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Antarctica Overview

Finding the words to sum up our Antarctica expedition isn’t as easy as you might think. There aren’t enough superlatives to really describe the sights, the sounds, the feelings, of our visit (although we’ve used many already on the blog!). Let’s begin with the attraction – why go?

Simplistically, for me, it all began with the snow and the penguins. A huge white continent covered in ice with penguins? That had my imagination going. But as we planned and researched and read…well, Antarctica became something much more. It’s the last frontier – literally. And one that seems cannot be conquered. It is huge (bigger than continental Europe) and 98% covered in ice. It is the driest continent on the earth, essentially a huge frozen desert, with only at most 1,000 human inhabitants spread between numerous little scientific outposts dotting the landscape. Antarctica is a place that has captured the imagination, led explorers to their death (of course, most famously the Scott expedition) and which has some of the harshest conditions on earth. It is remote. It has only 2 types of vegetation, and those found only in the outer reaches of the islands surrounding the continent. Yet it supports a wildlife and biological system that defies logic, but continues to develop and evolve. And, once you see it, you realize it also has a beauty and majesty that compares to nothing else on this planet.

During our trip – as you all know from the daily blog entries – we experienced, full force, the trickiness of Antarctic weather. They say you can experience every weather condition imaginable in 45 minutes – and we certainly had our share of the rain, wind, cold and snow. But, truly? It made the trip even more precious. To touch the little piece of the continent and peninsula that we did, in the weather we encountered, just made it seem so much more real. So much more mysterious and intriguing. So much more, well, Antarctic. And every time we left the ship, we thought about those early explorers - Scott, Shakleton, Amundsen – enduring far worse than this – only outfitted in equipment of the early 1900’s (not our comfortable and warm parkas or ski pants of water proof gloves) and certainly not returning back to a warm, inviting welcome aboard our luxurious little ship. Unimaginable. Yet clearly understandable when you consider the allure of the great unknown, the South Pole and its environs, standing all alone here, way far south, seemingly unconquerable.

Our challenge now? To try to keep vivid in our memories the amazing experiences we shared:

· Setting foot on an ice floe in the middle of the Wilhelmina bay, with the ship far away in the mist

· That feeling of awe as we sailed through first the pancake ice, then through the sea ice navigating around growlers and bergy bits as we made our way to clear water in Wilhelmena Bay.

· The satisfied exhaustion that set into our weary bodies after 3 landings on our first day in the continent – the last around 9pm where we hiked up a mountain side for panoramic vistas – in the broad daylight.

· Experiencing the cycle of life – from two penguins protecting their egg from a Skua to the new little chicks only recently hatched to the dead penguin being picked upon by a Skua – all within a few yards of each other on the beach.

· Seeing majestic, soaring mountains peeking out of the snow filled clouds

· Watching huge tabular icebergs, much larger than our ship, glide by our balcony window, glowing blue in the soft morning daylight.

· Feeling the ship turn and twist as our captain deftly navigated us between icebergs, large and small.

· The wonder of sailing away from Port Lockroy, knowing that we were leaving the 4 inhabitants alone and isolated in the middle of the Antarctic peninsula with no access or evacuation options – besides ships that sailed in to visit (as tourists) or scheduled supplies.

· The first time ever walking on a glacier.

· Ice, ice and more ice – always around – in the water, on the beaches, in the mountains – sometimes glowing, sometimes clear and deadly – but most always beautiful in its sheer abundance.

· Being able to see shelf ice in the Weddell sea – a place notorious for its ice and ability to capture and cut off ships from the open ocean.

· The sheer relief of waking up after the Bransfield Straights to a calm and picture perfect clear blue sky day in the Antarctic sound.

· Remembering the captain’s moving and poetic last briefing speech about dreams and possibilities.

· Relaxing on our sail back home, through a lovely, calm “Drake for children”, as we relive our experiences again and again.

For all those who value the worth of a trip with the question: “would you go back?,” it’s an easy answer – absolutely, in the beat of a heart!

There are many quotes about the grasp Antarctica can have on a person, its tantalizing allure. I’m not even going to try to compete with any of those more eloquent or prosaic authors. I can, and will, sum it all up in three little letters that kind of says it all: Wow.

L’Austral Overview

Although virtually every second of the trip was extraordinary, the ship we sailed on heightened the experience. We had researched the typical expedition ships and they were not really what interested us. We didn’t want to live in bunkrooms or small, tiny cabins while eating in the cafeteria “mess” style. On the other end of the spectrum, we couldn’t justify the expense of some of the other, more “upscale” ships doing the route.

Although our ship, Compagnie du Ponant’s L’Austral, was truly as described (a luxury “yacht”), this was absolutely an expedition trip—as high intensity as any (as Jerome the Cruise Director said, “and just think—you paid for this!). 9 landings including 3 the first day on the Peninsula, 3 continental landings, including 1 within 1 hour of 100 years of Amundsen planting the flag for the first time at the South Pole.

Through it all, the beauty was the ability to return from an exhausting afternoon outside, hiking in knee deep snow, fighting winds and cold and sometimes rain or snow, to enjoy great French cuisine, an espresso maker in the cabin, a balcony cabin (extremely rare in Antarctic ships), cabaret entertainment with a Parisian dance troupe, a pop duet and a lounge singer—an entertainment staff of nearly a dozen. Plus, an incredibly attentive crew that knew not only your names but your preferences. Glasses of wine (or beer) with all meals. Truly innovative cuisine but the ability to “drop back” to a steak or a simple salmon dish should you wish. And the naturalists—10 very talented men and women who love their jobs and enhanced the entire experience from the very first briefing to the final recap.

It was the best of both worlds. The wild, unconquerable, unpredictable white continent juxtaposed with the luxurious, personalized service of an intimate French cruise ship. We couldn’t have asked for a better combination.

12/18 Aitcho Island

Chin Strap Penguins and Elephant Seals!  Our last excursion is wet and cold and icky soupy marshy, but it’s full of incredible, different wild life. We land on the beach with the Chin Straps – they are so cute – and different looking from the Gentoos and Adelies.  There are tons and tons of them, but the light is so poor and the rain so steady, there is no way we can capture them adequately on film.  We are relying on Nathalie to capture all the great shots we know we can not (we have total faith in her – she posts her pictures on the photo computers after every excursion and they are fabulous! We made the decision to buy the photo disk early on after seeing her work).

We wander up the coast, following the flags to the other side of the island (a 20 minute slog) where there are tons of Elephant seals. Oh my! The noises they make! You can hear them from really far away!  They are almost as funny as the penguins – albeit a lot more scary.  These guys are truly HUGE.  Laying on the beach all over each other.  Fighting or playing – who knows? – they’re opening their massive jaws in huge yawn like poses.  The seals in the ocean are rubbing their heads against each other, “yawning” and falling into each other in the water.  We can get really close to them – but not too close!  J.J. is there, as he says “keeping the seals at bay” for us.

Unfortunately, the weather is miserable.  It’s raining, blowing, cold.  We can’t really take pictures because there’s too much water on the lens. We hang out for a while, just watching the beasts, then turn to head back up the hill and back to the zodiac.  It’s actually a good day to be done with the excursions- we can throw our boots away and not worry about them, dry out our soaked gloves, socks and balaclava, fold up the snow pants and get ready for the Drake!  Hmmm….on second thought, maybe I’ll stay……

12/18 Deception Island

Deception Island is actually a large volcano, with a sunken caldera that has now filled with ocean water and created a bay, so to speak. It is one of only three in the world.  We will have the opportunity for 2 landings today, one on the outside coast of the island and one on the inside, after we’ve sailed through the entrance to the caldera.

The first excursion is “tricky”.  There is a huge rookery of chin strap penguins here, living along the beach and up into the hills in what looks like an amphitheater.  There are 3 options in the morning – a hike from the rookery across the mountains to the inside of the island where a zodiac will pick you up; a landing at the rookery; and a zodiac ride up the coast.  The problem here is that it is a very rough water landing on the zodiac.  During our briefing last night, Niko and Jerome made it  perfectly clear you had to be absolutely fit to do this landing.  No one will be there to help you –they will be holding the boat and telling you to go – and you have to be able to get yourself out of the zodiac fast before the waves hit. 

The hike sounds great – except for the fact that it will take 2 1/2 to 3 hours, possibly through knee high snow (you won’t know until you get there), with places where you will be on your hands and knees crawling up hill, and other places where you will be on a very narrow track above a precipice.  Hmmmm……this is looking less and less attractive.  The final blow comes when we all learn that the landing and hike begin at 5:30am!  Nope – not going there. Not even for the landing.  After last night?  I’m sleeping!

So, we sleep in (as much as one can with the zodiacs being lowered over our cabin) and wake to an overcast, snowy, frigid day.  Ah, the Antarctic!  Good weather – gone.  Snow, rain, overcast – back. Sleeping in was the best decision we made!  Phew!

Our morning progresses calmly, breakfast, coffee, up on deck to watch our entrance into the caldera.  With all the snow and low visibility, its not much to see – although you can tell it would be totally dramatic if it were clear.  We stop to pick up the hikers (who we later find out had to slog through deep snow, and make their way through a whiteout where Niko had to use his GPS because he couldn’t see any of his normal landmarks – oy!).  A little later, we arrive at Telefon Bay and get ready for one of our last landings. 

