Antarctica

Trundling along the dock, carrying all my gear as there were no luggage trolleys, I got my first sight of the red hull of the MV Polar Star, at the far end of the very long dock, then stepped aboard, for my Antarctic adventure.

Bunkering took longer than expected, as there were 10 ships lined up along the port, all needing fuel, before setting off on their adventures, most of them to the Antarctic. After washing down (with champagne) the usual welcoming speeches by various persons, including the Captain, the Chief Engineer on safety aspects on board, the Expedition Leader etc, it was off to the dining room, to select our gumboots/wellies for the duration of the trip.  Our lovely red outer shell hooded jackets (and my black www.PolarCruises.com beanie from the booking company) had been waiting in our cabins when we arrived.

Because I'd booked so late, I'd had to take the only cabin available - a mini suite, with the commensurate 1.6 times single supplement!  GULP!  Horribly expensive, but who cares?  And if I was going to be sick, I'd rather be sick in comfort and in privacy.  It was huge, and very nice, with two large windows (not portholes) looking out at basically sea level (Deck 3), a double bed, a settee, wardrobe, small table and a desk with chair.  And the bathroom was big enough to turn around in, too!

Motoring down the Beagle Channel [named after the ship which circumnavigated the world between 1831 and 1836 with a young Charles Darwin aboard], with Argentina on the port side and Chile on the starboard, we ate dinner (5 courses) and made acquaintance with our shipmates, in the falling dusk on a very calm sea, with little or no breeze.

The Drake Passage between Cape Horn and Antarctica is notoriously rough, however it was relatively calm to begin with, allowing us to find our sea-legs before it got rougher with large swells to the south, at the end of the first full day at sea.  I wasn't sick, but declined 3 meals as I wasn't feeling "quite right".  This time was spent reading and sleeping, catching up on the sleep I'd lost on the fast trip south to Ushuaia.

The seas calmed considerably by the end of the second day, so I went up to the Observation Lounge for the mandatory briefing on the "do's and don'ts" when in Antarctica. "Humpback Whales" came the call over the PA system, interrupting the briefing.  The ship almost listed as everyone rushed to the starboard side to get a first glimpse of whales. Antarctic Treaty rules state a vessel may not approach wildlife within 500 metres, so the captain halted and turned the vessel and we could just see the whales spouting in the distance.  Then they disappeared, only to reappear a very short time later, RIGHT BESIDE THE SHIP, аlmost within touching distance.

What stunning creatures they are; so graceful, so curious, and so playful.  It was assumed they were a mother and almost full grown calf, with the calf being the more playful.  It was having great fun; rolling over, flapping its flippers, spouting, diving and raising its fluke. They stayed close around the ship for over an hour, until the captain said we had to continue on our way.  The Expedition Staff, many of whom had made 20-30 trips to Antarctica, said they'd never had whales come to the ship like this before, so we were very lucky to be given such a very special, early Christmas present. Many people said they didn't care if they saw nothing else on the trip, the whales were so special. The clear weather and bright sunshine in the blue sky made for some wonderful photo opportunities.

The early hours of Saturday 22 December saw us making our way through the French Passage to anchor off the Argentine Islands, in preparation for our first landing, at the Ukrainian base, Vernadsky, where we had to wait on board till the staff got up at 9.00am to prepare for our arrival! The Ukrainians had "bought" the base from the British, back in 1996, for the princely sum of £1 - yes, one pound.  This deal saved the British millions of pounds, as it is very expensive to dismantle a site when it is no longer required, so selling it to the Ukrainians was the cheapest and easiest way out.

The obligatory souvenier shop got a lot of custom, with many postcards being written.  Lord only knows how long it will take for them to arrive at their intended destination, as the cards are generally picked up by the Ukrainian resupply ship about the end of March, taken back to the Ukraine for posting, then travel to the destination from there.  Possibly arriving by next Christmas?? Our passports also got stamped, merely as a memento, not officially.

Here we encountered our first penguins, up close and personal, so to speak. They are so cute.  I really like the Chinstrap penguins, as they are a little more friendly and spook-proof.

[THIS COULD TAKE FOREVER IF I DO IT AS A DAILY DIARY, SO I'LL SUMMARISE AS MUCH AS I CAN !!!]

For the duration of the trip, we made 16 excursions off the ship, 13 to landings and 3 which were just Zodiac cruises around the icebergs.  We would go ashore or cruise in the morning for a couple of hours, come back to the ship for lunch, then go out again in the afternoon.

Initially, our landings were onto islands (the Yalours, Goudier, Peterman, Cuverville, Deception, etc etc), and on Christmas Eve, we landed at Port Lochroy, the British Base under the command of Rick Atkinson, with his 2 assistants, Rachel and Helen. Again, we swamped the souvenier shop and sent postcards, and had our passports stamped again.

During lunch this day, we had a brief visit from a group of Antarctic [grey and white] Orca (killer) whales, and although I saw one right outside my cabin window as I rushed to get the camera, they were gone by the time I'd picked it up.  Bugger! 

