“Welcome to Antarctica!” I seem to be saying during our walk on the sea ice near Vega Island. Dave Kraus

At Paulet Island we watched as groups of Adélie penguins gathered on small icebergs just offshore before dashing ashore as a group to confuse the waiting predator leopard seals. Dave Kraus

If the weather was right, we would wait anxiously until after 10:30 pm when the sun finally sank low enough to make a spectacular sunset. Dave Kraus

With their white-rimmed goggle-eyes and raucous calls, Adélie penguins make for great pictures and entertainment. Dave Kraus

An emperor penguin preens its feathers after emerging from the ocean onto the pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Dave Kraus

During our days at sea we saw every conceivable shape and size iceberg with an endless variety of textures and shades of blue and white. Dave Kraus

Two humpback whales swim toward the sunset near Paulet Island. Dave Kraus

One evening our ship cruised slowly past this iceberg that was almost all old, deep blue ice, and sculpted by the sea into a cornucopia of bizarre shapes and textures. Dave Kraus

Gentoo penguins bide their time on the shoulder of a huge iceberg floating just offshore at Elephant Island. Dave Kraus

This nameless peak rises above the sea ice in the Antarctic sunset near Paulet Island. On our visit in November, the sunset lasted almost four hours. Dave Kraus

When we got a bit too close for comfort, this Weddell seal at Paradise Bay slipped into the water to be ready to run if needed. Dave Kraus

This weathered shack is almost all that remains of the Argentinian “Refugio Cristo Redentor” research base where scientists spent the Antarctic winter in 1955. Dave Kraus

Cold? Windy? Blizzard? This chinstrap penguin doesn’t care. This is home and it has evolved over millennia to be comfortable here. Dave Kraus

A pair of human figures are reduced to black dots by the endless vistas of the pack ice near Vega Island in Antarctica. Dave Kraus

The wild, frozen landscape at Point Wild on Elephant Islands, where Ernest Shackleton’s historic crew spent over four months stranded on shore, waiting for rescue. Dave Kraus

Two young male elephant seals practice their fighting skills on the beach at Kelp Point. Dave Kraus

A Weddell seal scratches its itches while on the ice at Pleneau Island. Seals seem to spend a lot of their time just doing nothing on the ice. Dave Kraus

A juvenile elephant seal voices its opinion while relaxing on the beach at Kelp Point in the Falkland Islands. Dave Kraus

Steeple Jason is home to the largest black-browed albatross rookery in the world, stretching completely out of sight around the coastline of this isolated island. Dave Kraus

A black-browed albatross poses for my camera on West Point Island in the Falklands. They are just one of the many species of seabirds that inhabit the Antarctic oceans. Dave Kraus

Gentoo penguins scramble to get off the rocks before a following wave comes in after a previous wave helped them get ashore over the sharp volcanic outcroppings. Dave Kraus

Penguins are supremely adapted to living on ice floes like this one near Paulet Island, where these Adélies were relaxing during the long Antarctic twilight. Dave Kraus

A leopard seal yawns to display its impressive set of teeth while relaxing on an ice floe. Dave Kraus

Icebergs in Paradise Bay, Antarctica, create fantastic shapes and reflections in the cold, still water. Dave Kraus

These Adélie penguins gather in front of a blue iceberg washed ashore on the beach at Brown Bluff. The older the ice, the bluer it is. Dave Kraus