It’s still snowing and blowing, so we bundle up and make our way out back for the zodiac.  The landscape here is like nothing we’ve seen – it is like walking on the moon – a snow covered moon!  The fresh snow gives the normally black cliffs and hills of the volcano an other-worldly feel. It’s frigid here, the wind is blowing and gusting so hard you can barely stand up, not to mention make it up the steep incline to get to the top of the cliff for the views.   Phew!  We do make it (but we don’t know how some of these other folks will do it!) and it is gorgeous. After the first incline, you can look down into the crater with a stream running through it and craggy black peaks sticking up out of the snow. At the peak, you get a wonderful view of the bay and the valley we’ve just traversed, as well as more perspectives on the crater.  This is probably one of my favorite stops – beyond the cold and the wind – it is so beautiful here with the stark snow and mountain contrast, the lack of any vegetation (as is normal for most of Antarctica) but also the lack of any animals – just earth,  precipitation and sky.  Totally different!

The walk back downhill is easier than we expected – and warmer with the wind at our backs. We’re actually a little hot by the time we reach the zodiac to go back to the ship.  No need for warming up aboard so much as drying off for our next (and last – boo hoo) excursion in the afternoon. 

12/17 Brown Bluff

Rested and revived – we get ready for our next expedition to Brown Bluff, so named for the brown color of the earth and the mountainous peaks that rise above the beach.

This is our first large colony of Adelie penguins, the smallest species that live here in the Antarctic.  It’s still fairly sunny and warmer now than any day we’ve had before.  We’re excited to hit solid ground and walk around a bit in the sunshine.

Brown Bluff actually turns out to be one of our favorite excursions.  Perched at the bottom of a glacier, the earth is a black/brown lava like substance, with a rocky beach and ice everywhere.  The Adelie penguins are precious, waddling all over, jumping into the ocean to swim and fish. They are the most active of the penguins we’ve seen so far.  They co-exist with some Gentoos here, but its mostly Adelies here on the beach.  There is a huge rookery at one end of the beach where tons of new chicks have just hatched – the naturalists tell us they weren’t here last trip – so these guys are at the most 10 days old.  So cute and fuzzy, with moms (or dads, can’t really tell) protecting , feeding and nurturing them.  You can stand there forever and watch – so fascinating these little creatures are!

Sadly, there is also a dead penguin on the rocks being picked at by a Skua.  Man, those birds are big!  It could probably carry the whole penguin off, but it seems content to just sit and pick.  Sad, but it’s the cycle of life, starkly displayed all within a few feet of beach.

We wander back to the other end of the beach, walking with the penguins, watching them jump and swim and fly out of the water like little missiles, only to stumble, fall on their bellies, then jump back up on their little feet, swiveling their heads around, almost like they’re looking to see if anyone is watching. Cute!!

Now we’re walking  on a glacier!!!  How awesome!  The glacier stretches out across the coast in front of us, and up into the mountains above us.  There are more penguins here too, including one that’s been mauled by a leopard seal.  Aw!  As we are standing there watching, and looking for the leopard seal in the water, we hear a groan and crash.  We whip around and just barely miss seeing a huge chunk of ice (over 100 meters long)calve off the glacier and fall into the water.  Andrew, the naturalist there, moves us all up higher on the glacier as we wait for the wave to come.  We’re fortunate today, nothing really occurs as the force of the water radiates out into the sea and dissipates into little swells going away from the beach. 

We stay as long as we can, soaking up the sun and the atmosphere, then slowly walk back to the zodiacs for our return trip to the ship.

12/17 Icebergs and the Weddell Sea

The day after the storm.  We all survived, with all our stories to share, and now it is a picture perfect, blue sky, sunny day.  Our first on this trip.  I’m still groggy from the night time tossing and turning (and probably the Dramamine as well), but Ed is up and about – taking pictures from our balcony of these monstrous icebergs we’re sailing past. 

Most are tabular – looking like a huge flat table floating by.  They almost glow with blue light as they majestically pass on either side of the ship.  There are too many to keep track of during our morning sail toward the Weddell sea.  I finally roust myself out of the bed and we head to the outer decks to get a panoramic view of these beauties (or what the Captain continues to call “big babies”).

The day is sunny and bright (Jerome reminds us to lather up on the sun block), but cold.  It doesn’t look like it should be that cold with the sun, but the wind will freeze you out in a heartbeat.  We bundle up in our parkas to watch as we sail right in between two monsters.  Niko gives us his commentary as we go by – these two are grounded (meaning the ice reaches all the way down to the floor of the ocean), and very old – you can tell their relative age from the striations on the outer edges (from the freeze-thaw cycles). 

The scenery defies explanation with mere words.  It is impossible to adequately describe these blocks of ice, 10 times the size of this ship, thousands of years old, sitting here with the water lapping (and sometimes crashing) against their sides.  Hopefully the pictures (once we can post them) will provide some sort of perspective and the same sense of wonder as we felt all day gliding past this incredible display of Antarctic beauty.

We sail all morning past the bergs, the growlers and ice floaters, watching penguins atop small ice floes glide past, finally turning into the Weddell Sea, renowned for it’s impressive ice packs.  It is here that many ships have been stranded, becoming captured by the floating ice sheets and pack ice that suddenly appear here.  We of course, aren’t going quite far enough to become trapped, but the Captain does deftly navigate around the open sea so that we can view the landscape around – snow capped peaks in the distance, icebergs of various sizes and shapes all around – and of course the penguins on the ice sheets! Because this is an ice-hardened ship, we sail straight through sheet ice, watching the thick slabs break apart at our bow and slide past along the sides of the ship.

This is a lazy day – peacefully sailing around in fabulous weather.  It’s a lovely reward after the exhausting night we’ve spent. 

12/16 Drake Redux

Well, not really the Drake Passage.  We are in the Bransfield Strait – and holy mother of God!  One of the books Ed is reading on Shackleton and Soott called the Bransfield Strait a “treacherous stretch of water between the Palmer Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands.”  Ummmm, yeah, we’ll have to agree with that.

The Captain did warn us of the low pressure system and the 2 days of bad weather – so ok – we think we’re prepared. Knowing him, when he says “rough” he means rough.  I start the Dramamine right away, we head to the lounge for a pre-dinner drink, then to dinner.  It’s jam packed because the upstairs dining room is closed due to weather.  We have to share a table, which actually was fine – good company with a couple from South Africa and 2 couples from California.  So – no problem there – the problem are the seas!  We are hitting swells and rolling starboard and port – and our chairs are sliding across the dining room floor.  Bumper chairs!  Every time a trough comes, we all hold on for dear life.  But – hey – ok – we signed on for this. We’ll make it work.

Dinner goes fine – none of us manage to spill or lose anything.  Although the service was chaos – orders wrong and mixed up – and the poor waiter kept apologizing telling us they were falling in the kitchen!  Ay yi yi!

We head to the lounge to self-medicate for the long night.  There – on high back stools – it’s a little more interesting.  I grab for the bar – while the taller guys plant a foot on the floor. We end up gabbing with some of the naturalists and again – managing to keep all our liquid in our glasses.  The tell us A) that the Drake passage was average, no big deal, just sort of normal (OMG!) and B) the reason we are feeling the seas so much tonight is that we can’t use our stabilizers.   The ice is a potential danger and could harm or shear off the ship stabilizers, so they have been retracted.  Oh boy!

Around midnight we all split up and head our separate ways – me into the wall (oops, missed that swell!), and then virtually attached to the banister all the way up to the 6th floor (stairways only, the elevators are closed again).  And no, it was not from the beverages.  In the room, we move the drinking glasses to the floor and make sure all the little things are secure (we think).  Then we climb into bed and try to let the motion rock us to sleep.

It’s really bad – the worst we’ve ever seen. We’re tossing and turning in bed (without even trying!  It’s the ship doing the work!) thinking we made a huge error in not tipping Ashley our bartender tonight because he might not be in the same lifeboat!  Our little emergency pile of clothes, backpack and pills doesn’t seem so over the top at the moment. 

We finally fall asleep until about 2AM when we hit a swell that sends the bed about 2 feet away from the wall. The only thing stopping it was the dresser on the other side of the room.  The coffee cups on the dresser are shaking and sliding, things are falling, sliding, flying about the cabin.  Oh my!  We assess the damage, not too bad, nothing broken.  So we try to go back to sleep.  Well, we managed to fitfully sleep the next 2 or 3 hours, waking up constantly with the motion of the ship and the crashing of various objects.  Some things that ended in the bed with Ed:  1  computer mouse, 1 TV remote control, 1 AA battery.  By 5AM Ed is up and just laying in the bed trying to figure out where all the noises are coming from – I’m up sucking down Dramamine and hoping that the dresser stays put.  By 6AM, Ed’s downstairs trying to get coffee or something – and I’m laying in the bed wishing it would stop when the BIG swell hits.  I have absolutely no idea how far we rolled or what the list angle was but what I do know is that everything came off the dresser and flew across the room.  I was safe, because the bed has no where else to go. But, heck now I have to get up and try to stay in an upright position to put everything away.  That was a chore, I’m telling you!

