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posted by Vacation Home Rentals on May 27

They are there right now, sliding about the slippery surface of a rocky rookery wearing impeccable feathered tuxedos, seventy thousand pairs of them, a whole nation of these thigh-high birds. As a person looking for antarctica travel packages you should visit that site.

They constantly preen as they defend their chick’s nest from an unwanted neighbor, the chick hunting skuas and threat of a seal. The chicks, with brown colored down, scramble to thrust their beaks into their parents’ mouths for food.

The penguin parents are machines for feeding. 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.

Penguins are actually not really as cute as people think. Penguins are foul-smelling and noisy, pugnacious and pushy. But large numbers of visitors to Antarctica every year to stand with them. The vast frozen landscape of the Antarctic really is like the edge of the world. This site teaches you about antarctica vacation.

There’s much more in the Antarctic to see. There are seals, albatross, dolphins, whales, and icebergs and an astonishingly beautiful landscape of glaciers with spires as tall as those found on European cathedrals and icebergs resembling dragons and mythical beings.

A stadium full of football fans is about the number of people who have been to this wonderful place before. A visit to Antarctica is like life?s best dream fulfilled, with nothing left to be desired. Reaching there is an adventure by itself. The trip is as expensive as it is fascinating and very special. Those who go from the United States brave at least 20 hours of air travel to Ushuaia, Argentina’s southern-most port, or Punta Arenas in Chile, Cape Town in South Africa, or Christchurch in New Zealand. Expedition cruise ships leave from these ports carrying enthusiasts to Antarctica. That’s still the only way to get there, and passengers endure several days of rough seas until they reach The Big Ice.

While Antarctica, as is seen above the surface of the water, is about a third larger than the U.S., the icy shelves surrounding it account for almost the same area in addition. With a thickness of two miles and exerting a massive pressure on the earth?s surface, this vast ice mass holds 70 percent of the Earth?s fresh water.

This February, from the 10th to the 18th, a total of nine vessels will be operating different tours to Antarctica. Except for one ship that carries 400 passengers, all the others carry a maximum of 200. They are less formal than larger cruise vessels plying Caribbean or Mediterranean waters; instead of casinos, they feature lectures and slide shows about Antarctica’s natural science and history.

Making landings using zodiac rafts, passengers can visit research stations where they can see scientists at work and also go past penguin rookeries and seal colonies.

The U.S., Argentina, Chile, China, Russia and other parties to the Antarctic Treaty maintain the research stations. Through the Antarctic Treaty, countries agreed to keep Antarctica free of borders, commercial and nuclear activity and to preserve it as an environmentally clean research facility. Some research stations welcome tourist s, others claim visits interfere with the work routine.

At Hope Bay, on a frozen plain, there are numerous orange-colored pre-fabricated bungalows that form Argentina?s Esperanza station where tourists can roam about in work areas as well as recreational facilities, church and school. Everyone and everything around including the military personnel, their team dogs, the meteorologists, the children and even the penguins seem to be enjoying each other?s company.

Chile’s Teniente Marsh station, which boasts of a convenience store, a restaurant and even a post office, is located on King George?s Island and is the biggest of the nine bases on that island. Nearby, China’s Great Wall Station personnel run a souvenir shop selling T-shirts, medals and stuffed penguins to tourists. The United States’ Palmer Station on Anvers Island is unique in the sense that it allows only certain ships at predetermined times. Tourists are not granted access to living quarters and research areas.

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on May 27

Over the years many of the whaling nations made territorial claims to large sections of the continent of Antarctica. Britain, Argentina and Chile all laid claim to large sections of Antarctica, and some of those claims overlap. Other countries, such as Norway,, New Zealand, and France have also claimed portions of the continent. You can get the best adventure antarctica tours information by visiting this website.

The highest point of nationalism hit this continent in 1940. It occurred when Nazi Germany dropped swastika-engraved stakes over large areas of Antarctica to claim it for the Third Reich. When the world became involved in a global war, and then moved on to the Cold War, the continent was pretty much abandoned by everyone except the whale hunters. However, science would soon be motivated by celestial events to return to Antarctica.

Between 1957 and 1958, sunspot activity hit a peak that drove both scientists and governments around the globe to descend upond Antarctica where they could use its unique view of the southern hole in the Earth’s magnetic field to study the earth as it was bombarded by solar radiation from sunspot activity. The continent was soon home to a 67 country coalition of science personnel. This movement, and the cooperation among the scientists in this community were a drving factor in the Antarctic Treaty, an amazing international agreement.

This treaty sets preserves and saves Antarctica for the sole purpose of peaceful research, and was signed in 1959 by countries that had key, vested interests in the continent. Nuclear tests, eruptions, and radioactive waste disposal were not allowed. The only reason military activities were to be allowed on the continent was in the  logistic support of science. The issues surrounding territorial claims were put to rest. Visit this site for further information on antarctica vacations.

This period marked an odd time in the Cold War where the superpowers both put aside their differences for the moment, staking no claims on Antarctica or recognizing any others as well. The smaller countries became reluctant to pursue their claims in light of the maneuvering practiced by the more powerful countries.

In the decades that followed, nations and business organizations started to desire the natural resources thought to be in Antarctica. There was a flurry of national bases erected, mainly on the peninsula and surrounding islands.  Antarctica’s summer population of approximately 5,000, largely due to the fact that it’s only  a three day cruise,  dozens of science posts are home to most of these visitors.

During the 1960′s and 70′s, the U.S., Soviet Union, Poland, Italy, Britain, Chile, and Argentina all established bases on King George Island, and during the 1980′s, additional bases were opened by Peru, Uruguay, South Korea, China, and Brazil. True, most of these bases were established to conduct scientific experiments, but it was also a sign of political prowess for a lot of countries. They effectively gave themselves “squatter’s rights” on behalf of their country.

However, by the time the 1980′s rolled around, the use of Antarctica moved toward scientific research and retracted from using the continent for its resources. The Antarctic shares the destiny of the oceans, as more and more of them are being considered globally owned. It was Britain’s Halley Bay Antarctic base that first discovered the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer. This proved that industrial activity was degrading the atmosphere, allowing cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface.

So, in 1987, an international agreement was put into place to eradicate all ozone-destroying chemicals by the conclusion of the 1990′s. This finding emphasized the importance of the Antarctic scientific headquarters. They have since been shown to be essential in keeping track of the “greenhouse” gasses that have been prevalent in the atmosphere for decades. It was also in the 1980′s that the disgust for whaling reached its highest point. It was also during this time that the Green movement of the world supported using Antarctica as a world park.

By 1991 Antarctica received protection from ravaging of it’s natural resources with the Antarctic Treaty where participating nations agreed to ban exploration for oil and gas, mining and any other irreversible exploitation for at least 50 years. Today’s Antarctica is no longer used as a method to support industry, but instead, is showing the world how industry’s actions have impacted the planet and its atmosphere. It is also showing the world ways in which future calamities can be avoided.