Christmas in Antarctica!

Just signed up for a month of underwater exploration in Antarctica spanning Christmas and New Years. With its unnamed invertebrates, below freezing temperatures, and carnivorous seals that stretch the length of a mid-size car, our earth's most southern continent is a place of wondrous finds.

Swimming amidst grounded icebergs and penguins while losing sensation in your lips from the 29F/-1.6C water is the kind of diving that challenges the mind, body and whatever other ingredients make us human.

For laughs, I have included a link of some hijinks Patrick Gilmore and I got into when exploring the islands and channels of the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the National Geographic Explorer.

Penguins: High Def vs. Standard Def

As well as the recent article from scientist Skye Moret using my underwater images to compare the color differences between what is above and below the waters off the white continent.

In Living Color: Antarctica's Vibrant Wildlife Under the Sea

The Wilds of Alaska

Alaska provides.

Redefining our notions of wilderness.

Eliminating the gap that we imagine exists between ourselves and the natural world.

Letting us breathe again.

Far away from the stains with which we have colored the world.

And if it is only for a day, then a good day it is to reset our expectations for how we should interact with the creatures inhabiting this world.

Penguin Colony Lifecycle on the Antarctic Peninsula.

After a two day crossing of the Drake Passage, the National Geographic Explorer steered a course toward the penguin colonies upon Brown Bluff. Being the northernmost tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, it is a known location for penguin colonies.

Waiting for the austral summer to commence, the penguins know exactly when to come to ground to begin preparations. As the ice clears, moss and lichen begin to show their colors once again.

Here Adélie penguins gather in great numbers and choose to nest in close quarters. This can make nest building a bit of a competitive sport.

Choosing which beach rocks to build with is important and competition is everywhere.

Neighbors are not to be trusted, often stealing a rock away when someone is not looking.

But there is satisfaction when finding a mate who can help with the work load.

Once the chicks are hatched they are still in need of the parents warmth and protection.

And of course, the free meals that they provide.

This Brown Skua is one of the many predators that a penguin colony must endure. Patiently waiting at the edge of the colony, it seeks out those who stray too far from their parents' protection.

Unattended eggs also make a meal. Trading a life so that another may go on. As gruesome as this may seem, it is a necessary factor in maintaining the equilibrium of the colony's population.

The cold climate can preserve remains. Telling the story of survival in a landscape riddled with dangers.

And once the breeding season has run its course and the chicks are grown, it is back to the waters of the Southern Ocean to seek food and furtherance for these hearty, flightless birds.

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Website Launch - FollowNorth.com

Greetings,

My name is Paul North. This website launches my effort to share the explorations and adventures of diving in some of earth's most remote and wondrous marine ecosystems.

With the privilege of working with Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic as an Underwater Videographer and Naturalist, my job is to film what I find on my dives and present the natural history of the experience to the guests on-board.

2015 is well booked. Antarctica. Baja California. Alaska. Iceland. Greenland. The Canadian Arctic. Fiji. Tahiti & Easter Island.

Lots to explore on the site currently. Recent trips to Antarctica, Baja California, and Alaska are posted now.

FollowNorth.com

The blog is featured on the website and will update often with stories of marine wildlife encounters.

To begin, a link to Diving Alaska - a video collaboration using my footage and the music of the very talented composer - Vin Gast

Follow along to join me in the experience.

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Inhale. Exhale. Evolve. - 2014 in Review

Greetings, my name is Paul North and I work as Undersea Specialist with Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic filming and photographing some of our earth's most vibrant underwater ecosystems. 2014 has been a year of great adventure and the coming year looks to be much the same. What I hope to share with this blog is a continued view toward our ocean as a whole.

Increasing our understanding of the creatures inhabiting these waters is the only way to strike back against the damage already done. Thus here I will be sharing photos, videos, and the natural history of my encounters. Follow with me in 2015 as I venture from Alaska to Antarctica, Fiji, Tahiti, the Arctic & beyond searching for life and meaning within the water.

Click here to sign up to FollowNorth's email list.