Ed comes back after being completely unsuccessful in his hunt for coffee. The main lounge normally has coffee, but Suneil had set the whole coffee table up 3 times and had it crash down around his feet.  He set it up a 4th time, just as Ed walked in – and just as the BIG swell hit. Everything went crashing down again. Poor guy – not a happy camper.  Ed returned and made an espresso in the room. Then ventured out again at 7AM to see about breakfast.  They aren’t serving anything in the dining room – they can’t – it’s just not safe.  They do have pastries – so Ed brings 2 up to the room for something on our stomachs.

The captain comes on and gives us a recap of the night.  12 meter seas (around 40 feet), “60 knot winds (high tropical storm strength) lots of icebergs, lots of growlers (small icebergs) and lots of ice.”  Normally sea motion doesn’t concern us too much, but with 2 ships sinking (and a heart stopping rescue on the Clelia II—Youtube that one!) in the last couple of years, we know that we need to be aware. 

I’m whipped – from the lack of sleep and the Dramamine – so I just doze for the next couple of hours – on and off – in and out of swells, until miraculously – they stop.  Oh thank heaven! That was sheer torture.  Now we are in the Antarctic Sound and it’s much calmer and it’s iceberg heaven.  Tons of floating masses all around us. Ed fortunately captures it on film, because I’m still too wasted to get up.  Finally around 9 I guess, I drag myself up and we go to breakfast where we can now actually have food!  Protein, carbs and caffeine!  Works miracles!

Now we can enjoy our day….icebergs and the Weddell sea!

12/16 Mikkelsen Harbor and Trinity Island

Our first excursion of the day – a zodiac ride around a glacier (the name of which I can never catch – pronunciation!) – has been canceled due to weather.  It’s raining, windy and too choppy for the zodiacs.  We’re in a 2 day bad weather system. Bummer!  I’m taking my Dramamine now, thank you!

The expedition crew has planned for it though – making the most of everything we could when we could. Now, today we can take a little breather and as they say “nap”!  Yeah – with this scenery?  I don’t think so.  We can hang out in our balcony and watch all the scenery – the Captain takes the ship into the bay and then slowly turns around so we see the entire glacier from the comfort – and relatively dry – cabin balcony.  There is a trip recap briefing at 10 – then we just hang out – reading and blogging in the main lounge.

A little after noon, we hear the tell tale zodiac sounds.  Are we going out?  Ed explores, and sure enough, Niko comes on to announce that our tentative plans are to try to make a landing here, at a little island in a pretty bay with a huge glacier behind it.  Niko is going to scout at 1:00 and let us know if we can start at 2:00.

We’re off!  After a very nice and filling Italian buffet lunch, we are ready to brave the elements and visit Bombay island to see the penguins (of course!) and the Weddell seals, plus whale bones and the skeleton of a ship used to supply the whalers when they were in the bay.  We queue up and head out with the first groups.  The sky was a little blue – but now the clouds are gathering again.  Oh well – we know there’s bad weather – just a matter of if we can avoid it long enough to visit here.

The zodiac ride isn’t that bad – it’s not as cold as we had thought.  We have to go a long way around to get to the landing area as there is a huge reef directly between us and the beach – similar to Bermuda.  As we are getting off the zodiac, we here a huge crack and sliding sound – Louie – the naturalist helping us out of  the zodiac – urgently says “out, out, out now”.  Ed plunges into the water – above the knee, filling his boots.  I manage to avoid that – but just barely – scooching as far as I could on the zodiac before hitting the water.  It was an avalanche right off the bay – and they were afraid of a wave from it.  That was cool/scary/exciting/ frightening all at once!  No wave materialized – thankfully – but better safe then sorry – that’s for sure.

On the island – we watch a seal wiggle its way across the snow and rocks to the water – videos to be posted later!  There are 5 or 6 seals around – all just laying there on the snow in different states of repose.  They are resting or sleeping before heading back out into the sea to eat and swim.  They spend only a very small portion of their time out of the water – we were lucky to see so many.

After the seal had crossed and hit the water, we followed Rafael around to see the whale bones left on the beach next to the skeleton of the ship.  The bones are massive – the jaw bone (and it wasn’t even a whole one) was just immense.  There were vertebrae and rib bones  all piled in the snow.  They are probably from more than one whale, just all dumped together as waste once the whalers were done processing them.

Soon we walk up the hill to see the penguins. The wind is really picking up and it is viciously cold.  Niko is at the top with one rookery – we take a few pix – then head to the other side of the little island to see the hut and the other penguins. They are as cute as ever, wandering around, along their little paths, fighting over their nests or something, talking away.  Ed walks another penguin – they seem to like him – and I just wander about taking pix of the cute little things! 

It’s definitely a slog out here. Even though there have been people around before us – the snow isn’t hard packed everywhere and you definitely need to be careful. We’re sinking in the snow quite frequently, making the walking, and climbing up the hill a little challenging.  Plus the wind – it’s gusty to lord knows how many knots – and it will knock you right over.  Holding the camera still for pictures is a challenge!  We decide it’s time to head back as the wind picks up, and the clouds get denser and darker.

We end up just missing a zodiac and wait for 5 long minutes – made longer by the wind that’s now gusting down here by the beach.  Finally, Simon arrives to take us back to the ship.  It’s a long cold, windy ride, but he does his best to keep us out of the water as much as possible.  I’m only hit with a couple of random sprays today – not so bad! 

We get back safe and sound, but honestly? Looking at the wind and the weather? If we weren’t already out there – we’d never have gone now – and there are people still boarding the zodiacs!  Glad to be back in the warmth and security of the ship – even if we do have sail into this nastiness tonight.  Dramamine regiment has already started.  

12/15 Cuverville Island

We’re back outside!  Actually, we’re out a little earlier than our planned 9:00 time.  Around 8:00ish, we had finished dinner and decided to get geared up and just wait in the lounge until they called us.  As we were dressing, Jerome called our red group! Cool – off we go to see 10,000 gentoo penguins.  Yes, 10,000.  You read that right. 

The zodiac sail into the island is incredible – these huge icebergs that are all glowing blue (will explain the blue light in more detail later when the “ice” specialist gives his glacier lecture later) and since it’s overcast and slightly snowing, it’s almost like twilight which totally changes the light and makes these huge chunks of ice even more dramatic. Plus there are penguins swimming in the water all around us.  Now, that was pretty neat! They look like tiny dolphins, arcing out of the water every few seconds or so!

Landing is easy – wet – but easy – then we’re off to follow the penguins!  We have our own human trail – and they have their penguin trail – but they tend to do what they want and are on our path quite a bit.  These guys are just so darn cute – albeit smelly and muddy from their nests – but still so cute. They are inquisitive, always looking at you and cocking their little heads. They waddle all over – up the hills – down the hills – they have trails all over that island. It’s really amazing – they can make it up and down these steep hills with no problem whatsoever, but when they try to walk on flat land they fall all the time.  Too funny!

Every time we walk past a large rookery – they all start to make sounds and call out.  We’ve decided they either don’t like me – or like me and want me to stay!  I’ll take the second explanation, thank you!  As we are wandering down the path, snapping away, listening to the penguin calls, we also hear an avalanche.  Man – it’s loud – don’t know from which direction it is coming, but it sounds like a helicopter landing.  We search the cliffs and mountains that line the mainland behind the island, but don’t see any evidence of it.  That would have been wild! To see an avalanche – well – as long as it was far away that is!

For an hour, we just wander around the paths, Ed even takes a penguin for a walk!  We watch the penguins protect their nests and eggs from the ever present Skuas, there is even one skua perched in front of two penguins standing with an egg between them. It’s odd they are standing and not sitting on the egg –but still – it’s there, you can see it so clearly.

12/15 Ice Floe landing

We’re back – and yes indeed – we had our big surprise:  landing on an ice floe!  Jerome announced the surprise and told the red group (us) to be ready in 20 minutes  – we ran.  We were in the forward lounge anyway, so it was seconds to our cabin, 2 minutes to get into gear and we were down in line for the marina within minutes. First zodiac out – this is amazing!

We are cruising through the ice. Simon is our driver and he’s navigating around big chunks of ice, breaking up the little sheets – about an inch thick.  Then we land….we are the first people on the ice floe besides the photographer and expedition leaders.  We’re floating on ice in the middle of the Wilhelmina Bay!!  Talk about once in a lifetime!

And then – as if that weren’t enough – here comes a penguin to visit. Guess he wanted to see what all the fuss was about – so up he pops from the water – and he just wanders about.  Sometimes heading for us – sometimes flapping his little wings for balance. 

Of course we have way too little time out there – but we do have to share – so being first on – we’re first to leave.  We take the “long way” back (so long in fact that our zodiac driver is called from the ship and told to come back!) – but it’s worth it.  This is the same guy who drove us back the first day in the drenching seas – so he’s adventurous.  We’re breaking through virgin ice and navigating around house size icebergs (or floes, or fast ice, don’t know which is the correct term).

We’re back on the ship way too fast – but wow! What a great experience and surprise.  We are in the cabin, watching everyone return on the front web cam when we notice that the Captain is sailing the ship closer and closer to the ice flow….hmmm…..  Off we go to the forward lounge to check it out.  Here comes the videographer – off the ice flow onto a zodiac – and there is all the expedition staff and some crew on the ice flow as the ship closes in.  Slowly, slowly, ever so tantalizing, the Captain nudges the ship forward until the nose of it actually touches the ice floe! Nathalie, the awesome ship photographer is down there snapping away and all the staff is whooping it up.  What a sight! Wow!

