Week 9 - Costa Rica (Pacific Coast)

A nice week with some top shelf weather visiting a wide range of National Parks, notably Manuel Antonio National Park and the Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. Heaps of wildlife, hundreds of birds and super hot.

San Blas Islands, Panama

Jumping back a bit here, before transiting the Panama Canal, we visited the beautiful San Blas Islands. Here are a few pictures of the Kuna people from the Island of Wachib Wala and its surrounding tropical paradise.

The Embera People

Yesterday we visited a remote Embera village deep in the Darien Jungle. Travelling up river 11 miles in our zodiacs, we were often forced to pull the boats as the water level dropped.

The result was mesmorising, we arrived in a tranquill village full of beautiful people, almost untouched by the outside world and we were the first visitors in over a year. The warmth and humour I then experienced with these people over the next few hours will never be forgotten. Here a few photos of some of the amazing people I met. Ka Pai!

Week 8 - Panama

Quick update: So far a stunning time in Panama, first we visited a Kuna village, Wachib Wala, on the San Blas islands before transiting through the Panama Canal. I did time lapse the entire passage, and the result is awesome. We had a massive storm that came over halfway through and while running out to grab the camera before the torrential downpour started, a simultanious blot of lightning and clap of thunder threw me to my knees. Intense! I'll upload the time lapse (10 hours into 2 minutes) as soon as I get a fast connection.

Costa Rica - Slothtastic

Yesterday we visited an amazing Sloth Sanctuary in Limon, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Week 7 Photo Highlights - Jamaica!

I think it's week 7... anyway, in the sticky heat of the Caribbean for a few weeks now as we work our way towards Antarctica. Too hot for a Kiwi here, but here a few pictures from our time in Jamaica mon.

Amazing time lapse footage of disappearing glaciers

I watched this recently on the internet, this TED talk has some increadible time lapse footage documenting the effect global warming is having on some of the major glaciers, including Jakobshavn in Ilulissat. Worth a view...

Grønlapse - A time lapse film of Greenland

I've put together a 7 minute piece that is constructed of my favorite time lapse shots from Greenland...

The voyage so far...

Week 4/5 Photo Highlights - To Canada

Day 32 - Akpatok Island, Canada.

A busy couple of days in the office. We spotted over 18 polar bears in the past two days, stranded on various islands off Nunavut's eastern coastline. 17 of the bears bolted after spotting us in the zodiacs, very skittish in this area as they are still hunted by man. Many of the bears took to the water, or up to the hills. Only the 18th bear, a huge old boy, perhaps 600kgs+ stayed to stare us down, climbing upon a large rock in the sun to pose for a Lion King-esque shot. In the photographs he really looks to be suffering from the summer heat.

We also have had two brilliant consecutive displays of the Aurora, tho not as photogenic as the one previously posted due to the amount of motion in the ship at sea, tremendous winds shaking cameras and chilling bones / fingers, and a full moon lighting up the skies and shaking off any possible darkness.

Now we are heading south in smooth seas, towards Newfoundland. The arctic is behind me for another year. I've included a map of our first month at sea...

Stunning Aurora! 28th August in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

What a night, calm seas and a dancing sky. Just awesome. The lack of movement in the ship allowed me to capture some photographs, at 8 second exposure at F4 and 4000 ISO. Taking a series allowed me to animate these sequences. Really happy with the result, but nothing compares to watching the lights dance with your own eyes. Can't believe the scale of the whole event too, which lasted over 2 hours. Enjoy!

Behind time lapse photography - Greenland

A brief example of how I shoot time lapse, at the stunning Jakobshavn surging glacier near Ilulissat in Greenland.

Week 3 Photo Highlights - West Greenland

Greenlandic villages, humpback whales, majestic icebergs and stunning sunsets, all in perfect weather.

A time-lapse of Prince Christian Sund in Greenland

70 miles and 5 hours in 1 minute.... one photo off the stern every 10 seconds... sorry for the low quality, slow internet here! I look forward to time-lapsing the Panama Canal next month!

