In mid November 2024, I met up with my friend Kris Kuchinski in Miami for our journey to Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina. We joined Oceanwide Expeditions for a ten day trip to Snow Hill Antarctica to see the Emperor Penguin, the only remaining Antarctic penguin species I had not seen during my previous Antarctic adventure in January 2012 with Frank Todd. We sailed out from Ushuaia through the frequently treacherous Drake Passage and across the Weddell Sea. After two days journey we arrived at Snow Hill, home to a couple Emperor Penguin colonies, which unlike other Antarctic penguin species that nest on the coast, nest several miles inland. They are only reachable by helicopter, which few Antarctic ships have available. Our ship had three helicopters aboard, so we were able to quickly disembark five passengers per ride to a colony where hundreds of Emperors were nesting. The flight was an adventure in itself as the pilots enjoyed keeping us on the edge of our seats with aerobatic dives, twists and turns.

The colony of Emperors was divided into two groups, with hundreds of month-old babies, one to a pair and most noisily begging for food. Some adults were seen tobogganing in and out of the colony, coming and going from the sea in search of food for their young. The weather couldn’t have been better – bright blue skies and temperatures warm enough we had to discard our parkas during our permitted one hour visit.  

The trip went so smoothly, the ship’s captain decided to extend our visit one more day, and gave us a second opportunity to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime bucket list experience. We eventually returned to Ushuaia, a quaint, historic town known as ‘The End of The World’ (fin del mundo), for our return to the U.S. on December 2, 2024.