we are sailing for 4 days in this mystical part of the world. for me the most surprising visual discovery is Antarctica----no flat land, only high mountains covered by snow which I love so much and admired in so many places in the world, our Colorado mountains, Siera Nevada in California, Canadian Rockies, Himalayas in Tibet, Southern Alps in New Zealand, Alps in Europe ,etc.

Antarctica is a continent of beauty ,nature and wild life: albatrosses—magnificient and remarcable birds, featured in poetry and writings more than any other birds;our lecturer red few poems about them, the most famous--wondering albatrosses [ wing span up to 11 feet or 3,5 m ] largest flying creatures on Earth, can fly several thousands km on a single trip, sleep on wings, they are mates for life, but we loose them because of the fishing industry--- long lines of billions of hooks for fish used every year by fishing boats also catch sea birds and drawn them, sea birds follow fish boats, we watched the movie about this, there are 17---21 species of albatrosses, governments try to prevent their extinction, hopefully our children and grandchildren will be able to see them, for sailors to see them  is good luck. There are sea birds -terns- which migrate every year from Arctica to Antarctica, back and forth.

Aurora Australis [Aurora—Roman goddess of the dawn] is a collective name for a special light here as a result of interactions of magnetic and athmospheric fields[very complicated description in the book—Antarctica--which I am reading], we have 20 hours of day light.

We see penguins, jumping in water or sitting on ice, December is a busy time for them, they are hatching eggs and feeding chicks.

I learned from my oldest grandson Max and now red in the book Antarctica is a major source of knowledge about meteorites because it acts as a collector and preserver of them.

We had a swim on the deck , summer is very cold here

now we sailing toward Cape Horn through the very very rough sea and our huge ship rocking like a little boat, a lot of people are sea sick, I am okey for now, we know about Norwegian ship which lost power.

Happy New Year—my last email from Antarctica, tonight we have a party, very exotic New Year for me, 

love to all, Inna