Week 2 Photo Highlights - East Greenland

Greenland - in the first couple of days surpassing all expectations. Stunning.

Week 2 Photo Highlights - Iceland

Two days in Iceland wasn't nearly enough. A quick tour of the north via Akureyri and a short stop on the tiny Vigur Island.

Photo Highlights from Week 1 - Norway

Photo highlights from a foggy week in Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Norway.

Back at it! Starting off in Tromsø, Norway.

Back at sea.. for four months - traveling from the Norwegian Arctic to Antarctica in one continuous trip. Here's a few photos from Tromsø, Norway.

Day 28 - All done in Valparaiso, Chile

Back on land after a great trip. Thanks for following the blog and I hope you enjoyed the photos. I´ll finish with a couple of Blue Whales (out of dozens) we encountered off the coast of Chile. Cheers

Day 22 - Puerto Eden, Chile

More pics from Torres

Day 19 - Torres del Paine

A few shots from a day in the park...

A video from a few days back...

Was lucky enough to have the camera pointing in the right direction in Neko Harbour, Antarctica.

Days 17 & 18 - Chilean Fjords

After a very rough Drake Passage coming back from Antarctica (10m swells), was very happy to set foot in Ushuaia for the day. Next part of journey is north up the coast of Chile to Valparisso. Today we visited Punta Arenas.

Day 14 - Antarctica

Calving Glaciers for the morning and Humpbacks for lunch...

Day 13 - Antarctica

Great day in the South Shetland Islands, finishing with an polar swim and volcanic hot pools on Deception Island.

Day 12 - Antarctic Sound

Stunning day and finally got on land after 3 yuck days at sea.

Day 11 - Elephant Island

Finally, land! Unable to land due to big swells but managed to get a glimpse of Point Wild, where Shackleton's men sheltered under a lifeboat for over 4 months waiting for rescue, while Shackleton and 5 others crossed to South Georgia (where we just came from), on an 800 mile trip in the lifeboat, the James Caird.

Day 10 - Storms

Pretty decent swells, around 7m, slowing down our crossing and making things uncomfortable. Looks like crossing will be 3 days now due to reduced speed. Staff cabin at front of ship is like being in an elevator.

A couple more pics....

Day 8 - More South Georgia

Stunning day! Two landings at massive King Penguin colonies, St Andrew's Bay and Gold Harbour.

Day 7 - South Georgia!

Two great landings. In the morning we visited Grytviken Whaling Station, where we stood at the grave of Sir Ernest Shakelton, on which just happened to be his birthday. Loads of wildlife around - King Penguins and Elephant Seals and numerous Antarctic Fur Seals. Afternoon landing at Stromness, where Shaklton arrived after crossing South Georgia on his rescue mission after over 500 days of isolation.

Day 6 - Arrival at South Georgia!

First iceberg today, amazingly tall and easily visible from 19 Nautical Miles away, and arrived at the island this evening, in amazing light.

Day 5 - Enroute to South Georgia

A day at sea, and we cross the convergence into Antarctic waters.

Day 4 - Stanley, Falkland Islands

Visited the capital, Stanley, today. Also saw some Commersons dolphins which was a bit special. Currently at sea which is suprisingly calm, and bound for a South Georgia arrival in two days time!

Day 3 - The Falkland Islands

Awesome day on the Falklands! Landed at West Point Island, with a huge Black Browed Albatross colony and Rockhopper Penguin rookery and Carcass Island, where we walked 7k's along a rugged windswept coast line, similiar to the Connemara landscape.

Day 2 - The Southern Ocean

Heading towards the Falkland Islands, followed by numerous Black Browed Albatross.

Day 1 (Feb 9th) - Departing Ushuaia

We sail south down the Beagle Channel on the Prince Albert II.

Day 0 - Ushuaia, Argentina

Departing Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina tomorrow for the Falkland Islands.

Jabs

Today I overcame a 1 in 400,000 chance of dying as I received amongst others, a yellow fever jab for a post Antarctic trip in South America. 2 weeks till departure...