An Antarctica Excursion

With approximately seventy thousand pairs, they are quite a sight, slipping about on a small rookery, in their snug tuxedos.

They clean themselves obsessively, and scare away neighbors who encroach by their nests, and fend off troublesome, chick threatening seals and skuas. Brown, fluffy downed chicks constantly clamor, placing their heads into their parents' beaks for any food that they have.

Penguin parents are constantly feeding their young. When the mother returns with fish from the ocean a ritual of pecks and bows happens before the father heads off for his turn in the icy sea.

Although people think they are, penguins aren't that cute. Penguins are rude, foul-smelling and noisy. Even so, they draw huge numbers of visitors to the Antarctic who wish to stand amongst them. The continent is at the ends of the Earth.

Penguins aren't Antarctica's only attraction. There is an astonishingly beautiful landscape of icebergs resembling dragons and mythical being and glaciers with spires as tall as those found on European cathedrals and there are seals, albatross, dolphins, whales, and icebergs.

This wonderful place has had very few visitors so far, so few that all of them put together might not even fill a football stadium. Antarctica is simply divine. The thrill begins right from the time you set out. The trip is as exciting, exotic, exclusive and expensive. Depending on where in Antarctica they want to reach, travelers need to first take a 20-hour flight to Ushuaia in Argentina, or Punta Arenas in Chile, Cape Town in South Africa, or Christchurch in New Zealand. To board ice-rated expedition cruise ships, any of these ports is an equally good option. This happens to be the only option for reaching Antarctica despite a travel of several days through rough seas.

Even though the world map shows Antarctica as roughly the size of the U.S. and Mexico put together, if we consider the icy shelves around it, the area is actually double that size. While it holds over 70 percent of Earth's fresh water this couple of miles thick mass of ice exerts tremendous pressure on the Earth's surface.

This February, from the 10th to the 18th, a total of nine vessels will be operating different tours to Antarctica. A single ship that carries 400 passengers is the lone exception while all the others range in capacity from 75 to 200 passengers. The air on board these ships is that of gathering knowledge about the places to be visited, complete with lectures and slide shows about the natural beauty of Antarctica.

Using zodiac rafts, passengers are taken to see scientists at work, penguins in their rookeries and vast colonies of seals.

Research stations are maintained by the U.S., Argentina, Chile, China, Russia and other parties to the Antarctic Treaty. As a result of the Antarctic Treaty, participating countries have voluntarily kept Antarctica free of borders, have stayed away from commercial and nuclear activity and are using the place as an environmentally clean laboratory. Many research stations are quite comfortable having tourists visit their facilities but at other locations this is seen as hampering smooth functioning.

At a frozen plain at Hope Bay is Argentina's Esperanza station in which tourists can freely wander through the town of bungalows the adjoining recreational areas, the church, school as well as through their work areas. Meteorologists stationed over there, the armed forces, children and even penguins seem to have developed a bond of friendship amongst themselves.

A restaurant, a convenience store and a post office are some of the facilities that exist on Chile's Teniente Marsh station which happens to be the largest base out of the nine that exist on King George's Island. Tourists can buy stuffed penguins On Anvers Island, at the U.S. Palmer Station, only certain ships are allowed and, that too, at specified times. Visitors and tourists are not allowed inside laboratories and living quarters.