Midnight
I'm off on a journey to 'The Bottom of the World'! First, I have a lot of traveling to do. I have met up with Jack Hanna and his wife Susie and his crew in Miami and are now on the first leg of our journey. Jack's crew consists of his daughter Kathleen and her husband Julian, Rick Prebeg (Coordinator), Larry Elliston (Producer), Glenn Nickerson (Photographer), and Dan Davaney (Sound man and resident comedian). I have previously worked with the crew on a project in the Galapagos Islands filming a cooperative project between SeaWorld and The Charles Darwin Research Station. This project is one that started working on about 3 years ago and is on the population of the Galapagos penguin. I hope that this trip to Antarctica is as successful as the trip to the Galapagos islands was.

Well, we have not had the easiest beginning so far. It seems that our plane has a number of problems that need to be fixed so we are waiting on new parts. Due to the fact that this plane will be flying us all the way to the tip of Argentina we all are happy to wait until it is completely repaired. The time gives us a chance to catch up on what projects we have been doing and what is in store for us on this trip. My part in this trip is to serve as the penguin expert for Jack and to answer any other animal questions that come up. I am hoping to see chinstrap penguins, gentoo penguins, adelie penguins and possibly king penguins. There is also the possibility we may see Southern elephant seals, Weddell seals, Ross seals, leopard seals, killer whales, South Polar skuas, blue-eyed shags, giant petrels and many other seabirds. There may possibly be a chance to see a number of species of baleen whales also. All of this will depend on how mother nature treats us.

Rob Yordi