Ok – so we’re now off again – everyone is back aboard and we are sailing through Wilhelmina bay in thickening ice and snow. Talk about navigation.  Steering around icebergs, large tableau ice shapes, and increasingly thick ice.  Wild.  The Ushuaia (a ship we saw in port) is also out here, anchored with excursions off in zodiacs.  She almost looks abandoned or like a ghost ship through the thick, wet snowflakes. 

We end up staying on deck until around 6 – and missing the show.  Oh well, of course, that means we’re in our cabins when Jerome announces our evening excursions:  Cuverville Island – home of 10,000 penguins!  Oh yeah!  We have time for dinner, since we’re not leaving until 9:00.  Ok – remember “You will not sleep!”

12/15 Wilhelmina Bay Cruising

We’re supposed to be looking for whales.  There was one sighting (maybe, we never saw it – and we’ve got the good eyes up in the forward lounge with Christopher – the bartender who has snapped some awesome shots last cruise and this!).  So, we’re just hanging out, blogging as the icebergs start sliding by – ok – the captain promised we’d see thousands, yep, probably there already. All fabulous – small, large and everywhere in between.  The snow is starting to come down again, the iceberg reflect the blue light – you can see their “feet” (the area just below the surface) they are all simply incredible. 

But then, OMG, we’re into the ice…seriously.  Starts out as pancake ice, little pancake shaped ice floats, then it starts getting thicker until it’s really big sheets of ice that we are literally breaking through!  We’ve got an ice hardened hull, so the captain is threading his way through the icebergs and ice – breaking apart little bergs as we go.  How amazing is this?  Sailing through the ice – even the crew is out there – it’s so unusual.  Last cruise they had beautiful sunny weather and a smooth Drake crossing.  This cruise?  Not hardly – but does that matter? Oh no….cutting through the ice?  I’ll take that over sun any day!

So – now we’re turning all the way around, like we’re heading back from where we came – and they are lowering the zodiacs…..hmmmm….I think another change in plans is about to be announced!  Stay tuned!

12/15 Zodiac cruising around Wilhelmina Bay

This morning’s adventure is a cruise around the glacier and icebergs in Wilhelmina Bay. We have Simon again who squires us around the bigger ice pieces and points us toward the icebergs with the penguins (and some other bird I can’t remember) hanging out.  The scenery from water level is so incredible – being this close to the ice you can really see the striations from when they have calved and where the water is wearing away the ice as it moves through the bay. 

We wander around through the area – and even spot a chin strap penguin!  Picture taking is limited though – it’s raining and snowing – and blowing – so we’re a little worried about the cameras.  We decide to give up on the photo memories and just make our own mental memories for the rest of the ride.

Back aboard, we dry off and head to the lounge to blog and relax. That doesn’t last all that long, as the scenery and whale watching takes all our attention, as well as the navigation and building sea ice!

12/14 And you thought you were in for the night? Ha!

We come back aboard from Almirante Brown station at about 7:30.  Wet, in gear, a little tired from our climb.  Ashley (our main bartender!) wants us to sit and have a drink!  We’ll be back!  So – up to the room we go, quick shower (I mean quick), change of clothes (OK, so I’m not going so far as sneakers, but I am doing my totally casual pants and tops with my little dress sandals) and back down to visit Ashley for beverages.  Then it’s on to a late dinner, very good – all the food has been great – absolutely no complaints on the variety, selection or quality.

But, remember back at our first briefing?  Words #2 ? “You will not sleep” – or maybe a better translation is: “sleeping is not allowed”.  Our expedition staff is making good on its promise, that’s for certain.  We are just barely finishing dinner, it’s about 9:00 and an announcement is made that we have a surprise visit to Neko Harbor….tonight!  Everyone should be ready to go in 30 minutes.  Geez – we are like kids.  We look at each other – ready?  Heck yes!  We are up out of our chairs like a rocket – fortunately the Mountain boys (Dad and a group of 6 fairly rugged guys who are sons and sons-in-law from what we’ve heard – including very outdoorsy looking) are just as excited as we are – and out the door on our heels.

We are getting good at the gear thing – so it doesn’t take us anytime to shuck our indoor wear for outdoor gear and head down to the marina deck.  We all queue up outside and chat away (met one of the family’s with kids – yeah – there are 2 families with kids onboard – and they were great – son is the ham of all time – he’s great – taking videos and posting on YouTube for his school).  We finally hit the zodiac, and head out to Neko Harbor. 

It’s 10:00 at night, it’s still just like daylight, and most of us are a little tipsy from our pre- and during-dinner beverages. What better way to experience a surprise landing?  We have a wet landing (really wet – almost inside my boots – really, really close) and then up we go – again! This time a HUGE hill – mountain – is in front of us in very deep snow.  There are a ton of gentoo penguins which I snap away at – as Ed leaves me behind trudging up the mountain.

It’s really sort of grueling – since it’s on a full stomach, the 3rd excursion for the day, by now 10:30 at night and we’re climbing up a freaking mountain!  But we’re here – we’re climbing!  Again – it’s worth it – the trail is a little better – a teeny bit wider – but still with those evil soft spots where suddenly you are just sunk down to your knee in the snow.  Oh, btw, the nurse is always with us on shore…yeah..gives you a certain sense of comfort and foreboding…..but…anyway…..up we go – and it’s a view! 

The glacier is magnificent, all blinding white and blue ice, with crevasses and calved out pieces.  The view of the harbor is spectacular, with our little ship down there in the distance.  Its really, really, really neat up there.  Pictures, pictures and more pictures, we then begin our long walk down. There are little trails in the snow where it looks like people have slid down, but one of the trail “guides”, read “ship excursion police” up there says “some people have tried to slide down, but it was not good”  then she waggles her pointer finger, basically saying “no, no, no”.  Ok – we’ll go with that – it’s really, really steep – so – we’ll just walk thank you.

Back down at the bottom, I am of course  enthralled with the penguins. Ed is humoring me and letting me bask in their cute silliness.  There is even one  little ham who just stands on the shoreline preening for all of us snapping shots.  Finally we turn back and head for the zodiacs.

On the way back to the ship, suddenly, we make a detour around a little iceberg.  Surprise!  We are greeted with Ashley and champagne in a zodiac – and of course a great photo opp!  What a better way to end our first full day of excursions – it’s close to midnight, we’re in a zodiac drinking champagne and toasting the Antarctic and the 100th Anniversary in the middle of Neko Harbor! 

Needless to say – we’re done for the day!  Looking forward to tomorrow and more surprises!

12/14 Paradise Bay sailing and Almirante Brown landing

The glaciers!  WOW!  We spend I don’t know how long on our balcony taking shots of glaciers and incredible vistas of Paradise Bay, one of the most picturesque places on this side of the continent.  It’s Antarctic weather boy – a storm system has stalled here and we’re getting clouds, overcast, snow, rain, you name it. Oh, and then the sun will shine through.  All the different weather in 45 minutes – that’s the Antarctic!

Our next expedition is our first landing on the continent – on the 100th anniversary of Amundsen discovering the South Pole. We actually make our first steps on the continent within an hour plus 100 years of that historic event. First though, we take a zodiac cruise along the glacier – spotting albatross and Shags on the cliffs.  We also have the luck to see an Adelie penguin – fairly rare here – they are normally either in the North or the South, but not in this “zone”. 

Then, Simon (the birding naturalist and our zodiac driver), steers us into the pack ice.  Oh WOW!  We’re in the ice, right next  to little bergs and ice floats, navigating around big chunks and hunks.  We drift around there for a while, just marveling in the ice, the glaciers surrounding us and the sheer magnitude of this place.  It’s cloudy, a little snowy, with mist blowing in and out.  The contrast for our pictures isn’t going to be the greatest, but there is such an ethereal feel – an appropriate feeling atmosphere  for being  here in the Antarctic. 

We leave the ice behind and skirt the coast – looking or Shags and other various and assorted birds. We even find a Cape Petrel sitting in the snow.  Soon we round the bend, and make our first landing on the continent.  Ta da!  Happy Anniversary Amundsen/South Pole Discover – we are HERE!

And here is a very quaint little Argentinean outpost called Almirante Brown.  It’s a summer scientific center, however it has not been occupied yet this year. Simon says they sometimes see people here later in the summer.  There are a few buildings here (some with snow almost to their roofs) and gentoo penguins galore!  Oh – the smell here.  Phew!  But also, there is the “hill”! 

Way up at the tippy top of the ridge above the station waits a spectacular view of Paradise Bay – however one must get there first.  Fortunately, there have been at least a few before us and the trail is relatively beaten down – relatively meaning you can pretty much walk up without sinking down to your knees in snow all the time – if you stay right in the center of the narrow trail.  Easier said then done, since it’s really a single line of footprints – there are people coming both up and down.  Hey – it’s an expedition, what can you expect!

