Cruising the Weddell Sea (our last day in Antarctica)

What an exceptional day it has been!!! Even though we were awakened with the news that the sea ice had again come in so close to shore that we would not be able to land at Penguin Point, we were instructed to load the Zodiacs for cruising among the icebergs of the Weddell Sea. The day was unbelievably calm and even slightly sunny. Almost immediately, we found some Adélie penguins close by on the icebergs, and then both leopard seals and Weddell seals resting on the ice.  It is an incredible adventure just to be able to get into the Weddell Sea, as the sea ice is frequently so think and the icebergs so numerous that many of the crew and naturalists have never even made it this far.  In fact, Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, sunk in the Weddell Sea. All around us, small flocks of Adélies frolic in the ocean.

After returning briefly to the ship, our captain makes a grand announcement: we are going to be allowed to go onto one of the giant tabular icebergs, and drink a champagne toast.  Virtually everyone on board loaded up the Zodiacs, and clambered onto the ice mass.  The scene was one of happy pandemonium, as it has been over three years since the ship has been able to perform this maneuver!  Words can’t accurately describe how bizarrely cool it was to be standing on an iceberg in the middle of nowhere drinking a glass of champagne. Cheers!

Jim doing an imitation of a Macaroni Penguin (check out the hair tufts!)

Can’t we take just one home?!!!

Alison, Rob & Melisa

Lance & Abbie

Simmy and Pardeep

Our Captain channeling Leonardo di Caprio from Titanic

However, the excitement for the day was not over yet.  We spent the rest of the day cruising around the Weddell Sea, and shortly thereafter, we had our first sighting of Orcas.  We slowly followed several pods around while they were feeding, and we saw numerous fur seals, leopard seals and Weddell seals out sunning on the icebergs.  I am TOTALLY missing my camera, as I can’t get any good shots of the orcas! However, the tabular icebergs alone were absolutely magnificent, as they are utterly flat on top (like the mesas of the American Southwest) and some of them are miles long. We saw at least one which was over 20 kilometres (12 miles) long. Sometimes they are about 40 metres tall (above water). Because it was such a still and partially sunny day, the light playing on these icebergs was stunning.

Finally, we regretfully headed back for the Drake Passage as the sun was setting. We toasted our Antarctic adventure with cocktails made glacial ice likely at least 1,000 years old. Wish us a balmy trip back (not very likely), and we’ll check in again when we hit Buenos Aires.

Ciao!

Pleneau Island, Port Charcot and Port Lockroy

This morning began with an awesome approach through LeMaire Channel, with our intrepid Captain and crew dodging icebergs. The passage took place at about 6:30 am, but by 5:45, the observation deck was full with passengers watching and photographing the passage.

We are just offshore the Antarctic Peninsula, and our first expedition of the day will be a Zodiac tour of the bay off Pleneau Island, the so-called “graveyard of the icebergs”.

Because the bay is so shallow, after the icebergs calve from the glaciers; if they do not pass out to sea, they become grounded, and ultimately, break up or melt.

The expedition leaders were greeted in the bay by some Minke whales.

Minke Whale

Minke Whale

We loaded up the Zodiacs and set off to tour among the icebergs. It was raining, but awesomely still. From up close, you can see the depth and form of the icebergs. The colors are extraordinary!

We spend about an hour cruising around the bay, we see some more Weddell seals,

and on one iceberg, we found a leopard seal, who then swam all around our Zodiac.

Leopard Seal

The Zodiac crews then landed us onshore at a place called Port Charcot. This harbor is another former whaling site.  There’s another large Gentoo penguin colony here, but also some chinstraps and our first sighting of some Adélie penguins.  As we land, we can see the Gentoos frolicking in the water and feeding.

Gentoo Penguin fishing

However, by far and away the best part of this expedition was the opportunity to play with a young elephant seal.  As we approach him, he comes over to us and playfully begins butting people and rubbing his head on them. The only problem is that he clearly doesn’t know how big he really is. He almost knocks Jim over. Utterly darling!

Playing with an elephant seal

Then we hike up up to a crest so we can see the bay behind us, and also, all three colonies of penguins. The Adélie chicks are just finishing the moulting of their baby coats leaving them with just a tuft of baby hair on their heads, so they look like “punk penguins”.

