January 18
Polar Islands
Argentina to Antarctica
Presenters: Alan Johanson and Desiree McGowan
Travel with Alan Johanson and Desiree McGowan on a three-week adventure exploring the unique and delicate marine environment of the Falkland, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Starting their adventure from Ushuaia, commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world, they make their way to the South Polar islands and encounter rich and varied wildlife populations. Ushuaia’s motto is, “the end of the world, beginning of everything.”
They begin in the South Georgia Island area, which a recent study discovered, contains the highest level of biodiversity among all ecosystems on earth, surpassing well-known regions such as the Galápagos and Ecuador. Alan and Desiree visit colonies of king penguins and gentoos, walk among fur seal pups and crabeater seals, and float among orca whales. These mostly volcanic islands have been internationally designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) for the conservation of bird populations. In 2012 the South Georgia and South Sandwich Island Marine Protected Area (over 410,000 square miles) was created to preserve marine biodiversity.
Sailing through this bio-rich marine environment Alan and Desiree had access to a botanist, an ornithologist, a biologist, a naturalist, a paleontologist, two geologists, and two historians onboard. This informational rounding-out was insightful when they visited NOAA-designated #C28B iceberg, and learned of its fate in a warming climate as a slowly melting ice platform the size of 8.7 Manhattan Islands.
Join Alan and Desiree as they seek out Giant Petrals, Blue-eyed Shags, Snowy Sheathbills, skuas, various penguins, and Wandering Albatrosses in this frigid and distant area of polar islands.
They begin in the South Georgia Island area, which a recent study discovered, contains the highest level of biodiversity among all ecosystems on earth, surpassing well-known regions such as the Galápagos and Ecuador. Alan and Desiree visit colonies of king penguins and gentoos, walk among fur seal pups and crabeater seals, and float among orca whales. These mostly volcanic islands have been internationally designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) for the conservation of bird populations. In 2012 the South Georgia and South Sandwich Island Marine Protected Area (over 410,000 square miles) was created to preserve marine biodiversity.
Sailing through this bio-rich marine environment Alan and Desiree had access to a botanist, an ornithologist, a biologist, a naturalist, a paleontologist, two geologists, and two historians onboard. This informational rounding-out was insightful when they visited NOAA-designated #C28B iceberg, and learned of its fate in a warming climate as a slowly melting ice platform the size of 8.7 Manhattan Islands.
Join Alan and Desiree as they seek out Giant Petrals, Blue-eyed Shags, Snowy Sheathbills, skuas, various penguins, and Wandering Albatrosses in this frigid and distant area of polar islands.