I really enjoy travel, and this was the single most memorable trip I've ever been on

>Drake Lake

Shake, by my standards (10+ m waves)

Thanks! Civilian, mix of amateur and professional

Thanks!

I had read about how rough South Georgia Island was, but that's not the same as seeing it. We also had the good fortune of seeing the waterfall that was the last obstacle before reaching the Stromness whaling plant, and Shackleton's grave at Grytviken (interesting that he wanted to be buried there). The Grytviken museum had a facsimile of the J Caird, and having just crossed the Drake Passage in "good" conditions, it is nuts that their rescue plan worked.

Nope. Elephant Island, in particular, provides no real shelter. Point Valentine was ridiculously exposed, and Point Wild (another) only a bit better.

Not that I am aware of. Wiki claims Germans climbed the taller of Una Peaks, pretty similar...

A bit of both. I got to leave the ship once or twice a day, depending on where we were. See my response to u/StuckInLazlosBasemen (here) for more. We visited only one active base (Port Lockroy). A lot of transit by zodiacs...

Best way is of course having already been on several so you have expertise. That's not me! I would love to go again...

We were on a small ship, so I spent a lot of time outside taking photos as things went by. There were a fair number of other ships, and there was a well-enforced limit on how many people could be on land at a time, so there was a fair amount of waiting for our turn. I spent some of that waiting time talking to the people who had been there before or who had other special knowledge (there was a penguin specialist, an astrophysicist, an geologist, a record holding kayaker, etc., not to mention some impressive photographers). Sometimes we didn't land at all, but toured the shoreline (or icebergs) in a zodiac. I really enjoyed that the wildlife was unafraid, so while we didn't walk right up to them (as we had been instructed about), they sometimes came right up to us.

Awesome! (feel free to post some of them)

Awesome! Such an incredible place

On the way back by, it definitely was. While I took this photo, the high winds distracted me

It made the trip both more wonderful and more exhausting - there was always something to see, almost 24 hours a day.

I was incredibly lucky, and was invited to join a private expedition. Took a short leave of absence and went, because if you get the chance, go! I was especially lucky because we also visited Elephant Island, South Georgia Island, and West Point Island, before returning to civilization.

That's actually right next to the pictured formation (just to the left of this scene), and has been renamed "Una Peaks"

>Magnificently intimidating!

The entrance to the Lemaire Channel summed up nicely!

More specifically, midnight-ish sun on False Cape Renard (the "true" cape is just to the left of this scene).

Maybe "Ahwahne" Valley? (wiki says that's what the Ahwahneechee called it)

If you'd like to have some more redditors see this beautiful photo, you can also post it to the sibling subreddit, r/Beachporn

You could also post this beautiful photo to the sibling sub-reddit, r/desertporn, if you'd like some more redditors to see it.

You can also post this beautiful photo to the sibling subreddit. r/Beachporn, if you'd like some more redditors to see it (in fact, r/waterporn and r/seaporn also seem like a good fit)

When we went, some years ago, the only people we met were on bicycles, and they were doing thee whole thing in one day! Glad you had a great trip, bound to have provided many wonderful memories...

White Rim Road?