Finally, our last call of the day  was at Port Lockroy, a British station on the Antarctic Peninsula, which had not only a Gentoo penguin colony, but the only honest-to-Gosh post office and general store in Antarctica. As a world class shopper, you know I was not going to miss this opportunity.  I am happy to report that I scored on the ever-sought-after Christmas ornament to add to my collection of travel ornaments.  However, the weather was so adverse, I couldn’t even get my iPhone ourt of my pocket for a picture.

All in all, another spectacular day!

Yankee Harbour and Deception island

three hours over the crest of the island to meet the ship, or to take a shorter hike from Teléfon Bay up to a scenic viewpoint of an interior caldera. You guessed it: we chose the shorter hike, particularly since the wind was blowing at about 35 mph, and it was raining.  On the way up, our faces were scoured with blown bits of either ice, or small volcanic grit (either way, they felt the same). Suffice it to say, I won’t be needing any micro-derm abrasion any time soon!

By the time we hit the crest, Jim was dreaming of a Manhattan back in the bar on-board. As we waited for the Zodiacs to take us back, he reported that the “Manhattan Project was on schedule”!

Tomorrow morning should begin with more Zodiac cruising.

Nearing the South Shetland Islands

This morning (Tuesday, Feb. 3) as we woke, the seas were somewhat calmer, and we could see albatrosses flying alongside the ship. Thus, landfall must be pretty close. More passengers reappeared and seemed to be overcoming their seasickness. The first iceberg was spotted about 8:30.

After breakfast, we had another mandatory briefing about Zodiac safety, most notably; how to get quickly and efficiently in and out of the boat with minimal chance of getting a dunking. Then we all got our life jackets for use on the Zodiacs.

We received the welcome news that we would make our first land exploration this afternoon (ahead of schedule) with a landing at Half Moon Bay on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. The bay is home to a large colony of chinstrap penguins, most of whom still had their fuzzy chicks in their nests, as well as several other kinds of sea birds. Usually, there are also different types of seals present. We can’t wait!

The 210 passengers are divided into approximately three groups of 70 each. We then take turns going to shore via the Zodiacs, where each group stays about 1 hour. Typically, there will be at least 2 expeditions per group each day ( one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since the sun is up from about 5:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night, the timing on all of this works out. The ship is frequently moved from one place to another between expeditions. Our group is scheduled to go at 4:00 and it’s a sunny, if very windy, day.

We land on shore and are immediately bombarded with unmistakeable proof of a penguin presence: the overwhelming pungency of penguin poo, and the raucous sound of over 3000 penguin pairs jabbering at each other. Everywhere we look we see penguins walking, nesting, feeding their young and chasing each other. As is usual, we start with an updated briefing from a naturalist as to what we will see here on this expedition today. We then move from position to position marked by the naturalists to showcase certain highlights.

 

At this stop, in addition to all the chinstrap penguins, first we saw a small group of fur seals. There was also a Weddell seal kicking back napping on a patch of snow.

 

Finally, there were all the penguins, including thousands of chicks, still wearing the downy soft birth coats, spending most of their time being fed by their moms. The cuteness factor was off the Richter scale!

Baby chinstrap Penguins

Paying the “Drake Tax”

Monday, February 2, 2015

There’s a saying about the Drake Passage: there are three ways to make the crossing: you can sail on the Drake Lake; you can be thrown around in the Drake Shake; or you can pay the Drake Tax! After it looked like we were in for a shaking, given the weather report the first night, although there was some rocking and rolling the first night, we awoke to somewhat calmer waters than we expected. Still, despite anti-sea sick pills and sea sick patches, a large number of our fellow passengers were down for the count.

However, thanks to taking our Bonine (we love you for the recommendation, John Rudek), we awoke fully functional, and ready to face the day. Our cabin is on the third deck, and before we set off last night, the cabin steward moved all our deck furniture into our cabin. We went down to breakfast on Deck 2, and occasionally waves would completely cover the windows while we were eating.

On this first full day at sea we had a number of compulsory briefings. We had the life boat drill, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators briefing (i.e. How to behave in the Antarctic) and the how to get in and out of the zodiac briefing. The later was especially important as the only way we get on and off of our ship during the cruise is by inflatable zodiac boats.

We also had voluntary briefings by our 11 person naturalist staff. They ranged from biologists to geophysical scientists to botanists. We had a very well qualified group to lead us. Today we had a lecture on penguins.

The Drake passage crossing usually takes a full two days. We battened down the hatches and got ready for a rough ride.