This is where the sea and the sky meet.

To create the most mysterious picture.

A land of icebergs and glaciers, pristine snow clad mountains and wildlife of epic proportions.

This is Antarctica.

But before we delve into the magic and mystery of this otherworldly place, let's go back to where the journey begins.

When I board my ship in the southern city of Ushuaia, Argentina.

I'm on an expedition to one of the most remote places on the planet, the continent of Antarctica.

This is my seventh continent.

And to get there, we're on an expedition style ship that's going to take two full days at sea.

Crossing the Drake Passage, one of the roughest ocean channels in the world.

I'm Alice Ford and we're back in Northern Norway.

This is the Garden Island, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you guys can see, it is absolutely beautiful down here.

The views are just already stunning.

We are on our way to Antarctica.

So right now we're having a traditional tea here.

Wow.

Getting to Antarctica is far from easy, and while you can fly to the mainland, the preferred way to travel is by small ship so that you can take in the stunning landscape and see the wild and unique creatures that thrive in the frigid waters.

I boarded a ship called the Ocean Albatross and set sail south, cruising along the Beagle Channel, passing the southern coast of Chile and Argentina and making my way out into the open waters of the Drake.

All right, it's night one.

We haven't just left the Beagle Channel and are hitting the open ocean.

And that means the boat is starting to sway.

As you can see, this is where we are right now.

Just in the middle of nowhere.

And this is when I think most people are taking their Dramamine and trying to get some sleep.

Good morning.

Well, it's not quite morning at.

It's 3:30 in the morning, and I was told that the sun might be up around this time, but we are right now in the midst of the Drake Passage and it is definitely wavy.

Just getting my sea legs.

And hopefully we'll see the sun coming up soon.

The Drake Passage is where three oceans meet, so not only does it have some serious currents from the Pacific, Atlantic and Southern oceans, but it can also have some serious weather.

Luckily, our trip across the Drake was relatively smooth.

What they call the Drake Lake.

But it's still took some getting used to.

After two seemingly long days at sea, I finally spotted birds flying near by the ship and my first icebergs came into view.

As we approached our first signs of land at the South Shetland Islands.

Before every outing out into the outdoors here, you've got to get ready, which means putting on a lot of extra layers of waterproof pants, waterproof jackets, boots which luckily they provide, which are going to keep my feet nice and warm and dry.

And after I put these on, I've got to throw in a life vest because I'm getting in a skiff to take me to land, and that means I could go overboard at any time.

And in these kinds of waters, you definitely don't want to do that.

The South Shetlands are just 65 nautical miles from the Antarctic Peninsula.

They contain 11 islands and are full of a large variety of wildlife, penguins, seals and dozens of species of birds.

I have made landfall here in the South Shetland Islands, which is a large chain of islands, right before you get to the actual continent of Antarctica.

And there's a large, diverse amount of wildlife here.

Right behind me there is both a weddell seal and a leopard seal!

Leopard seals you rarely see on the land there.

Theyre the top predator here in Antarctica.

And there's a lot of penguins behind me, too.

On this island there are two different kinds.

We can see gentoo and chinstrap penguins as well.

Of the 17 penguin species in the world, there are eight species of penguin that live between the tip of South America and Antarctica.

Gentoo penguins, which can be seen in great numbers along the shoreline, are the third largest penguins and also one of the scarcest, with just 300,000 mating pairs believed to be in the wild.

I am here in the mating and nesting season.

So many of the penguins can be seen making skyward trumpeting movements, which is a gesture to females looking for a mate.

There are several nesting sites on the island, and you can see that there are dozens of penguins right back here.

Most of these are gentoo penguins, and they're hoping to be mums and dads in the next few weeks.

Gentoo penguins live in large and lively breeding colonies and use small stones to make nests, which male penguins will often give as a courtship gift to a hopeful female penguin.

And I thought this was so adorable.

Gentoo penguin females usually lay two eggs and they take just over a month to hatch.

The men and the women help each other out by sitting on the nest, and these penguins also usually mate for life.

One of the other penguin species on this island is the chinstrap penguin, which are pretty easy to identify.

I'll let you give it a guess.

These penguins are one of the most abundant in the world.

They eat fish and krill, and so, like other penguin species, are affected by climate change.

And many of the scientists that work here in Antarctica are studying this exact thing.

Now, the chinstrap penguins are also one of the funniest because they slide around on the ice on their stomachs, propelling themselves along with their feet.

Right now I am kayaking in a place called Deception Island.

This is back in the South Shetland Islands and it's a really great place for a wildlife.

As the water and the temperature here are a little bit warmer because we're actually paddling inside the caldera of an active volcano.

Deception Island has to be one of the most unique islands on the planet.

It's shaped like an almost perfect horseshoe that forms a protected harbor, and it's one of the only places on Earth where ships or kayakers can sail directly into the center of a volcano.

This is definitely a really unique place to kayak.

Not only are there penguins and lots of seabirds, there's also this sulfur that is just rising off the edges here of the ground and the water, and it's just really unique.

With its slightly warmer temperatures and protected bay perfect for ships.