We trudge our way up to the first rise – have a photo taken by the ship’s photographer – then of course brave the rest of the trail up the hill.  I’m calling it a hill – but it’s probably really a cliff – a steep cliff!  There are parts where we are almost climbing straight up – like a ladder – a ladder of semi-packed snow mind you!  We can’t help but think about Amundsen and Robert Scott – and how they did this so many years ago and with such unsophisticated equipment and preparation.  Here we are trudging up this hill in our ski pants, long underwear, water proof (well sort of) gloves, boots, parkas – we’re completely outfitted and we’re tourists!  These guys were explorers who walked for miles every day – in Scott’s case sometimes man hauling their sledges.  Words just can’t put into perspective the wonder and amazement of it all.

So, us mere tourists man haul ourselves up this teeny little hill (by real expedition standards that is) and are totally rewarded with a fabulous view of the bay, the ship, the surrounding cliffs and mountains and glaciers.  We spend a few moments perched atop the cliff admiring and extolling the view.  Then it’s down we go.

Oh boy!  Supposedly we could slide down on our butts – but that trail was too bumpy for my behind!  So we trudge down, doing our best to stay in the path and not on the side where more than likely we’re up to our knees.  It’s a little tough though as the two-way traffic has increased!  We make it eventually – and then of course it’s penguin-palooza.  There are two rookeries with tons of great shots (you’ll all be so sick of penguins by the time I’m done….sorry…I just find them totally fascinating, not to mention cuddly cute!).

Finally Ed drags me back to the zodiac where we take leave from the continent and our first visit.

12/14 Port Lockroy

Up and at’em early today – we were supposed to be traversing one of the canals that was “not to be missed”.  Our expedition leader told us if we were not up at 6:30 to see it, he would come find us.  Unfortunately the plans have obviously changed overnight, and since we came through the Lemaire channel instead, we are already at Port Lockroy.  Oh well.

Breakfast – and pictures.  It’s incredible.  Huge cliffs, encased in clouds,  sit atop snow and ice crevasses that line the bay surrounding the little island of Goudier where Port Lockroy was built in 1944.  And here it still sits.  All alone in this vast emptiness.  When you see it, you just can’t imagine the isolation – and people live here 5 months out of the year!

As we wait for the quick intro presentation to the island and Port Lockroy, we watch fascinated, as the zodiacs are lowered and then, used to push an ice flow away from the ship.  Really wild!

The introduction presentation is given by 2 of the volunteers for the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust organization that manages Port Lockroy and other historic sites on the peninsula. They give us the history – started out as base to report enemy activities and provide weather reports in the 2nd World War. After the war it was handed over to the Falklands, became the base for the major international scientific organization in the Antarctic and was subsequently closed in 1962 after the organization moved to another site on the peninsula.  The little base fell into disrepair and wasn’t restored until 1996.  It is now run by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust which allows visitors during the summer season.  There are 6 people who live at the base – 4 full time and 2 mobile staff.  When asked what qualifications were needed for the job, the 2 gals who were giving the talk told us “none”!  You just have to be willing to live there without running water (not showering often), no toilet facilities, and enjoy eating “not fresh” food for quite some time. Ay yi yi!

Their main jobs are environmental monitoring (analysis of the gentoo penguin population) and some weather reporting.  Oh, and to run the shop and the Southern most post office in the world!  Cute!

After the presentation, it is now, finally time to go ashore!  We are the first group to go at 9:00am.  We run back to our cabins and prepare for the first landing. Long underwear, 2 pairs of socks, overshirt (ELA’s for photo opps!), balaclava, liner gloves, waterproof gloves, ski pants, life jackets and our boots – along with cameras in bags, money for the shop, tissues and the darn Terrible Towel, all get stuffed in our pockets as we head down to the main lounge to “dress” for Antarctica.  Suited up and more than ready – we swipe our cards in the computer and head down the stairs to disinfect our boots then hope on the first zodiac.  OMG!  It’s freezing, the wind is whipping and the swells are really, really deep. Oh, and the ship is now WAY further away from that island than it was when we first arrived.  Flexible, remember to be flexible!

The zodiac ride over is pretty uneventful – we have to go around in some channel to get into the landing area, and when we turn into the wind, we all get our first taste of “words #1” – you will get wet!  And it’s freezing remember, so the water splashing on our glasses immediately turns to ice.  Thank heavens for the layers of protection and those ski pants!

The landing is semi-difficult – we have to crawl out over the top of the zodiac. Niko even slides down it and falls to the floor of our zodiac on the way in – he very athletically saves himself at the last moment like a gymnast finishing a routine – and while we all clap for the performance, we understand it’s not really all that funny.  Once we’re out – we’re on the peninsula! On land! And there are PENGUINS!!! Everywhere! 

We have to walk up some rocky terrain to get to grates that are embedded in the snow that help us traverse up a small hill to the heritage museum.  Penguins are nesting on the left, penguins are nesting on the rocks, penguins are wandering all over, crossing our paths without a care in the world.  You really have to pinch yourself to remember – this is the wilderness! This isn’t the zoo – and well – the arctic winds and the blowing snow and freezing temps do kind of remind you where you are! 

Wishing to warm up a tad bit, we head into the museum which is really quite an experience.  The rooms are all laid out exactly as they were used when the base was last operational in 1962.  The kitchen still has utensils and canned foodstuffs, and a cookbook with recipes on how to cook a penguin breast!  Yikes!  The bunk room has 4 beds, covered in shag wool /lambskin hides.  The girls said that the workers slept there as little as 2 years ago (there is now a new bunk house up the hill that they say is much nicer with TONS of insulation so it’s much warmer – although still no running water!). The old generator room has been converted into the gift store – but you can  still see the generator there – on display beneath the nice wool blanket, miscellaneous books and Antarctic keychains for sale.

Back outside, we walk among the penguins – oh – they are so darn cute – and so darn smelly (yeah, forgot about that).  Of course we take tons of pictures – including the terrible towel picture – which isn’t really working all that well to be honest, not in this wind – and we try to take a good ELA’s shot – but – sorry gang – it’s too darn cold to take our parkas off!

Soon, we decide its time to head back to the zodiac.  The wind is picking up and we’re starting to get a little chilled – although have to say, not too terribly much, those parkas are great!  Back we go with a 1/2 full zodiac.  What a ride!  This ain’t the Galapagos – that’s for sure!  When we got wet there – it wasn’t a big deal – here we are slamming into the waves and the spray and overwash starts out as water but ends up as ice pellets raining down on you.  Totally wild!  Our zodiac driver is awesome – he reads the swells and waves so well, I mean, it’s a wild ride, but it’s totally fun – and totally drenching!  Remember Words #1. We are soaked – we find out much to our dismay, that Ed’s ski gloves are waterproof after all, and that both our ski pants can only take so much water.  Oh well – that’s what the blow dryer is for! Oh and that awesome mirror in the bathroom that is heated so it doesn’t fog?  That becomes the defacto clothesline for all our stuff now!

Exhilarating!

12/13 Afternoon and Lemaire Channel

Time passes slowly on this voyage – but in a good way. We can’t believe we wake up so early – and wonder how we’ll make it through the day – then of course all the different activities, briefings, talks, food, beer/wine (well not wine yet for me…but soon) – and poof – the day is gone! So our afternoon flew by with the bird and penguin talk, actually very interesting and takes 45 minutes, none of which were we bored.  Then its time to clean up and shower, dress for dinner and head to the briefing for tomorrow’s excursion. In between of course, we use our new found bird knowledge to spot albatross, painted albatross, petrels and the like, flying around our ship.  The painted ones, Cape Petrels, are my favorite, they look like they have been splattered with paint – they are so different and fun to watch.

At the briefing the captain tells us of a change of plans, well, they’ve changed the plans for tomorrow 4 times already – due to weather and ship traffic concerns. We are now headed straight to Port Lockroy and Paradise Bay – which sounds like the highlight of the trip.    The weather is pushing in and apparently all the other ships are headed south, our way, after not being able to do landings in the Shetland Islands. So we are going south first to see everything we can, then heading back north, hopefully after the system has passed.

Our first stop – Port Lockroy – will be in the morning, with a zodiac cruise and stop at the heritage museum (oh, and the shop – it’s the only shopping stop in the Antarctic – but fortunately all the proceeds go to the not-for-profit Antarctic society).  Then we will head to Paradise Bay where we will hopefully be able to land at the Argentinean science base to visit the Gentoo penguins and walk up the hill for a panoramic view – in the SNOW!  Yay! SNOW!

The briefings are full of information and very entertaining.  Jerome and Niko have a great sense of humor and keep us laughing, all the while telling us what to expect and not to expect on our expeditions.  There are 2 sets of 4 words they use constantly:  1) You will get wet, and 2) you will not sleep.  You can sleep when it gets dark.  Unfortunately, it never gets dark here at this time of year.  Okie dokie!

Down to the lounge for drinks, then on to dinner, where it’s apparent the dress code is for the birds. Last night I’m wearing my sandal/heels or Chico pants that’s for sure!  The biggest disadvantage is that you keep wanting to go outside to take pictures, and that’s near impossible in dinner clothes!  Sneakers it is!

Dinner is great (especially because I can finally eat real food!) and we share our table with Mike and Debbie who we know from Cruise Critic.  As we are eating the captain announces yet another change in plans – we are going through the Lemaire Channel tonight – instead of later tomorrow.  Ok – hey – they told us to be flexible – and really – does it matter?  Night is all relative since the sun sets around midnight, rises at 2 AM and has dusk and dawn in the two hours between.  So, we finish our dinner, run to the cabin, don more appropriate clothing and head to the balcony – then to the  back of the ship for pictures. 

