fantastic and amazing scenery .   Moss and lichen are the only forms of terrestrial life one can see.   Tom climbed a mountain at the scientific station of Almirante Brown and took this picture before sliding back down.    The food aboard ship was very good including this fantastic barbecue we enjoyed on the bow deck of the ship.  It was sunny enough to get our picture taken .   We then enjoyed more of the view and cruised down the narrow Lemaire Channel before arriving at our furthest southern point (65o10.624 degrees south at Petermann Island .  We had another great meal for Christmas Diner and got to visit historic Port Lockroy from where we mailed many friends postcards before saying goodnight to the penguins returning to Ushuaia.