On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
arrieve
Two more sites–Mikkelsen Harbor and Cierva Cove
Looking down on the landing site in Mikkelsen Harbor. This picture gives a sense of scale that I wasn’t always able to capture—how small I sometimes felt, with the mountains and glaciers just looming above us.
On the beach at Mikkelsen. This is a good example of what I call “Spooky Antarctica.” Mist, ice, rock, and light that changes every second.
Another shot from the beach.
Whale bones and an old boat on the beach.
Cierva Cove was fun for the opportunity to watch so many penguins in action. This quartet of penguins (yes, there are four—count the beaks) look like they’re standing guard while their friend takes a drink.
Fun fact: although penguins get much of the water they need from their diet, they can and do drink salt water. They have a gland by their eyes that excretes excess salt from their bodies.
“If you’re done drinking, let’s go get some fish!”
I might not have gotten any great shots of penguins porpoising, but I did manage to capture this gentoo mid-dive.
(Admittedly, a diving penguin is much easier to photograph because they don’t just pop up out of nowhere.)
Gentoo feet. Just because.
I like this one because it is a little different: these are chinstrap penguins scattered across a glacier.
WaterGirl
This post was stuck in a black hole earlier, so my plans to provide snow caps and penguins to start the day for all of us who are suffering with the crazy heat went out the window, but the sun is higher now so it still works.
The developers are fixing the wonkiness, and happily this post has been un-wonked.
eclare
Penguins! Love it. Thank you for these photos.
Layer8Problem
Excellent pictures. And you crossed the Drake Passage to get there. The thought of that part of the sea and its currents, winds, and storms gives my insides a creeped-out twist.
stinger
Tried to say this hours ago:
FABULOUS photos! That trip must have been thrilling!
And thank you, WaterGirl!
WaterGirl
@stinger: I am not the one doing the fixing, just identifying the issues and communicating with the developers. :-)
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@WaterGirl: thank you WG for dealing with the site problems! And I love The penguin post ♥️
Dmkingto
Love the “spookiness” & the penguins
hotshoe
wrote a comment earlier when this post wasn’t working — just wanted to say how much I enjoy the little birdy feet!
Redshift
@WaterGirl:
That is also important work, speaking as a developer who gets asked to fix things by people who are not good at describing the issue and communicating with developers.!
Redshift
What, the two-headed penguin isn’t AI-generated? 😀
Redshift
I didn’t know the blue ice showed up in smaller chunks; I’ve only ever seen it in pictures of icebergs and caves. Cool!
frosty
@WaterGirl: But if not you, who?
Old School
Thanks for unwonking this.
Miki
The first photograph looks like a watercolor painting. Amazing.
I love all the photos. Thanks for sharing.
WTFGhost
@WaterGirl: Good luck!
Please, tell them to do an index health and consistency check. Even if there was a problem between Redis caching and the database, and they’ve fixed that, it’s still possible an index was, or became, wonky. Plus, it’s always good to be able to say “all indexes are correct and consistent as of (now).”
SuzieC
Amazing photos. Difference between gentoo and chinstrap penguins?
arrieve
@SuzieC:
Two different species. There are four kinds of penguins in Antarctica–Emperor, Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo. On the Antarctic Peninsula, where we were, you will see the last two. There’s a better picture of a chinstrap in the photos I submitted from South Georgia.
I’m doing a summer program in Oxford at the moment, so between the time zone difference and being in class much of the day, I haven’t been able to check the comments for questions. Sorry if I’ve missed anyone!
SuzieC
Thanks! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chinstrap penguin.
Gloria DryGarden
These are wonderful. The first 3 conveyed the size and the majesty in a way I haven’t seen. I teared up. Breathtaking!
are you a professional photographer?
[Later, if there are rumblings and rumors from the uk populace, about a USA president and the uk pm, and a state visit, and golfing, perhaps you’ll report from the ground, while you’re there perfecting your English accent, or rowing, or whatever it is you’re doing there.]
bjacques
Ooh! The Mountains Of Madness!
munira
Great photos – thanks.
sab
Great photos. That one penguin was indeed muddy, but since s/he is about to jump in the ocean I am sure that will soon be okay.
Such tame little guys. My housecats are more wary.
BigJimSlade
@Redshift: Ugh, yeah. Someone will tell you about a section or widget by a name you’ve never heard and not mention which page it’s on either. And sometimes even screenshots are too cropped to really know where the issue lives.
ruckus
Have stood on Antartica – a very long time ago. 1972. In the USN stationed on the east coast and we played NATO ship for the 2 years I was on that boat. arrieve is right it is an amazing place. Now when I went it was rather cold and where we landed was more like a dock – one with a foot or so of ice on it but still an amazing place. And yes I believe I said all this in part one. Sue me….
It was winter in the southern hemisphere when I was there, which was OK because then we sailed north to the most northern port in Norway. So all in all in my 3 1/2 years in the USN year 3 was best but then I’ve also been to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba several times, and many cities on the coast of Europe, South Africa, and the Mediterranean.
Doug
“This is a good example of what I call ‘Spooky Antarctica.’ Mist, ice, rock, and light that changes every second, revealing cosmic horrors from beyond the veil of time.”
Finished that sentence for you.
Tehanu
Love the gentoo feet!