King George Island,
Antarctica passport stamp,
March 2013

The Blog is broken up into individual days of the 15 day trip, starting with my arrival on King George Island in Antarctica by airplane, February 19, 2013.

Day 1: King George Island and shipping out on Aquiles

Day 2: Extremophiles sampling begins among Antarctic Islands

Day 3: Punta Hannah (Livingston Island) and more penguins than you can shake a stick at

Day 4: The caldera of Deception Island and hot spring sampling

Day 5: Bernado O'Higgins Research Base on the Antarctic Peninsula

• The Infantry Glacier video from 200 meters above the waters of the Bransfield Strait
• The penguin hop video

Day 6: Return to King George Island, Escudero Base and maps

Day 7: Nelson Island and really cold hands

Day 8: Extremophiles enrichment or JP shows off his skills

Day 9: Collins Glacier and the most incongruous cell phone call in history

Day 10: What kind of church did the Russians build in Antarctica?

Day 11: Industrial pollution and metalloid-resistant bacteria

Day 12: Volcanic ash bands on Collins Glacier and Extremophiles isolated in Antarctica reduce tellurite to elemental tellurium

Day 13: Ardley Island, close but far away, and the difference in bacterial growth media

Day 14: Communication from King George Island, Antarctica to the rest of the planet

Day 15: Last sampling day in Antarctica: the first report of Deschampsia on Ardley Island (March 5, 2013)