Antarctic Fox

The log of Rachel and Kevin Fox's trip to the Antarctic Peninsula in the Summer of 2008-9

Introduction: Telling the Story

The preface to our Antarctic adventure

We were given the amazing opportunity to join ten of our family and friends and go on a twelve day private expedition cruise in the Antarctic Peninsula on the Hanse Explorer. Over the course of the adventure Rachel and I took over 16,000 photos while having some of the most amazing and unexpected experiences of our lives.

Having just returned from our trip, we're now going to tell the story in pictures and words, excursion-by-excursion, over the next several weeks. We invite you to join us as we venture further south than the ship had ever gone, witness firsthand the Antarctic circle of life and death, and explore the penguin culture.

Fair warning though: one-by-one, the penguins will steal your sanity!

Hanse Explorer + Penguin - Hanse Explorer in the Mouth of "The Gullet", Antarctica with an Adelie Penguin. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox



Fox Antartica Expedition - The Fox Antarctica Expedition group. Back row: Martin (The Captain), Brian, Peng, Heather, Sara, Alan, Daveen, Patricia, Noah, Rob (Naturalist). Front row: Paulyn, Tim (Expedition Leader), Kevin (me) and Rachel. First time setting foot on the Antarctic continent. - Photo by Kevin Fox



Snow Chilin' - An adelie penguin cooling off in the snow after coming in from a long swim. Petermann Island, Antarctica. - Photo by Kevin Fox



Antarctic Beauty - Crystal Sound, at the mouth of the Gullet. "The Gullet, Antarctica. The narrow channel which separates Adelaide Island from the Antarctic Mainland. Named for the complex of twisting channels that look something like a digestive tract, and choked with ice for much of the year, The Gullet is notoriously difficult to pass through, but rewards adventurous navigators with spectacular views, of the high mountains and tumbling glaciers on each side of the channel." - EYOS - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox



Read the next chapter: Day 0: Positioning