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Friday, February 12, 2010-Journey's End |
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Friday, 12 February 2010 08:30 |
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Greetings from Antarctica.
We awoke this morning at 4:30am. to witness the ship's navigation into Neptunes Bellows, the entrance to the caldera of Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands. It was truly an amazing sight to sail into an active volcano! All around us were mountains of volcanic ash covered in a light dusting on snow from a few hours earlier. The monochromatic landscape was both eerie and majestic. Many of us were on the bridge for this event careful not to break the concentration of the captain and his engineers as they navigated the narrow passage.
We had an opportunity to take an early hike to the top of a small volcanic island and walk along its rim to another breathtaking view. We were thrilled to be walking on different terrain today - no rocks and no penguins! We saw a small sail boat in the harbour below - who was there and what was their journey all about?
Our first shore landing after breakfast was at Whalers Bay, Deception Island where the Herktor whaling station operated in the early 1900s. Most of the old buildings and massive oil containers are still on the island although now in ruin. Old whale bones littered the beach and one could easily imagine the whalers processing their catch over a century ago.
We walked along the beach to Neptunes Window - a "bite" out of the caldera that afforded us a magnificent view of the cliffs and waters below.
Quite a few of the passengers choose this island to have a "polar plunge".
Four of our group of six took a dip in the freezing cold waters and then immediately plunged into the geothermally heated waters of a "hot tub" that had been basically dug out of the volcanic pebbles on the beach by ship's doctor's husband - all who "plunged" were very happy for this special treat.
The afternoon took us to our final landing at Half Moon Island - a beautiful snow and glacier covered island where we studied the chinstrap penguins and several different groups of Weddell and fur seals. The weather was absolutely glorious. It was the first time I was able to forgo my gloves and hat. It is hard to believe that we are in the Antarctic!!
Sadly our journey is coming to an end. We will begin our voyage back across the Drake Passage later this evening. We hope to arrive in Ushuaia on Monday, make a brief stop over in Buenos Aires and then head back to the USA by Wednesday, February 17.
"Happy he, who like Ulysses has made a great journey."
Joachim du Bellay |
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Thursday, February 11, 2010-Antarctica |
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Thursday, 11 February 2010 08:19 |
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Greetings from the Polar Star.
We headed out his morning for a 3 hour Zodiac cruise around Cierva Cove located at the northern end of the Gerlache Strait. It was the coldest day so far and I under-estimated the amount of clothing to wear. My toes in particular were freezing and by the time we returned my big toenail was starting to turn black! I learned my lesssn!
Our first sightings were of magnificent sculpted icebergs difficult to describe in both their beauty, color and brilliance. As massive as they are only about 20% of their mass floats above the water. The water surrounding many of them was a beautiful turquoise color. Many of the icebergs we saw today were quite unstable and appeared as if the may overturn at any time.
We came dangerously close to one when the motor on our Zodiac wouldn't start and the driver was pre-occupied with this problem.
The wildlife was very cooperative during our cruise and we saw more animals than I had ever expected. Several humpback whales came very close to the Zodiac and seemed to be "playing" with us. Groups of both Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins were porpoising everywhere - it was quite a sight but hard to capture on camera. The penguins are comical to watch as they come in to the shore for a landing - they just sem to pop up out of the water!
We saw many fur and leopard seals dozing on small ice floats. The leopard seal is quite large and almost reptilian in appearance. The penguins become very nervous when they are around.
n the afternoon we headed out for our second landing to Mikkelsen Harbour.
The sun was shining and the sky was a lovely blue. We were greeted by Gentoos and fur seals on the shore. We made our way across an ice field to the other side of the island were we spent a few hours observing the behaviour of the Gentoos. It was a large colony and the smell was particular strong but I think I am getting used to it! Everytime I think I have seen enough penguins I become fascinated again by their behaviour. Parents were feeding their chicks, chicks were chasing their parents, some were stealing rocks from others' nests, some were fighting, some were sleeping and some were just standing quietly minding their own business!
The evening ended with a presentation from one of the scientists on Giant Squid and an opportunity to dissect a small squid for those who were interested. |
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Tuesday, February 9, 2010-Antarctica |
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Tuesday, 09 February 2010 15:20 |
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We awoke to another glorious day with blue skies and sunshine. Our shore landing today was at Pleneau Island where we mingled among a colony of Gentoo penguins. They were everywhere - so many penguins we had to be carefully not to step on them! We were fortunate to see an elephant seal and her pup sleeping on a large rock amidst the penguins - apparently this is a rare sight. The weather was so lovely this morning that we had 2 brave souls take a swim in the waters - no one from our group. The reast of us were shedding some of our outer layers as we basked in the sun's rays.
This afternoon was a different story The seas became rougher as we continued our journey north. We arrived at Palmer Station around 3:00pm. This is the American station on Anvers Island where Heidi Geisz (our guest speaker at HRIMS two weeks ago)has spent ten seasons as a researcher. We had a tour of the station and learned a great deal about the research that is taking place at this facility.
Back on ship we ended the evening with a most interesting talk from our expedition leader, Meghan about living and working in Antarctica. Meghan has devoted a great deal of her life to studying Adelie penguins. Life is hard in this part of the world, especially in the winter and not for the faint of heart!! |
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Monday, February 8, 2010 Mission Accomplished |
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Tuesday, 09 February 2010 08:53 |
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Mission accomplished! We officially crossed the Antarctic Circle at 4:08 a.m.
Today started off as another beautiful, clear sunny day with temperatures around 30 degrees - not bad at all. We cruised further south through the Gullet and witnessed a spectacular avalanche right in front of the ship. I was fortunate to capture most of it on camera.
We boarded the Zodiacs for another cruise through the Antarctic waters and were giddy with excitement as we spotted crabeater and leopard seals sunning themselves on icebergs everywhere we turned. The waters were still calm so we were able to spend a good amount of time viewing the wildlife. Our guides had quite a surprise in store for our Zodiac as they brought us to a place where a humpback whale was sleeping. Apparently this is a rare sight!
This afternoon was quite a different story! The weather turned and we now experienced our first true Antarctic weather - rough seas and bitter cold winds made our crossing to Detaille island quite an event. But that of course is part of the adventure and what we came here to experience. We trudged through deep snow and ice as we explored the small island. Time ashore was limited because of the weather conditions and we are all back on ship again warm and cozy and eagerly awaiting tomorrow's adventures |
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Sunday, February 7,2010 Sunday Afternoon- Whales |
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Monday, 08 February 2010 08:57 |
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Wow! This afternoon was more eventful that anyone had expected. Several pods of humpback whales surrounded the ship and stayed with us for at least an hour as they fed. It was a marvelous sight.There was great excitement among the passengers - even the crew were on deck taking pictures including the captain and chief officer (who is at the helm??
You will find it hard to believe that we were on deck for along time with only long sleeved shirts. I think it is warmer here at the moment than in Virginia! The weather has been beautiful - especially today. We have lots of sunshine, clear blue skies and calm waters. What a place! |
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