Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

These reports from our trip are feeling more and more like glimpses of a distant past, both personally and in this world where no one is traveling anywhere too far from home. Certainly not internationally! It's good to look back and remember, and this post is the first of two where it's all about history. In particular, the grim history of whaling.   Mikkelsen Harbor was used first by sealers, then in the early 20th Century by whalers. It's not much of a place, and I think they must have mostly just done some basic butchering before hauling the blubber off to someplace else (like Deception Island--I'll get to that in a couple of weeks) to be processed. Approaching the island in the harbor, where the whalers had what look like seriously inadequate shelter. (Photo by Dave Dempsey) The skeleton of the whaling boat is poignantly set off by hundred of whale bones. The animals rule here now. We tourists slogged a long way around through the mud when a large seal (out of sight...

So, before I get into sharing more photos from Antarctica, you have to hear about the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale. All my books are on sale, and for this first week of July, they are 75% off, which means the ones usually 99 cents are free--a great chance to get in at the start of each series! Jump on the chance, because I'm going to reduce the percentage off each week, unless I forget (yeah, I'm not really expecting great things of myself). Find my books at my Author Page and stock up! Just missing the latest, Death By Library and The Christmas Question--but you'll find them all on sale at Smashwords! Okay, now for Antarctica #6,  Cierva Harbor Zodiac Cruise As with my last photo post, I'm offering minimal commentary. This was the next-to-last day of landings and adventures, and as you will see, weather was damp and dreary, but even under those conditions the light in Antarctica could be beautiful. Coming into the harbor in the morning. First view, an Argentine base....

I have struggled a bit with looking at and selecting photos to continue sharing with you all. Not because I don't want to share them--I do. Photos are meant to be shared. It's just kind of hard right now to look at that other life. But I decided I could do it, with less commentary, but remembering the good times. It helps in a way that on most of these outings Dave and I were in separate groups. (For those who wonder, it's because I got ready much faster, and once dressed for outdoors in Antarctica, staying in the ship wasn't an option!) This was Day 4 along the Antarctic Peninsula, where we spent the morning doing both a landing and a zodiac cruise at Portal Point. This was a whales, seals, and snow morning! I was in the group that landed first, then cruised, and it started snowing shortly after we landed. By the time the zodiac cruise ended, it was raining, and the weather worsened enough we didn't have an afternoon outing. I'll just share the photos with mini...

Portal Point: Seals and Whales Our 4th day in Antarctica was the only one where we didn't get to do two outings, thanks to the weather. But we did get both a landing and a cruise at Portal Point, and had some special wildlife sightings. They split the group so only half of us landed at a time (due to constrained space on land), and I was in the batch that got dropped ashore first. This fantastic duo was there to greet us! Crabeater seals, which do not in fact eat crabs (they mostly eat krill) Seals are very fast and graceful in the water, but even more so than penguins they are at a disadvantage on land. Whenever we were ashore, members of the expedition staff went ahead of us with markers to show where we shouldn't go. Sometimes they wanted to keep us away from penguin rookeries or cranky seals. In this case, it was to keep us from the unstable edges of the snowfield, which dropped off 100' or so into the ocean. Being smart enough to know I don't know everything, I sta...

Zodiac cruise with icebergs--and some wildlife I'm working my way through the Antarctica photos, and I'm kind of amazed to realize from the post numbering that we've been home for 5 weeks. Still have about 5 more posts to do from Antarctica, and then I can get moving on all the hikes in Patagonia.  Today I'm featuring our Day 3 (along the Antarctic Peninsula--it was day 6 of the cruise) afternoon zodiac cruise in Andvord Bay. This was the after-lunch outing following my amazing penguin encounters .   We sailed from Neko Harbor to Andvord Bay while we lunched, and the rain stopped, to everyone's relief. We sailed past lots of these And parked about here  Pile into zodiacs and head out with Rustyn Mesdag at the helm. I snagged the seat by the bows, which can be damp but also allows for some good views. For obvious reasons, I'm not really sure who was on the boat with me!   There's not a lot of narration needed for the next 2 1/2 hours, though that doesn't ...