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Published: February 21st 2009
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right there a few missing places before this but i'll get back to them
Previously Alan Tom and Hannah were waiting with bated breath in Ushuaia hoping the could get cheap passages to Antarctica
and then finally they were off - having partied for the previous two nights til 6 I didn't get my act together to get drink in for the cruise - couldn't even look at it 😉 Had drunk dialled Dee when we left the club that morning at 6am to tell her how excited I was to see our ship the Academik Sergei Vavilov in the dock - she was ever so pleased to hear the news at about 9am on a saturday morning. Tom and Hannah and I shared a cabin - immediately we got on we met Barbara and Tanya who were amongst proabably about ten people close to our own age me being in my thirties by a hangnail 😊 and Tom and Hanah just scraping into thirty. There's just too much to tell about the whole trip, where we went, what places we visited, how many whales we saw what types, seals, how badly penguins stink so I'll go about running
through the highlights. Okay the food was not the biggest highlight but after fending for myself for ages it was brilliant to be fed and watered for a fornight and i went for it big time putting on a stone I reckon in preparation for returning to the low life afterwards - I think we counted about 11 courses most days 😉 The crossing of the Drake passage went well for me though half the ship went down with seasickness including marine engineer Tom who was down for the two days - He explained it was to do with the fact that he was used to tankers which have less or different roll or pitch . I reckon its cos he's a soft southern englander 😉 Anyhoo we were three days at sea attending loads of talks to keep us busy while we headed as far south as the ship could get - there was a big celebration when we crossed the Antarctic circle 66˚26’S 69˚37’W - bucks fizz for breakfgast - A great way to start the day. So the highlights of the trip were - hearing humpbacks for the first time, having them come right under the zodiacs
and frightening the poo out of me 😉 Watching a leopard seal swim around the zodiac for ages deciding whether he could get oneof us for his tea, visiting a load of the old research huts. Getting surprised by a big elephant seal popiing up in the sea a few feet from me while watching others. Having a dip in the plunge pool filled with Antrcitc sea water. Watching glaciers calve, hours of snowball fights, slepping in abivvy bag on the Antarctic and sneaking beer with us and waking up in the morning covered in snow. Watching all the beautiful icebergs go by - glaciers 100 metres high.
Veryblue glaciers. Tom and Hans company, not Toms 'ìllness' 😉 Hopping out of portholes just to see if it could be done, Getting naked on the ice, pengiuns penguins and more penguins - they definitely have good PRO because while they are dapper and cute the smell doesn't get much of a mention. Seeing Orcas even if they were far away, minkes, pilot whales, dolphins , fin whales, leopard, crabeaters, fur, wedell and elephant seal. Drinking homemade vodka in the Ukranian research station...the list goes on.
Suffice to say it was a
trip of a life time and now the Arctic beckons 😉 Mam tells me that a ship has just recently got stuck in the Antarctic - and gave out for telling me that it was totally safe - just checked that my route up to Santiago by bus this monday coming passes through Chaiten which has a volcano errupting near it - Whahey 😊))
the dry details
Akademik Sergey Vavilov
“Antarctic Circle Quest” Expedition
25th January to 7th February, 2009
Date Destination Activity Time (hrs) Lat./Long.
25 Jan Ushuaia 54˚15’S 68˚19’W
26 Jan At Sea P 07:00 56˚16’S 66˚35’W
27 Jan At Sea P 07:00 61˚25’S 68˚00’W
28 Jan Antarctic Circle P 07:00 66˚26’S 69˚37’W
Crossing the Circle P 07:45 66˚33’S 63˚40’W
29 Jan Antarctic Peninsula 07:00 67˚50’S 67˚26’W
Horseshoe Island ZL, K 08:30 - 11:30 67˚51’S 67˚12’W
Stonington Island ZL, K 15:00 - 17:15 68°11’S 67°00’W
Marguerite Bay BBQ 18:00 68°13’S 68°30’W
Furthest South 18:20 68˚13’S 69˚24’W
30 Jan 07:00 66˚47’S 68˚40’W
Detaille Island ZC, PP 14:30 - 16:30 66˚52’S 66˚48’W
31 Jan 07:00 65˚18’S 64˚18’W
Vernadsky Station ZL,
K 09:00 - 12:00 65°15’S 64°15’W
Yalour Islands ZC, K 14:30 - 16:30 65o14’S 64o10’W
Wordie House (camping) C 20:45 - 06:15 65˚18’S 64˚18’W
1 Feb 07:00 65˚15’S 64˚13’W
Petermann Island ZL, K 09:30 - 12:30 65°10’S 64°10’W
Lemaire Channel SC 12:00 - 13:00
Port Lockroy
Goudier Island ZL, K 15:15 - 18:15 64˚50’S 63˚30’W
Jougla Point ZL, K 15:15 - 18:15 64˚50’S 63˚30’W
Neumayer Channel SC 18:00 - 19:30
2 Feb 07:00 64˚48’S 62˚41’W
Neko Harbour ZL * 09:00 - 12:00 64˚50’S 62˚33’W
Paradise Harbour ZL, K * 14:45 - 18:00 64˚54’S 62˚52’W
3 Feb 05:30 - 07:30 64˚34’S 62˚37’W
Cuverville Island ZL, K 09:00 - 12:00 64˚44’S 62˚37’W
Wilhelmina Bay ZC, K 15:00 - 16:45 65°15’S 64°15’W
4 Feb South Shetland Islands 07:00 62˚02’S 60˚31’W
Whalers Bay SC 08:45 62˚59’S 60˚34’W
Half Moon SC 13:00 62˚36’S 59˚55’W
5 Feb Drake Passage P 06:00 59˚41’S 63˚08’W
6 Feb Drake Passage P 06:00 56˚22’S 66˚54’W
7 Feb Ushuaia 06:00 54˚15’S 68˚19’W
Total Distance Travelled: 2323 nautical miles
Key:
BBQ = barbeque EW = extended walk ZL =
zodiac landing
SS = snow sliding ZC = zodiac cruise PP = polar plunge P = Presentations
SC = ship cruise K = sea kayaking C = camping * = Continent landing
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Gaynor
non-member comment
Love the photos
Hi Al Really great photos. I heard you finally lost that old camera. Or was it nicked? Sounds like you had a WHALE of a time there! How come you didn't go ice diving? It's something Ray always says he'd like to do, yet the Med is too cold for him to get wet in winter!!! How do we get to see the rest of your adventures? And when are you coming back to see us in Spain? We miss you.