Later that afternoon, we made our first landing on the continent of Antarctica [my 5th continent, only 2 to go!], anchoring in Orne Harbour, then transporting by Zodiac to the mainland near Spiggot Peak.  The fit ones made the climb to the top, for outstanding views over the mainland and surrounding islands. The rest of us slogged part way up, to the ridge, where there was a Chinstrap rookery, and rested there for quite some time taking photos and admiring the brilliant scenery, before I impulsively and inadvertantly became the toboggan run maker by deciding to sit on my Dri-Rider waterproofs covered bum and slide down, rather than making the difficult walk downhill, so we all swept down the steep slope at ridiculous speeds.  The others then had a formed path to follow, after my initial speed rush crushed the snow.  What childish good fun we had!

During the Zodiac cruises, we'd check out all the stunning and amazing shapes of the bergs, marvelling at the blue ice on many, caused by compression.  Quite often, we'd find seals (elephant and leopard) resting on bergs, and Weddells and Crabeaters laying on the snow on shore.  Penguins were everywhere - on shore on the beaches and in their rookeries; or plodding along on their superhighways cut through the snow, leading up to their rookery; or they would be porpoising through the waters around the Zodiacs; sometimes a lone Gentoo would be standing on a berg, just looking at us. Unfortunately, it was a little early in the breeding season, and we only saw a very few chicks already hatched, these being just grey, fluffy lumps, snuggling under their mothers' warm bodies. The mai breeds were Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo, although we had the pleasure of seeing a solitary, magnificent King Penguin amongst the Gentoos in their rookery on our final landing.

One day, we were blessed by another rare treat - a singing leopard seal.  Generally, it's the females who sing, underwater, calling prospective mates to them.  Our Expedition leaders knew of this phenomenen, but had never heard it in real life before.  The seal was very large - the females being larger than the males - and the singing was the most eerie and hauntingly beautiful sound imaginable, seeming to echo off the icebergs all around us.  We stayed there listening for quite some time, till she gave up and disappeared into the depths of the ocean.

We also spent time, with 5 Zodiacs gathered in the sea ice, when a Minke whale made an appearance.  It was playing with us, diving under the boats, then sky-hopping (coming about 5ft out of the water, straight up, before sinking again).  It sky-hopped right at the bow of our Zodiac, almost close enough to touch.  A wonderful sight.

In Neko Harbour, on Christmas Day, we again went ashore onto the continent itself, after warnings to stay above the 20 metre mark on the beach, in case the glaciers calved and caused mini tsunamis, as they frequently do. It was a glorious day, and almost all of us made the long, slow walk up to the top of a hill overlooking the harbour, where we were shown how to "find" a crevass.  Then it was time for another slide, this one straight down the hill, with a "jump" part way down to make it really interesting. Good fun.

Generally, the weather was pretty reasonable, although on some days we had all four seasons.  Other days, it would be a glorious morning, then quickly turn to thick snow in the afternoon, and on some days we had hail as well to contend with.  It wasn't particularly cold, though, nowhere near as cold as I'd expected.  I didn't even wear any of the thermals I'd carried all the way from Oz. 

One morning, when we were at anchor in a bay, I'd woken early (2am) for some reason, and glanced out the window, where I saw a seal (possibly a leopard) circling around a small lump of ice right beside the ship.  It kept playing, so I raced up to the rear deck (5th) outside the Observation Lounge, and shot some video of it for a while. I was wearing just a tee-shirt, light windcheater and trackies, and it wasn't cold at all.  This was the morning that I took one of the best (IMHO) photos of the trip - "A perfect stillness, at 2am" in the Scenery category of the galleries.

Santa managed to find us all, and left a little bag hanging on each of our cabin doors - with a bright red beanie, embroidered with "Christmas in Antarctica 2007", a lovely memento of our trip. These we wore during our group photo on the bow of the ship, later in the trip.

The catering on the ship was first class, for every meal.  The only thing I wouldn't come at was "Beer Soup", and I wasn't alone in not eating this monstrosity, as hardly anyone touched it, apparently.  Christmas dinner was served in the Observation Lounge, as a buffet.  A wonderful hot and cold spread - salmon, ham, prawns, turkeys and all the accompanying vegetables and salads.  The table decorations created from fruit and vegetables by one of the cooks were brilliant.

Why do some people think they can sing properly, whenever karaoke comes along???? Oh, dear!  However, during carols on Christmas Eve. we were treated to the magnificent baritone voice of the ship's doctor's son, singing a traditional Swedish carol.  Excellent stuff.  Even the captain got up and entertained us with a few good renditions of carols. Other entertainment was provided by one of the Expedition staff playing guitar, a cartoon starring animated penguins, and the fabulous movie "Happy Feet".

All too soon, we were heading back into the Drake Passage, although we were lucky again with the weather, as it wasn't even as rough as the outbound crossing.  Having found our sea-legs, we were able to handle the roughness a little better this time, with no sickness or queasiness at all, on my part.

I took about 1000 photos and several videos, including a great one of the whales playing, and it was extremely difficult cutting them back to the 170 or so that are on the website.  If anyone wants more, I can burn them to CD when I get back to Oz [for a brief visit] in November 2008 (this year).

I'll just say this in closing -  if you ever get the chance to take a cruise to Antarctica, DO SO!!!!  It is an awe inspiring experience, one I'll remember forever.  It's only money, and you can't take it with you, so enjoy it while you can.  Antarctica may not be as natural, or accessible, for ever.