Ushuaia is also one of the world's largest producers of Huskies and they are famous for their sled dogs in the Ididarod. We stopped by a husky breeding farm and the dogs were gorgeous.
They had beautiful gardens at the plantation as well. This was a nice wind down day before we had to load up on planes for another 30 hours of travel.
. We played on the boat alot. We had photo shoots too. (Family Portrait)
We brough Phil on deck for some boxing/karate duels and a game of Fuego. 
I won by the way!
Here is a group shot of everyone that was on the boat. It was such an amazing trip!! I can't wait to go back on another Antarctic cruise...best time of my life!
Danco Island is a one mile long island which lies in the southern part of the Errera Channel, off the west coast of Graham Island was first charted by Gerlache and is named for the geophysicist who died during the Belgica expedition of 1897. Gentoo penguins breed here as well as snowy sheathbills, kelp gulls, and blue-eyed shags.
Landing at Danko was so beautiful. It was good to be out in the bright blue skies for the first time. The pictures' colors are much better. We saw a huge colony of Gentoo penguins and they were all walking in their penguin super highways to the ocean...too cute. Here is a little guy marching in the packed snow.
You can see the ship out in the bay, and notice the size of that iceberg sitting out to its left. Those things were enormous and would look down as we sailed by threatening to decimate the ship's sides if we got too close.The views from the top of the peak were beautiful, it was so nice to look out and see for miles. The icebergs and penguins were so scenic. When we first got to the top there was a really cute line of penguin tracks across the unblemished snow. 
We figured we would mess up the beautiful scenery and have a snow ball fight. It was awesome. I ended up tackling a few people by the end of it and Robin had snow shoved in her face and mouth. Matt had snow all down his back. Not suprising that we were making a ton of noise too :-) Here is me killing Jamie...
And Matt....
Next, we loaded up the zodiacs back onto the boat and sailed down to the Melchior Islands and a couple of small protected straits where we could just go cruising in the zodiac to enjoy the beautiful weather. On our way to the channel, we followed a pod of humpback whales and as we were going out the zodiacs we were crossing our fingers for an up close encounter with them. However, we didn't see any more whales, BUT...the icebergs were beautiful. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures. And I put one in there to give you reference for size, that zodiac has 12 people in it. 
Port Lockroy is a small harbor on the west side of Weincke Island in the Palmer Archipelago. It is named after Edouard Lockroy, the French politician who assisted Dr. Jean Baptiste Charcot in obtaining government backing for his expeditions in 1903 and 1908. Port Lockroy is the home to Jougla point and Goudier Island, both are home to numerous nesting gentoo penguins. British history in Antarctica began when Captain James Cook first circumnavigated the continent in 1773-1775. UK presence in Antarctica dates back to 1943when the Royal Navy mounted an operation to provide reconnaissance and meteorological information concerning the South Atlantic by establishing a series of small bases on the Antarctic Peninsula. Port Lockroy is home to a six bedroom base that is a museum, gift shop, and home to the only post office in Antarctica.
Because Port Lockroy is so small, our group split up between Jougla Point and Goudier Island. We went to Jougla point first and there were some awesome whale bones that had been assembled into almost a full skeleton. I saw a gentoo penguin coming out from its egg, and that was a really special experience. On one of the beaches, the cutest Weddell was hauled out and napping on its back, and in the back of this picture you can see a small yacht that 6 people had sailed down to the Port from Ushuaia, incredible. 
Port Lockroy is so small and it is hard to believe that even three people can live in that building for such an extended period of time. But it was awesome to see some of the artifacts they have kept in the museum that date back to the early expeditions of the 1900s. Of course, I sent post cards and the coolest/ worst thing about that is that they have to travel so far before going to the states. Port Lockroy is a British base so the postcards have to go from there to the Falkland Islands, onto London, then to their various destinations around the world. I’m sure that I will beat them back to the states, but it will be a cool surprise to get in the mail anyway. 
Another really cool moment was when Gavin proposed to Martha on the beach. They are the most fun and interesting couple that I’ve ever met and it was cool to be an observer and help them celebrate their engagement once we got back to the ship. 
and taking in the scenery. Every hour or so I will see a pod of humpback whales, and I have seen icebergs breaking off into the ocean, or floating icebergs splitting in half. Every once in a while, the icebergs will have a weight shift which causes it to completely flip over. I am definitely depriving myself of sleep, but enjoying all the beautiful scenery of this trip. 
After leaving the saftey of Paradise Bay, we sailed on for the Melchior Islands to drop anchor for the night. While in one of the channels, we spotted a pod of Orcas. 
They were beautiful. Igor, the captain, turned the boat around and circled the whales multiple times so that we could get to see them up close. His sound effects were awesome as the whales breached the water. You can see us here laughing together on the bridge. 
Another amazing thing about today was the Midnight Sunlight. 
We all had to go out onto the bow to take in the sun that was very high in the sky that late at night. I ended up staying up until about 3 am and the sun never really went down. 
Around 1:30am, the captain spotted some more humpbacks. All I heard was "Kit"(Russian for whale). I had been searching the horizon with binoculars, and eagle-eyes Igor sees them with the naked eye while lounging in his captains chair smoking a cigarette, oh the irony.
