Outside of the office, I like to be outdoors. I serve on the board of the state chapter of The Nature Conservancy to try to preserve our environment.  In late 2012, my wife and I went on a three week trip to Antarctica, the seventh continent of the world with the South Pole at its center.

We went to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and the Antarctic Peninsula itself.  The only way to see this part of the world is by ship; there aren’t any hotels, towns, or native peoples.  The only structures are the research stations run by various nations.  No country owns Antarctica. Instead, a treaty, adhered to by most of the nations of the world, sets forth the rules for this area.

You see penguins, seals, whales and ice.  No polar bears. They are at the North Pole. We gained an appreciation for the travails the various explorers endured in the 19th century and enjoyed our trip very much.  Here are nine of the 1100 images I took.

— Dr. Tom Harbin