All I can say is wow.  Well, maybe, WOW!  It’s overcast (bummer) and it’s snowing like crazy (cool), and the mountains covered with snow and ice glide by so close to the ship. The broken pack ice (little bergs really) float by, bobbing in the swells.  It is truly amazing scenery – on all sides of the ship.  The whites, the blues, the stark emptiness - this is the real deal here.

And it is oh so blissfully calm.  My stomach is giving little leaps of joy – or not leaping as the case may be!  The system may have stalled, but at least here in protected waters, it’s no where near what we just came through.  Thank you!

Another visit to the lounge, more pictures, and  we call it a night – we have to be up early tomorrow for our first expedition!

12/13 Another Shake/Snake Day

I’m back!  I survived, although there were few ugly moments I didn’t think I’d get through – but nonetheless (no need for gory details), I did.  Bless Ed’s heart – missing what was surely a fabulous meal to sit here with me while I choked down Apple Compote and bran crackers (the ship recommends fruit to help sea-sickness?  Go figure – but I did manage to eat at least something and that was a bonus). Ed said he enjoyed his meal of Caesar salad, charcuterie and steak (it probably looked good, but I still wasn’t even in the mood to see food, let alone eat it).

We hung out and watched Shutter Island (a couple dozen on demand movies – cool!).  And finally fell asleep before the sun set – like that’s hard – it doesn’t go down until almost midnight and rises at 3:15.  During the night, we had hoped that the snake would abate a bit and we’d have smoother sailing – ha!  That was a dream – if possible it was even worse last night.  2am – even though we secured everything in sight - things were rolling and whipping about the cabin. I couple of times the list of the ship actually pushed me toward the end of the bed.  They aren’t kidding about the roughest waters!  Of course, the only saving grace is that we aren’t drowning down on deck 3 – because let me tell you….that was something.  I know my stringer reported the water intrusion to you – but being there first hand – that first one?  I screamed – the water hit the balcony so hard and came rushing into the cabin like a fountain – about 2.5 feet high. It swamped the place and just rolled on toward the front door.  We might get a little more motion up here (all relative, let me tell you), but we’re dry and happy.

So – morning breaks – well – we got up around 6:00ish – and I’m recovering. Very happily as I’m sure you can guess.  Don’t know what the deal with the Dramamine is, either it takes longer to counteract the affects for some reason, or today I’m just over it. But at least we can go to eat breakfast without me running out of the dining room on a mad dash to the cabin. I stuck with a piece of white toast though – I’m not 100% but at least I have something in my stomach and something of an appetite.

It’s a busy morning on the ship. First we go to the mandatory zodiac briefing where they explain on the dangers of the zodiac, what we must and must not do while boarding it and while on it. 
Also what to bring and not bring, rules of the road,  etc .  Our CD, Jerome, starts us off and again he is just a stitch. Then Nicolas the head expedition leader goes through the particulars, and while it’s a little frightening (the big thing is that in these waters, around 1 degree C, you have a maximum of 5 minutes should you be in the water then Sayanora, baby).   It’s still an enjoyable way to get the information.

Next we have to get our life jackets – we’ll keep these with us the entire trip as opposed to picking them up at the zodiac.  Once they call our group, we head to the staging area and when they tell us to get on a zodiac, then we dress. Including walking down in our socks and putting boots on outside – they don’t want the boots messing up the inside of the ship – makes sense! So we have our marching orders, now we just must wait to march!

Next we head up to the forward lounge to look for icebergs.  The captain has issued a challenge – be the first to spot an iceberg bigger than the ship and you’ll win a bottle of champagne!  We’re ready!  But alas, we don't spot any before lunch…so… Of we go to eat – food looked great.  I stock with Apple Compote – worked really well! 

Back in the cabin, I snooze a bit while Ed continues the iceberg watch.  It’s really overcast and you can’t see very far in front of you, so it’s tough. Plus we’re in our room looking out from the balcony, so don’t stand much chance winning the champagne.  And we don’t – but who really cares?  We get to see the iceberg – and it’s a “big beautiful baby” nearly 1000 feet long and 200 feet high above the water line, says our captain!  It is – really wild.  The adventure is finally REAL.  We are outside freezing our you know what’s off taking pictures of this giant freaking iceberg.  Oh man….totally awesome!

The captain says we’ll see thousands of them.  Way cool!

Next we warm up in the theater with a lecture on birds of the Antarctic.  At 6:00 our first briefing on excursions.  Can’t wait.

Movin’ on Up

Like the Jeffersons, we are now “movin’ on up.”  The previous post ended abruptly because just as Ed was typing it, a huge—and I mean MONSTROUS—wave hit the window and balcony door.  Not just white water (which is wind blown ocean water) but pure blue ocean water in one huge wave.  It hit the window so hard that I feared for it breaking, which would have been a much bigger issue than just a flooded cabin.  I didn’t even hesitate, walking directly to reception and requesting a cabin change.   They could have not been more accommodating, handling everything in a couple of minutes and arranging to have most of our stuff moved to the new room.  We are still mid ship but 3 decks higher—not our first choice if we had one (we didn’t) but at least high and dry and with no fear of wearing window shards and freezing Drake Passage water in the middle of the night.

Had a mandatory IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) briefing letting us know exactly what is (and more importantly, is not) allowed when we are on the ice.  Later had the first of our naturalist lectures, an overview of the history, geography and wildlife of the Antarctic region.

Cathy is still feeling the mal de mer effects but being a trooper about it but we will be dining en suite tonite (well, Ed will).  It’s the first formal night anyhow so not unhappy about missing that.  There is a casual restaurant about 20 steps from the new cabin but it is not open due to the weather situation.

Drake Lake or Drake Snake? Snake

Last night ended very nicely and with calm seas until we left the Beagle Channel and headed out into the Drake Passage.  For good reason, the Drake Passage is known as the most violent stretch of ocean in the world, more so than Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand (where we once had perfect seas) and the Bay of Biscay in Europe (where we have had awful seas on more than one occasion).  But for rough seas, the Drake wins all the rewards, but this can vary greatly, thus the “Drake Lake” when it is uncharacteristically calm or the “Drake Snake (or Shake) when it is not.  Knowing this, the Drake always factored into any discussions we had about sailing to Antarctica.

The cruise before immediately before ours was blessed with exceptionally calm seas on their return through the Drake from the Peninsula.  So calm that they returned almost 10 hours ahead of schedule.  We weren’t sure if this boded well for us (would it last?) or not (it probably won’t last).  The calm didn’t last.

Shortly after midnight, just after getting dark, the seas began to get active, gentle swells at first but rapidly increasing in frequency and size.  Looking outside in the middle of the night you could see that the swells were breaking just at or slightly above our cabin level on Deck 3, so roughly 25 feet or so.  This puts the seas right away in our top 5 (or bottom 5!) at sea experiences.  The heavy weather continued unabated throughout the night but didn’t appear to get much worse when we “woke” (Ed spent a lot of the night awake). 

Cathy was now feeling the effects of mal de mer (this post is courtesy of your trusty reporter Ed at the keyboard) but usually feels better when she gets something in her stomach, so we planned to head to breakfast.  Getting up and walking around the cabin, though, revealed somewhat of a problem since there was a small stream running from the balcony door through the cabin almost to the balcony door.  Our cabin had sprung a seawater leak!  Actually not all that worrisome since we knew this could be a factor when you book a balcony cabin a minimum distance above the waterline, since we wanted to be as low (and as mid-ship) as possible, knowing about the potential problems in the Drake.

So, off the breakfast we go, sharing a table with a couple from Connecticut who are one deck above us (and having no leak problems).   Cathy only made it through about half of her toast before deciding to return to the cabin, lay down and try to get ahead of the seasickness.  Ed was not yet feeling any effects, so he spent the next few minutes finishing his breakfast before heading  back to the cabin.  The restaurant is one deck below our cabin, on Deck 2, and there were a couple of real window washing swells while we were eating.

Well, those same swells made it up to Deck 3.  When Ed got back to the cabin he found Cathy in the chair with water everywhere in the cabin, the stewardess mopping up and deck people arriving to extricate water from the carpet.  While she was sitting there, a huge wave hit, demolishing the balcony furniture (which was beautiful faux wicker)—one of the chairs was crushed like it was paper—tearing the balcony separators from their moorings and flooding about 60% of the cabin carpet.   It looked like a war zone outside with the collapsed furniture and the balcony separators swinging and banging in the high winds.

It is now 3 PM and the seas continue to rage.  The sky has turned a brilliant blue from time to time, but pretty much once an hour or so a huge wave attacks our poor sad balcony (they have resorted to tying the balcony separators to the railing to keep them from banging) and finds its way into the cabin again.  They have extracted the water completely twice (around 6-8 liters of water each time) but we are waiting for things to calm down to have them do it again.  C

12/11 Embarkation Day

The storm from last night blew through and left us a beautiful day (it was a howling downpour for most of the night).  There is a ton more snow on the mountain tops, but a beautiful sunny, albeit colder, day has dawned (oh, dawned at 4:16am btw).  We take our time this morning. There is nothing on the agenda and we can’t board the ship until 4:30. So, a late breakfast, lollygag in the room with the last internet we’ll see for a while (and even that internet access wasn’t all that great!), then check out at 11:00.  Since we have nothing to do – we spent an hour or so lounging in the lobby reading and  staring out at the now snow covered mountain peaks.

