Antarctica Exploration
Days 7 - 15 January 15th to January 24th
All over the ship there are people in their cabins hastily tugging on layers of clothes and safety gear getting ready for the first landing. Although the outside temperature is a relatively balmy 3°C, the wind chill is worth around -8° and the sea spray onto the rafts probably takes off even more. The adrenaline rush, however, gives you back bucket loads of heat and we pace up and down in our cabin looking like Michelin Man and slowly melting whilst we wait for our group to be called.
We get a sneak preview of the Zodiacs leaving from deck 3
After what seems like an age, the Giant Petrels are requested to go to the expedition launch area on deck 3 and we bundle for the lift. Pushing through the Puffins who had not listened to the instruction to stay in their cabins until called, we passed through the pre launch room, had our ID tags scanned and been given a cheery AI goodbye before taking on the trickier than it looks embarkation onto a Zodiac.
All aboard and the enthusiastic dinghy pilot kicks in the power of the outboard motor and we charge toward our first landing point on Peterman Island.
The rules on visiting Antarctica are strict and clear and great care is taken to minimise any impact on the habitat of the flora and fauna at the landing sites. The expedition team always land first to assess the site and set up markers to define the permissible route ensuring a safe distance from any penguins or seals that are present. They also bring ashore a huge supply of equipment ready for any emergency that might occur including a bag to collect up all of the camera equipment, items of clothing and any other personal belongings that the dumb arsed tourists inadvertently but also inevitably discard. Once they are set, the dumb arsed tourists can land.
On arrival, the twelve person troops of bizarre red coated humanoids role inelegantly off the rubber bulwarks to be greeted by the white wilderness and its inhabitant colonies of penguin. Any tiny percentile of doubt that the whole thing might fall short of complete mind blowing awesomeness and beauty vanishes like the melting snow on your iPhone as everyone finds their land legs again ready to capture the instagram moment.
The sense that you will never tire of watching the oh so cute flightless birds is reinforced by the bubbling enthusiasm of the landing crew who are bouncing with joy at what they see and happily share their expertise with anyone that wants to know.
Penguin highways criss cross the snow leading from nesting sites to the food rich seas
As for the Penguin colonies of Gentoo, Adele and Chin Strap (we don’t see many of these), well they seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing and only stop in their tracks briefly to regard the weird visitors to their home. Generally, they are more interested in the domestic squabbles with their nesting neighbours over whose tiny stone is whose and quite where the boundary line is between one family’s home is to another. They do come together as a group when a chick scavenging Brown Skua bird comes in to threaten their precious eggs and present a screeching gaggle that seems very effective at warding away the danger.
There is always a great view back to the waiting ship where we will return to warm up and have a nice hot shower and a la carte lunch before heading out again on the zodiacs for an afternoon cruise
A beautiful afternoon for cruising up close to icebergs or just being in the open deck jacuzzi to watch the icy world go by.
Days go by and we head south along the Antarctic peninsula as icebergs pass us heading north to slowly contribute to the rising sea levels of the world. The weather is regularly changeable but in an almost entirely unpredictable way with driving snow one minute and sunlit mill pond calmness and light the next. This means that the expedition crew have to think on their feet to maintain a workable itinerary to allow the wanderlust guests to be sated in their needs to get on zodiacs and explore. They are good at it too, really good. Assisted by the technologically advanced ship, sheltered narrow channels and coves are sought out in order that the daily schedule of one landing and one cruise can, as nearly as possible, be maintained. There are, however, some days when the weather wins and we are confined to stay onboard but even when this happens there are still plenty of things to do with lectures, clay penguin making, eating and reading but most of all an ever changing spectacle of wonder to see all around us in never ending daylight. When it’s not whale, bird and seal spotting, there are dramatic landscapes and when these seem to be momentarily exhausted, there are the icebergs.
Endlessly fascinating and infinitely varied icebergs are always on show as we glide along. The freeze thaw fissures allow a dazzling display of electric blue light ever changing and always astonishing. The dry scientific explanation of the long wavelengths of white light being absorbed whilst short wave blue is reflected and scattered is not as appealing to me as imagining that Slartibartfast was only given a limited pallet of paint colours on the day that he built the glaciers and still managed to create award winning work.
Occasionally, you hear a thunderous roar and watch as a massive chunk of glacier calves free from the mass of snow and ice behind it to fall headlong into the water below thus ending its two thousand year journey from the mountain peak source.
Blue, blue, electric blue. That’s the colour of my room where I will live, waiting for the gift of sound and vision
KILLER WHALES ON THE STARBOARD BOW!
Whale sightings are reassuringly frequent but man is it hard to get a good photo
Joaquin, the coolest dude in the crew nonchalantly steering the zodiac. Shortly after this, we hit some rocks in shallow waters…
As we go on, the routine of getting ready and leaving the boat on expedition soon becomes second nature and we start to learn the tricks of the trade to maximise the experience and the comfort of transit to and from the snow covered rocky shores. Not least of these is getting the best spot on the zodiac. It is a balance between obtaining the prime position for photography whilst avoiding the location that is most likely to be saturated by sea spray and driving snow. It is harder to manipulate where in the queue of twelve you are when leaving the boat but on returning to the ship, one can ensure that you are near the front of the line to ensure a prime seat near the back of the craft next to the driver. From here, you get a clear camera shot of where you have just travelled, it’s way less bumpy and, most importantly, you have a five deep human shield that are all going to get hit by spray before you.
We make latitude 68° 78’ as our furthest point south and I am confused for a while that the readings aren’t getting closer to the 90° nirvana of the South Pole until I realise an alternate meaning of ‘Us and Them’ - Up, down, but in the end it’s only round and round.
The names of the places that we land soon become incidental to the experience provided but nevertheless, I am sure, they were very important to those that first discovered them whose names they bear and It makes me wonder how everywhere else on the planet got their original tag and whether there was once someone called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgeogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch🤔
So anyway, next we have a landing at Me Too island and visit an abandoned British research station which gives a fascinating insight into what life must have been like for those on duty for periods of up to two and a half years. Pretty desperate and one can only imagine what was available for dinner once the tinned supplies ran out and the supply ship was stranded in an ice pack somewhere far far away.
Mmmmm! A nice plate of boiled potatoes washed down with a warming cup of proper coffee!
At the time of writing, we have been at sea for around ten days with just a few days to go before heading back North across the passage back to Argentina. It has been an unforgettable and deeply rewarding experience that will be hard to match in the second leg of our journey.
It is hard to pick one day from another or which iceberg/mountain/penguin/seal/whale to share, but hopefully, my amateurish photography skills have provided you with some insight.
Right! I must go and make friends with Big Camera and see if he will lend me his memory card!