Antarctica: Voyage of Discovery in Retrospect

I am often at a loss as to how to end a spectacular journey.  Is it best to end with a bang, or a whimper?  Perhaps instead a quiet whisper; a slightly paler version of the technicolor experiences that have gone before, to ease the transition back to reality with less of a full camera cut and more of a gentle, telescopic slide back towards reality.

We've been privileged to traverse the Antarctic Peninsula from several remarkably unique landing points.  The stark and unrelenting beauty of this untameable land is seared in my mind.  Courting block-long glaciers; playing hide-and-seek with mountain-tops emerging from shrouded depths of miles of ice; tracing the geology of the ages in beach sand and rubble... Face to face with the primal nature of this continent and its denizens, I feel both awed and humbled.

The southern end of the earth is its own last, best miracle.  I feel honored to have touched its face, and walked its lands.  Coupled with the multi-sensory experience of standing toe to toe, flipper and wing with a wide variety of penguins, seals and birds, I know now what it is like to curiously explore the ways and means of another species, with wonder and without fear.

I'll detail more fully each environment and its inhabitants, preferably before the daily experiences of this life rob me of the memories of what it was like to be in and part of another world.

If you have the chance to go, you should.  Don't wait - special places have a tendency to change, and generally not for the better.  Eco-tourism aside - it's a very delicate balance, and not one I am certain we can maintain.  Go - it's one of the best things I've ever had an opportunity to experience, and one you would not, for a moment, regret.