Around 12:00 we take our leave of Leyendas with a big hug and farewell from Maia – and a cute commemorative box with the Leyendas logo on it.  Fabulous place to stay, would absolutely stay there again.  The level of service – really caring – for you is just incredible – you feel like one of the family by the time you leave.  But leave we must. We have our Great White Continent adventure ahead of us…..and lots of hours in between our boarding time.

4 and 1/2 hours to kill in Ushuaia.  Hmmm…..we park down at the port and wander up through town – as usual. We figure we should have something to snack on to tide us over until dinner so we peruse all the little cafes and bars around the main shopping street. We settle on Cafe Bar Banana.  Yep, Banana!  Apparently a local place because we are the only ones speaking English here.  Hey – we can pick ‘em.  Ed has been craving a Hamberguesa completa (hamburger, lettuce, tomato, ham and egg), I just snacked on a torta mixta (basically grilled ham and cheese).  The hamberguesa did not disappoint – neither did the beer and wine.   And, finally someone thinking ahead.   Included in the little basket with condiments is a small set of scissors designed to open the ridiculously impossible packets, saving fingers and teeth.   Ok – one hour down.  Oy!

We wander around town, and end up at the Ramos Generales for cappuccino and double espresso.  This is the same place we had cappuccino and submarino the first day in Ushuaia.  It’s just a fabulous place to hang out, get warm and drink coffee. And while we can’t post the pix right now, they had great old memorabilia, including some device from “alexanderwerks” of which we have a picture. 

After wasting as much time as we can at Ramos Generales, we head back to the airport to turn in our car.  Then we queue up for the taxi and end up at the pier around 3:00.  A little early.  We hand over our luggage – and the porter tells us to go on up to the ship.  Unfortunately, we’re a tad early, and Sarah, the Head purser tells us we’ll have to wait until at least 4 – but maybe 3:45 (she’s not even had her shower yet, she’s still in her sneakers, and well, we’re way too early – but she’s a doll baby – so we’ve at least made one nice acquaintance!).

We sit on the pier (Ed wanders and takes pix and watches the luggage being individually hauled up the steps to the ship.  Oh my, these guys are beasts!  They are hefting these huge, heavy bags on their shoulders and walking up the stairs….my back hurts just watching them!  We check out all the other ships – and you know?  They are all – well – like cargo ships.  The l’Austral is like a huge luxury yacht –and way bigger than even the biggest of these other ships.  We’ve never really questioned our choice, and being here on the  pier, watching them all (and yesterday seeing a whole bunch of other smaller little ships getting ready to sail), we’re really not having any 2nd thoughts.

4:00 finally arrives and we head up the gangway and are welcomed aboard by every officer and staff of the ship beginning with Captain Lemaire.  Our bags are – of course – outside out door – so we organize and then head out to explore the ship.  It’s a beautiful ship – small, intimate, yet spacious. The lounges are beautiful, all leather and wood.  The theater is small and lovely – not a bad seat in the house – and they actually do have entertainment.  Dancers, singers, the whole kit and kaboodle.  Should be a great trip – on the ice during the day, entertainment and French cuisine at night.

We unpack – then attend the briefing with the CD who explains the cruise and what we can expect for the next 11 days – in 2 languages.  OMG – he is great – switching from French to English effortlessly and funny as all. He has us rolling in the aisles –well some of us – Ed and I – and 4 French speaking folks.  The rest – well – not so funny to them…maybe we’ll hang out with the French group…who knows?

Next – we’re off to our lifeboat drill. That’s pretty comical too.  But we get all the particulars.  And this cruise, you really want to pay attention to the abandon ship information.  They are making light of it – for obvious reasons – but there is still a seriousness about the whole procedure.

By now, it’s 7:30 and it’s dinner time. Open seating – there are 2 dining rooms – the main dining room for “elegant” service and the upstairs casual buffet where you need to make reservations (because of the limited seating).  We hit the main dining room, table for 2 only, and have a fantastic meal of soup, salad and chicken with morel sauce for me, tagliatini with bacon, asparagus and cream for Ed.  All excellent, and all white glove service – literally.  Plus all the wine you can drink – and beer – because they did bring Ed a beer without charge.  If the food continues, it will be so sweet to come back from landing on the ice – to this type of service and style.  Totally a different expedition!

After dinner, we sit out on our balcony, never expecting the warmer temps and the sun shining on us (remember, it doesn’t set until after 11p).  We hang out long enough to see it set behind the Chilean mountain tops, then head to the lounge to listen to the piano and female singer duo.  We can sleep when we get home (as our CD has pointed out) because – this is totally different – oh and – they will c all you on the loud speaker when they spot whales and Orcas and such – so really – there might not be so much sleeping anyway!

Tomorrow – the mandatory Antarctica briefing about how to conduct yourself on the ice, and our parka allocation!  Yay – we’ll be official then!

12/10 Meat-palooza

Yes – we did go to a Parilla.  The Estancia – probably – well – definitely – a touristica palace. As a matter of fact, a bus load of seniors arrived after we’d been seated, but you know what? Who cares?  You want to talk about food?  Maggi – don’t read any further!  Vegetarians are not welcome here.

Our waiter was a doll – gave us all the service we needed – the wine, the beer, the water – and then – well – let us at it.  For 97 pesos each (about $25US) we had all we could eat.  Oh…the meat!  Well – first – let me tell you about the 3 all you could eat salad and entree bars – every type of salad – lettuce, dressing, condiments, accoutrements, plus seafood salad (calamari, mussels, etc.), eggplant, miscellaneous other vegetables.  Then the hot “bar” –with hamburger patties and mushrooms, potatoes, fried and otherwise, and tons of other various and assorted entrees. 

The main attraction?  The Parilla.  One man – stoking the flames that are kissing full lamb carcasses, splayed out onto spits rotating over the coals.  Oh….my!  The process works like this:  You take you virgin plate to the “hatch” (coined from a British blog we read, must give kudos where due) and ask for your meat.  There is a huge selection – chicken, pork, beef, sausage, and of course, lamb (the “famous” meat here in the South).  Ask for anything and the Parilla-Man (don’t know what else you’d call him") hacks it off for you. No, seriously.  We were there early – the restaurant was nearly empty (the bus tour had not yet descended), so we casually, innocently, walked up to the hatch and asked for Cordero (lamb).  The Parilla-Man walked over to the spit and hacked off half the lamb with this big machete looking knife.  Yep – whack!  You would hear the sound often as you were eating your portion of that wonderful, smoky, hot piping protein serving. Whack. Whack. Whack.

He then deftly quartered off a rib portion and plopped it on my plate.  Heaven!  That first course, lamb and chorizo. Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned. Meat heaven. The second course – are you sitting down? Blood sausage and Bife steak.  Yes, I actually ate and enjoyed the blood sausage.  I would have never believed it – but there you have it. Ed matched me with the bife steak, but he got the chorizo so I shared my sausage with him.  Yum. 

Ed had already hit the salad bar, thus depleting his stomach availability.  I was not so short sited – as I only had eyes for the meat. My third, and last visit, to the hatch procured a HUGE hunk of lamb meat.  I can’t tell you how sublime that roasted meat was – melt in your mouth, salted and seasoned.  I had to let Ed eat his way through the finale because I was just too sated to continue. Didn’t even make good on the “1” dessert serving we were offered.  Ack! Protein.  We are so good!

The Parilla!  Definitely a do again. Although our clothes do reek of the smoky grill – it was so totally worth it.  We decided against pictures because, you know? Your imagination is worth more than a picture of the Parilla-Man with his machete hacking  off a piece of meat for our enjoyment.  Just imagine…..

Indelible images we will take with us on our French adventure….beginning tomorrow….Bon Voyage.  Bon appetite. bon….whatever!

12/10 Glacier Martial

We head back to town from the mountains and end up taking a wrong turn at the roundabout – but one that brings us to the more rural side of Ushuaia. It’s great! It’s an area we’ve not seen – with apartments and houses and commercial buildings – very local and colorful. The architecture here runs from plain block construction to chalet style houses to just odd half timber and shale rock structures. There is always something to see and something different/vibrant to catch your eye.

Back in town – we cop a great parking space on the main port road and head up to San Martin (the main touristic shopping road) for lunch. We end up at Tanta Sara – we know they have great beer and wine – and they have a good sandwich menu – so we share a steak and cheese sandwich and a jam and cheese torta.

Then it’s up the the Martial glacier to hike the ski slope.  We wind our way through the local part of town again, past schools and local retail shops, bars, restaurants, you name it.  We approach the Glacier resort through a dilapidated, run down construction site with huge wrought iron gates – making it look like you are completely not allowed to go there.  But, once you are through and up the road – you are on your way through the alpine forest, past the resort hotels and finally to the Glacier.

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It is totally picturesque – and so close!  It looks like you can walk right up to it – but of course – you can’t!  We walk up the ski slope – which is all dirt and gravel in the summer – and summer being relative – because as we are heading back down – it starts to SNOW!  It is supposed to be SUMMER here!  Amazing.

The photo opps are amazing too – as you can see below. We end our hike at the little chalet restaurant at the base with double espresso and a cappuccino. 