Deception Island became ground zero for more than two centuries in some of Antarctica's darkest history, when whales, birds and seals were almost wiped off the map.

Deception Island isn't just a great place to spot wildlife, it's also got a lot of history when we talk about early Antarctica.

Now, the first people that came here were actually sealers and whalers, and this island in particular had sealers in the early 1800s that came here pretty much decimated most of the fur seal population.

Then many decades later, whalers came here.

They set up most of what we see here today.

Huge vats for oils.

There are some ovens over to my left here, where they melted down the whale blubber.

And there's some old homes and other buildings that all of those employees would have used.

There's even an old cemetery here.

And because this is an active volcano, in the late 60s, there was actually an eruption here that pretty much wiped out most of the historical houses and other remnants that remained from the whaling days.

But there are still a few things that you can come here and see.

It's a dark history, and one that I'm glad doesn't happen any more here in Antarctica because of the Antarctic Treaty, whales and all of the marine life around this continent are now protected.

There are quite a few species of seal here in the Antarctic waters, and one I recognize from home in California is the elephant seal.

Right now I'm at a place called Elephant Point here in the South Shetland Islands.

This place was actually named after these seals, specifically.

In California we have a different species, but I definitely recognize them.

There's a lot of adolescents here, some pups and a couple mothers with their young ones too.

And of course, plenty of penguins.

The elephant seal is the largest seal.

Getting their name from their massive size and the bulbous appendage on the male seals head.

These male seals can weigh between 3000 and 8000 pounds.

So this one on the beach is just a youngster.

While females may top out at less than 2,000 pounds, the size difference here is pretty massive.

My favorite ones, however, were the pups, who are especially cute and very hungry.

Spending about three weeks nursing for mom before learning the ins and outs of elephant seal life in the water.

Elephant seals have just one pup, and they need to grow from 60 pounds to around 300 in just one month.

Mothers begin weeding their babies after this, which are coincidentally called wieners, and these wieners stay on the beach for about 2 to 3 months, slowly learning to swim and fish before heading off to see themselves.

Well, welcome to summer in Antarctica.

It is snowing again here.

And this is actually the only time that you can travel by sea to this continent.

During its summer months, which go from about October to March.

And the weather is not summer-like like it is in much of the world, because this continent is almost completely covered in ice.

And in just a few moments, I'm going to be stepping foot on the actual landmass of Antarctica itself.

All day we've been cruising up these icy streets, making our way here from the South Shetland Islands.

Getting to get up close with some of these icebergs, some of the most amazing ones are just this amazing color of blue that is just even so hard to describe.

And these icebergs are actually some of the oldest icebergs that you can see floating in the sea.

It's official.

I am on my seventh continent.

Welcome, everybody, to Antarctica.

As an explorer, it is really special coming here.

This is my last and final continent.

And it's at the literal end of the earth, too.

This continent is actually the fifth largest continent on Earth, so it's really big.

The United States, the lower 48 states that is would fit inside this continent one and a half times.

So it's not something that you can explore in full.

And even the scientists that live here don't get to do that.

Antarctica is actually the only continent on Earth where you won't find any countries.

This entire landmass is actually designated as a nature reserve, the largest one on the planet.

That's because 54 countries have now come together to sign the Antarctic Treaty, and there is no drilling here.

There is strict regulations about what can and can't be done.

Most of the people that live here, especially year round, are actually scientists that are studying all kinds of things, from the ice to the wildlife.

And it's really special that tourists are allowed to come here, because those are the two types of things that can be done here.

Scientific research and tourism.

But with that comes a lot of strict regulations.

Every day when we get off the ship.

We have to go through what's called biosecurity.

We have to actually dip our boots in a solution that has anti bacteria.

And when we get back on board we have to do the same thing scrubbing off anything that we might have picked up from Antarctica and brought onto the ship.

This is certainly a fun way to spend the day in Antarctica, but it definitely makes me think about the explorers that came here in the early 1900s, like Shackleton, and tried to make it to the South Pole.

They had basic equipment.

They brought dogs and ponies, which didn't survive long and ended up just trekking across the snow with sleds that they actually pulled themselves.

You know, the snow is so deep here.

You fall in super easily, just one step after another.

It would be such a slow slog trying to get across the snow, and they were trying to go hundreds of miles into the interior of this really inhospitable landscape.

You can see that even in the summertime here, the visibility can be close to zero.

The temperatures are very, very cold.

And to not have GPS or any sort of new age technology trying to reach a place so far away in conditions like this seems nearly impossible.

Skiff rides are one of the best and most beautiful experiences here, and each and every one offers something entirely different.

Today's ride took us up close with an old shipwreck from the whaling days in the early 20th century.

Further exploration took us close to colonies of cormorants, also known as Antarctic shag, which have piercing blue eyes and are excellent swimmers.

We also spotted a lone Adelie penguin rare in this part of the peninsula, as they live much farther south on the continent itself.

This guy was far from home and quite possibly lost.

I hope he finds his way back home.

Returning safely to the ship, I most enjoyed the evenings on deck.

