We have been among the fortunate few to visit Antarctica: in our case on a 120 passenger adventure cruise vessel, the Clipper Adventurer. Our trip was three weeks long, and included Zodiac landings at penguin colonies and whaling ghost towns nearly every day. For example, when we visited South Georgia Island, we walked among tens of thousands of King Penguins and scores of Antarctic Fur Seals. The sights and sounds and smells of that huge wildlife colony will be forever imprinted on our brains.

Our ship arrived in Antarctica early in their summer season. The captain navigated the Lemaire Channel, at the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula (the thin finger of Antarctica that points up toward South America), until he could go no further because it was clogged with fast ice.

As we headed back up the peninsula, we experienced the glorious edge of this wildest of continents, where rugged cliffs and blue glaciers plunge into the sea. That is where I took this photograph. Though not really visible on this internet photo, on the photographic print a series of penguin colonies located close to the water's edge is clearly visible.

Lee Rentz