Back at the hotel – we are blogging (duh!) before heading downtown for parilla dinner.  More later!

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12/10 Lago de Fagnano

Breakfast before we leave – eggs and bacon – oh and dulce de leche – which goes well on any type of bread or pastry (yeah, well, diet be damned!).  We are out in the car before 9.  Today we are heading up North, into the mountains above Ushuaia, on the way toward Rio Grande.  As we drive through town, we notice all the expedition ships in port – a variety of the ice breakers and other ships are here.  We’ll be there tomorrow – yay!

There is only one main road out of town – Ruta 3 – we head away from the port, through the industrial section of town and out toward Lago de Fagnano.  As we approach the outskirts of Ushuaia, there is a police stop.  Hmmmm….we stop (they are stopping everyone), we roll down the window, and, no English.  Ok – so we try to hand them our rental car agreement, then the passports.  That’s not working. Finally another officer comes over and tells us we need our “luz in la dia” – aha!  The lights!  Once we turn those on – we’re good to go.  Phew – that was fun!

We wind our way up into the mountains on Ruta 3 – through gorgeous forests with glimpses of craggy black peaks and mountains topped with snow.  We quickly learn what Calzada Reparacion and Calzada Detiorada mean – really bad roads!  The freeze/thaw up here does a number on the roads and there are sections that are just gone – no asphalt – only rough hewn gravel and mud.  Then there are sections they are working on – literally tearing up the old asphalt to lay new – where we have to drive on what little shoulder is available.  Amazing what the weather can do.

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We pass a lot of road work – and signs for Salida de Camiones which we figure out is exit/entrance for work vehicles – not exit/entrances for shrimp – which is very similar – camarones! (We ourselves laugh half way up the mountain on that one.)

We pass the little town of Escondido - where I thought there would be at least somewhere to stop for coffee – but turns out to be a little enclave of 15 or so houses, some factory or plant of some type and this incredible grass airstrip that has tires painted red and white and half buried in the grass to indicate the runway.  OMG – can not even imagine flying a plane onto that!

The vistas are just mind boggling – the green forests, the black mountain peaks, snow nestled in the crevices with clouds clinging midway up the ragged mountainsides.  It is totally breathtaking and worth the drive (even over the potholes and gravel!).

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It takes a little less than 2 hours to reach the Lago de Fagnano, a pretty big lake in the middle of the mountains.  The town of Tolhuin is situated at the extreme Eastern end of the lake. Talk about a one horse town!  Or maybe not even 1 horse!  It’s so small and backwater we can’t even find any place we’d be willing to stop for coffee.  So – we just turn around and head back to town. What the heck? the views were worth the drive alone – and now we’ll have all afternoon in Ushuaia.

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12/9 Ushuaia

Taxi to the airport was smooth as silk – no traffic because of the holiday – we are there in no time (with over 2 hours to kill!).  Went to the wrong terminal, so had to walk to the correct one – got a little exercise to walk off dinner.  Then checked in (yay – no extra weight bag fees!) and, well, 2 hours to wait!  Cappuccino and water…free internet..the flight was finally called.

Easy flight – only 3 1/2 hours – right over the mountains!  We didn’t have our cameras out though – so no pix. Bummer!  Will have to remember that on the return flight though.  Landed, whisked through agricultural control (consisted of a table with 2 people making you open you carry on bags – right next to the baggage claim belt).  Grabbed our bags and headed to Hertz for the car. Won’t go into that ordeal – but we do have a car and we will see how the bill is processed before contacting Hertz about their brand and reputation perception.  Ahem.

Finally free of the car rental, it only takes us 5 minute to the hotel.  The directions are great – although there is one set of lights that are now a roundabout. Fortunately we turned – even though it looked like a mistake.  And – the beverage gods were smiling upon us – right in front of us is a grocery store!  Thank you!  A quick pit stop for room beer and wine – and we are at the hotel in a snap. 

Greeted at the front door by Enzo who takes us inside and gets us settled.  The Leyendas is everything it is advertised to be.  On a hillock looking over the Beagle, Channel we are given a room with a view.  It is decorated wonderfully, wood beamed ceiling, tile bathroom, with the hotel logo on everything – classically!  As in burned into the wooden furniture, on the sheets and towels, even etched into the sink.  It is just beautiful.  We get settled then come back down to the lobby for Enzo to give us an orientation – about the hotel, the town, things to do.  Excellent recommendations, viewpoints  and service.

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We decide to just wander around downtown for a while since we know we are having dinner at the hotel later. Since we’ve been here before, we just reacquainted ourselves with the town. It’s totally touristy – so we were just looking for restaurants for Saturday night.  We did park down at the port and look at the expedition ships in port.  Our sister ship, L’Boreal, is docked there, and I’m extremely happy – our ship is WAY bigger than I expected.  It’s still not huge, obviously, only 200 people, but it’s BIG. Especially compared to all the other LITTLE expedition ships out there. It still could be awful – but you know – it’s not going to be as awful as on those smaller ships!! 

We end up on the main street and stop at Tante Sara – a great little pub type place, for a beer and wine. With a fabulous slogan:  Date el gusto, es el fin de mundo!  Translated means:  Enjoy yourself, it is the end of the world!

Then we explore the area for restaurant possibilities and check out all the parillas.  There are a couple of options that look good once we check them out on the web.  But, we’ll report on those tomorrow after we go!  We stop at the little confiteria that Enzo recommended – all old historical replicas of cafe items from way back.  Ed had a submarino – basically hot chocolate that you make yourself – you get hot milk with hot whipped cream on top, then you “submerge” (get the name?) a couple of pieces of chocolate into the milk, and voila!  A submarino – or hot chocolate!  In addition to that lovely  treat, they also had – of all things – meringue penguins!!!  No, we didn’t get one, they were way too cute to eat!

 

So – back to the hotel, glass of wine and beer on the deck overlooking the Beagle Channel, then we preview the DVD’s available (6 HUGE portfolios of DVDs in English and Spanish) and choose Tree of Life (which I’ve read about in the NYT) for later.  Showered and refreshed, we head downstairs to eat.  So intimate – there is no one but us in the dining room. Enzo serves us – scrumptious bread to begin with pate, beer, wine (of course), Ed orders the mussels and I order the Lamb bruschetta (with brie and sweet tomatoes) for starters.  Both are delicious!

Sebas (owner and chef) came out to greet us and chatted for a while about the expansion to the hotel   (2 additional rooms for a total of 7) .  then he went back to create his magic, and magic it is: Ed has Parmesan king crab – Enzo describes it as a “soup”, but it’s more like a crab “chili”. Thick with parmesan cream sauce, tons of crab, it is rich and delicious.  I have the Lamb Brochette – and I only wish I ran back up to the room for my camera. Besides being incredibly tasty, the presentation was fantastic!  Two succulent brochettes arrived on skewers hung on a wooden “hangman’s cross” sort of structure.  It was on top of a thick wooden plank, that was laden with thick diced vegetables and lamb ribs (presumably from which the brochette chunks had been cut).  There was also an incredible Malbec dipping sauce.  Top notch.

No dessert for us (how unusual) – we just head back up to the room to hang out, watch the movie and relax. Unfortunately, the movie is a bust.  Highly not recommended.  We didn’t even get through an hour.  So much for the NYT reviews….oh well.

We ended up reading and then making sure the curtains were shut tight – this might not be the land of the midnight sun, but it’s darn close. The sun doesn’t set until well after 11pm and it rises around 4am.  It gets pretty bright in our room around 6 – so those black out curtains are a must!

Off to sleep we go – tomorrow we explore the interior mountains and lakes surrounding Ushuaia.

12/8 Dinner at Pan y Arte

The headline for this blog should have been “How do I say I’m so full I want to barf” in Spanish?  However, the editorial board vetoed that – so we went with the generic title you see above!  However, that was the sentiment!  We went to dinner later because – well – that’s the Argentinean way.  Ed had researched the restaurant online and then Andrea at Lola House had seconded the recommendation – so how could we go wrong?

We couldn’t. It was great. The atmosphere was a nice cafe type – fabulous art on the walls – we grabbed a wine barrel table at the front window. The top of the wine barrel was a huge acrylic sphere with a black and white art deco woman – with red nails.  Just great.

We watched the world pass us by – from our comfortable air conditioned seat and ate, and ate. Well – not really all that much – but I think it’s the bread. We are just so full of carbs we are about to pop.  Wine and beer. Ok.  Then for starters, we shared  3 empanadas (because Andrea said they were the best – with fresh local ingredients).  She wasn’t wrong – ham and cheese, vegetable and chicken.  All excellent (but bread!).  Yikes!  Then for dinner (like we needed it), Ed had Milanese Napolitano and I had (well we shared) artichoke bruschetta  More bread!  By the 2nd glass of wine – it was over.  Oh and did I mention the peanuts and the raisins we had to snack with the wine and beer?  Roll me home! 

A wonderful – if not filling way – to finish our last night in BA, though.  Walking home through the neighborhood just feels so comfortable and nice.  Families out strolling, kids playing – even at 10 at night (it was a holiday after all).  We would definitely stay here again if we come back to BA.  A wonderful change of pace from the normal hotel, business, tourist district.

But now – it’s time to say goodnight and goodbye – tomorrow – we’re off the South to begin our adventure!