Watching the changing of the light, fog and floating icebergs pass us by.

As the lights slowly faded to blue hour and an ethereal twilight during these long days of summer.

Right now we're cruising into a place called Paradise Bay.

and it is absolutely beautiful.

There are a couple of research stations in this area, and we're going to be visiting one of them, which is actually owned by the country of Argentina.

This is Brown Station, one of Argentina's many research stations.

This is actually a summer station, so scientists will get here in about a month, mid January, and spend a couple of months doing research on penguins and some climatology as well.

Now, a fun fact about this station is that actually, back in 1984, one of the lead scientists that was here was asked to stay on for the winter.

And he actually went mad.

He burned down the entire station.

Speculation is that's why this is just a summer station now.

It's pretty easy to see why they call this place Paradise Bay.

Coming up here from the research station, you have these just absolutely spectacular views in every direction of this bay.

And if you sit quietly for a while, you can actually hear snow and ice falling off some of the glaciers that surround it.

It is just absolutely mesmerizing.

I've been to a lot of places around the world, seeing mountains and glaciers from the east to the west, all around the earth.

But this place is like something I have never seen before, and I can see why people want to come back time and time again.

It may be summer here in Antarctica, but the water her is still really cold.

And as it snows more and more, the snow is actually accumulating on the surface of the water because the snow is actually warmer than the water itself.

And one of the really cool things that you can see here, and just this little area here, is just how the sea ice forms out to sea.

If I stick my finger through here, I'm going right through water on the top, a membrane of ice, and then right through.

And you can actually see where I put my fingers in this little area.

Just really cool to see how the ice forms.

And in the winter time here, what happens is basically the sea ice forms pack ice and it actually expands the landmass of Antarctica more than 100 times, making it completely impossible to reach here by sea.

Icebergs come in all sizes and shapes.

They can be as big as entire city blocks or small, and they've got funny names like Bragi Bits and Growlers.

What we see above the surface of an iceberg is just one eighth of its total mass, which is why for ships traveling through this area, staying away from these giant floating islands is pretty important.

The species I've observed the most of here has certainly been the penguin.

Cuverville Island is home to the largest gentoo penguin colony on the peninsula.

It's home to thousands of birds, and I never got tired of looking at penguins.

Now in the sea, these birds skip across the sea like acrobats.

But on land, they're a bit like toddlers struggling to find their feet and stay upright.

So in many of the areas where you see lots of penguins, you see these well-maintained penguin highways and observing the penguins walking along as duos or trios along these highways was one of my favorite things.

With the sea ice always changing, we moved our ship every few hours, never straying far from the protected inlets of the west side of the peninsula.

Every new location offered something truly different than the last.

From the changing of the ice to the mountains and the shades of light and shadow mixed with the clouds and fog.

Every moment and every place that we passed brought a new sense of awe and amazement.

When I woke up this morning, I was in one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen.

It's, it's hard to describe what it looks like here because it's just unlike any other place on earth.

We are cruising right now to a place called Port Lacroix, but when I open the window this morning, we were just parked in the middle of the bay here.

The sea was completely flat, and it was like we were in a dreamscape, almost like parked on an ice skating rink with reflections of the mountains on every side.

It's just blowing me away.

How beautiful it is here.

And I definitely didn't expect that.

I didn't expect to see so much variety and landscapes, so much variety in the mountains and this is our first really blue sky day.

But many of the days have had this kind of fog and cloud inversions that hang and get stuck on the tops of the mountains.

It's such a spectacular place, and I cannot wait to see what the day brings.

98% of the surface of Antarctica is covered with a thick layer of ice and snow.

In some places, it can be over 100 feet thick.

This layer makes up 70% of the world's fresh water.

And it's also extremely heavy.

It's pushed much of the actual continental land far below the ocean's surface.

On a continent made almost completely of ice and snow.

Getting around can be a challenge even for the penguins.

So today I was heading out on snowshoes to take in the sights and watch some more penguins struggling to make the long ascent from the ocean up to their nests.

With the colonies far up the snowy bank and a very steep walk.

There was a lot of falling down and getting up observed.

I think a penguin chairlift would be much appreciated.

It's only fair that after walking across the snow like a penguin, I tried to swim like one two.

I'd done the polar plunge in Alaska, but now it was time for the Penguin Plunge.

It's going to be cold, and I think it's going to be a lot colder than Alaska.

One.

Two.

Three.

Ooh!

That was cold.

It is my last night cruising here along the Antarctic Peninsula.

Tomorrow I head back up the Drake Passage and to the southern end of South America.

This trip has just blown my mind.

I had no idea what Antarctica had to offer, and I certainly didn't expect it would have.

The stunning landscapes, the glaciers, the icebergs, and the wildlife that I have seen over this last week.

I can see why so many countries fought to protect this place as the largest nature reserve in the world, for science and for wildlife, and I hope you enjoyed coming on this expedition with me.

I cannot wait to show you what's coming up in the next adventure.

Thank you, as always, for joining me.

I'm Alice Ford and never stop exploring.