Earlier, I watched the Ocean Diamond steam into the Drake's rolling seas and realized how much I would miss those magnificent mountains draped in thousands of feet of whipped and brilliant snow. Soon there would be no more gargantuan icebergs, no more spouting whales, or lollygagging seals, or perky child-like penguins waddling on shore and leaping lemming like into the icy waters. I feared I would never see anything like it again. But hoped I’d never forget.

In the middle of the Drake again. And again the swells do what they do. Three oceans meet as we cross the Drake Passage: the Pacific, Atlantic and Southern. We were told these seas were "interesting" but relatively calm. Our swells reached about 25 feet, but they can get as high as 60 and many ships have met their fate here since the British explorer, and sometimes pirate, Sir Francis Drake first sailed them. As far as we know, no native peoples from South America tried the crossing, though there is some evidence now that the Maori of New Zealand may have made it to Antarctica. If they didn't, they didn't hang out for long. Nobody can.

The fourth and final day of our two excursions, day eight of our Antarctic vagabond-adventure. Snow has fallen but skies are clearing. We are heading out to Mikkelsen Harbour. Could we be seeing more penguins?

Before we get to the harbor we see huge icebergs, some of them the size of small mountains. Grand is the only way you can describe them. Later we come upon gentoo penguins tumbling into the water and heading off to sea leaping up and down to reduce the chance of being eaten by a leopard seal or orca.

Afternoon - our third day of excursions and our seventh day on this Antarctica exploration. Our ship slowly navigates past an immense iceberg, a good square mile in size, as big as our neighborhood, as we head toward Paradise Harbor and beyond the Almirante Brown Antarctic base station, a missile of an island surrounded by penguins. We zodiac around the island and see pretty much everything as big fluffy flakes of snow begin to fall – skua birds in search of penguin eggs and baby penguins, if they get a chance; a nest of cormorants, one of which I catch in slow motion, winging its way above us; another humpback galumphing by and chinstrap and gentoo penguins clinging to the rocks. Some of these chicks may not make it before the early austral winter sets in. Occasionally we see crabeater or leopard seal – one of which gives me a toothy yawn as I pull out my iPhone. Lucky me.

6:15 AM -- We awoke as the Ocean Diamond gingerly navigated its way through the Lemaire Channel, a beautiful but narrow waterway near the Kyiv Peninsula that would lead us to Paradise Cove.

The channel is 7 miles long and not very wide. Icy waters and gray, penumbral light greeted the day. Low clouds hung over jagged peaks and they ran like razors right to the sea. Fresh snow hung in the mountain crevices and you could see where immense chunks of ice had thundered down the slopes – these were the icebergs that were floating majestically before us and clogging the channel.