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Published: December 31st 2008
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Hot Spring Action
Who could imagine Papa would be the first one in? Not me! Sunday 21st
Today is Sunday, and only because I have looked back at the previous journal dates do I know it is truly the day purported. This is what vacation should feel like. Last night, although I wanted to recount my day, I was a bit disappointed we were leaving the mainland to return to the Shetland islands, which is still part of Antarctica, but unmistakably a unique set of islands. Also, the cross over the straight made for some mild wave cruising, which put me into nausea mode by the time I was ready to sit down and write.
Today, in anticipation of making it back to mainland, I swamped some mud after dinner. Between that and the activity filled day, I’m a little wired. But I’m also the only person sitting in the library right now. I can look out floor to ceiling windowns and watch the arctic petrel follow our boat out to sea. I can hear the waves crashing against our boat, and see them spritz as high as 30 feet, which is roughly the deck I’m in. The library is not only empty, but it is warm, calming, and very cozy. The big leather arm chair
I’m enjoying is only bested by the motion of the boat, which is helping turn the leather chair into a rocking chair. Also, as it is just past midnight, the sun’s light is showing in a permanent sunset, with greens below pink, orange below yellow. The backdrop of white mountains reaching into the clouds also seems to be pushing the ocean back, which may explain why the waves are running so quickly to our boat.
As for today’s activities, we cruised back to the Shetland islands, to Deception Island. DI is a recently active volcano that erupted in the 60s. The ‘deception’ comes because there is a hidden entrance to the interior of the island, which many early mariners didn’t notice, and thus bypassed the entrance until some American and British sealers found the entrance, known as Neptune’s Bellows, in the 1820s. Early in the morning, the captain maneuvered the boat into the bellows, with winds pounding my face at least at 40 knots. What a wake up call.
Our first stop was Whalers Cove, an old whaler town with everything set up from homes with Jacuzzis to enormous tanks which used to hold whale blubber. Although the naturalists recount of the process was a bit morbid, it was nevertheless fascinating to learn about the history of the island, and to fathom that some group of guys would spend years out in the middle of nowhere, with nasty winds, and freezing temperatures at best, just to kill some whales to make a living.
The three of us walked around the black sand beaches for a bit, too. Along the way, shattered wood marked the demise of many of the old whaling boats and shelters that were apparently used during an eruption that tore down the mountain and buried most of the buildings by at least a few feet.
My uncle and I spilt from the pack for a quick bouldering session up the side of a glacier. The view was nice, but was mostly fun because we got to do some steep climbing and get away from the crowd of tourists who decided to hike up a more obvious viewpoint.
We also took a quick trip to Telefon Bay, the site of the latest crater that went up a couple forty years ago. The hike was nice, only about 350 feet vertical, and offered some pretty views of the crater, which was so deep I would guess it was below sea level.
After the quick hike, back on the boat, my dad and me joined the captain in the bridge to watch as he pushed the boat into Pendulum Cove. The captain was super nice, explaining to us where we were on the map, and making jokes about whether we should jump in the ocean on the upcoming stop. “What, are you guys pussies?” Haha, he’s really a cool guy and very laid back even when he’s trying to position the ship between icebergs, or whether motoring through icepack. For sure, being in the bridge with the captain (because of the open bridge policy you can go 24/7) is one of the highlights of this particular outfit; Lindblad.
You may have noticed I just wrote that the captain was joking about jumping into the ocean. Well, at Pendulum cove, that is just what my dad and me did, while uncle was waving to us from the top deck of the boat.
The coastline had a thermal spot that would fill up with water just enough for half of your body. The trick was to drop your clothes, but leave the bathing suit, and run into the hot stuff. When we first arrived, the thermal was overloaded with tourists (from our boat, about 20 people). It was all a little too raw for me. All that WHITE skin flapping in the breeze. Some of them with reindeer hats on, just for the extra reminder that we had all left our brains back on the boat. My dad didn’t seem to mind the crowd as much, so he was the guinea pig. He seemed to not be shaking, so I went next. Yeah, it was pretty warm, some spots even uncomfortably warm. For absolutely no logical reason, with my dad pointing the video at me, I decided to run from the warm spring into the 29 degree Antarctic Ocean. It all happened so fast, but I do remember diving head first into the ocean, just the same way I would do in south beach. With the adrenaline pumping, my skin never felt the cold. But I did notice that my lungs froze up, and wanted to gasp for air. As fast as I ran in, I ran back to the thermal and slid into my space, ahhh, warm.
The ride back to the boat was surprisingly comfortable, even with a soaking bathing suit under my jacket. I didn’t even really feel the need to shower, since the black clay I was wading in felt therapeutic, I wanted to give it time to work its magic. But I’ll probably take a shower before I sleep, which is soon, because I don’t want to get those nice white sheets lava black.
After a quick nap, my second of the day, I joined my dad in the lounge. An announcement was made that we would be heading back to the mainland, yay! This promised would be fulfilled as soon as 1030pm. So, after dinner we stopped at Lindblad Cove, named after the guy who started the first Antarctica tourist adventures, and the one we are using. The Captain took us right up to the land, almost as a way to prove to us that if we ask for land, he’ll give us land!
Heading into the cove, we spotted a whale spouting off the port side. Then, as I scanned across the deck, I noticed many whales spouting. From my binos, it was easy to see them showing their tails and flapping their fins on the surface.
The closer we got to the cove, the more ice would build up. Also, the clouds began to clear, revealing a vast mountain range that went up through the clouds and out across the horizon. The sun was also doing its job to highlight the peaks and the icebergs that were out from the coastline. The contrast changed as the sun went down. But as the sun never fully gave way to night, the colors were in constant sunset mode.
Even more incredible was the ice our boat was heading through. As we pushed the ice away from the bow, the ice would join again on the aft, making our boat appear we were stuck and surrounded completely by ice, glaciers, and mountains. Arctic petrels gathered on the ice just passed the point where we could go no further, and we slowly turned around and made our way back out to the sea.
Tomorrow is all mainland, and so I am really excited for the possibilities we have heard about. Another touch on mainland (brown bluff was the first official touch for me, making that landing my official visit to all the continents on earth), some kayaking, and some snow angels!
In the meantime, I will turn off the PC and watch the silhouettes of the great mountain range while I stay warm in the ships library with some hot chocolate.
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