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Published: March 11th 2009
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Oh mi god! Was an awesome place. Am sitting in the hostal in Lima so thought I better make an entry and load some photos.
Had an incredible trip to Antarctica - had brilliant weather, calm seas (relatively speaking), some fab landings and a few dives in 0 degree water!!!! Although rolled off the boat after 11 days of 2 course lunches and dinners and full cooked breakfasts!
We departed Ushuaia on fri 27 feb in the evening and went out through the Beagle Channel (very calm). We entered the notorious Drake Passage round Cape Horn in the early hours of the morning - noticeable with the increasing waves and rolling side to side in the bunk bed! However our forecast was good and despite a number of people being sick, Marty and I managed admirably with a few vodkas. There were 48 people on board and 20 were diving - the largest number of divers they had had. Everyone was great with about half the boat being from Europe (Denmark, Belgium, Holland), 6 from the USA and the rest English, Scottish, Irish and of course me. Most people were in their late 30's early 40's which was good
and bad (too much drinking - I blame the Irish!).
After 2 full days and nights crossing the Drake we reached the Antarctic Peninsula and our first glimpse of towering icebergs, ice covered glaciers and our first whales, penguins and fur seals basking in the sun on solitary ice bergs. The cameras were going mad and we all shot off thousands of pictures. Our first landing was at Cuverville Island where we did our first dive to check weights etc - was FREEZING - dry gloves weren't sealed properly so hands got wet - ow! Vis was average and Marty had some probs with a dud tank they gave hime so I ended up diving with a dutch guy - 15 mins I lasted!! While under the water we heard a large bang type noise and on surfacing discovered it had been an iceberg rolling over - one of the most dangerous things when diving is moving icebergs. We also visitied our first Penguin colony (Gentoo Penguins) - boy are they cute but very very smelly. They are hilarious to watch chasing each other through the water and on land.
The afternoon saw our 2nd dive which was
a wall dive with poor visability. Mostly saw kelp, small crustaceans and phyto plankton. We did a 24 min dive and at the end could not feel my feet, hands or face - was like being at the dentist with anaesthetic. Luckily the sauna on board thawed us out.
Day 2 on the peninsula I didn't dive but did the landings instead. We visited the Ukrainian scientific station with its famous bar where they serve their home made vodka. Females can get the vodka free if they leave some of their underwear behind! However I managed to get a free shot without hving to do that - kiwi charm at work 😊. Marty dived and surfaced in time for a quick 4 vodka shots before we returned to the boat. The afternoon saw us visit Peterman Island and were treated to survival of the fitest in action when we saw a leaopard seal grab a penguin, play with it and then munch it. Although the 2nd penguin he played with played dead an made a miraculous escape despite the seal chasing it up onto the rocks right in front of us. Leopard seals are dangerous and will attack without
provocation on occasion, so we kept our distance.
Day 3 saw us enter the Antarctic circle the first trip to do it during this season. Our expedition leader said he had not made it south of the antactic circle for 2 yrs - usually weather's too poor and too much ice. We vsted a large fur seal colony and an old British station no longer in use but with things remarkably well preserved. Antarctica is soooo dry you need to put moisturiser on about 4-5 times a day! We then spent the afternoon steaming northward ahead of the ice back to the peninsula amidst turbulent weather - not much sleep had by all.
Day 4 we visited Pleaneau Island and Neko harbour. I did another dive around a fixed iceberg and we were lucky to be joined by a leopard seal in the water. I had some technical issues so had to terminate the dive early but still go to see an iceberg and leaopard seal underwater. Marty had a good dive and got some pictures of the seal in the water.
To be continued....
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Rach
non-member comment
photos
Hi Honey the photos are amazing ( is the one with the very white arse some new found species in Antartica!!!? Brave boy!) Glad you got back safely. Keep having an amazing time xxx