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Published: June 14th 2009
In the end we had 4 days of landings on the Antarctic Peninsular and islands - our very first landing at Neko Harbour had been amazing simply because, wow - we're standing on Antarctica! But for me the highlight of the trip was the time we spent cruising icebergs in the zodiacs and our very last landing at Dorian Bay.
The iceberg cruise was the second tour we'd done in the zodiacs. I'd found the first, to see glaciers, disappointing because I'd ended up with the group that pretty quickly decided they'd had enough and wanted to go back to the ship for a cup of tea. So whilst the others were out seeing a whale and watching a leopard seal kill a penguin, I was back on deck, slightly seething. This time though it was different. I'd had a bit of a moan to the expedition leader after the glacier trip and whether by accident or design we ended up in a boat with her and right from the start she made it clear that if you were in this zodiac you were out for the full two hours, cold or not. As it turned out we overran and
the captain decided to raise anchor and come hurry us up!
Iceberg spotting might sound rather dull but seriously it was amazing. We'd seen a few bergs earlier in the trip but in terms of size, shape and colour they had nothing on these. Some had crevices of a vibrant indigo colour, others almost a honeycomb like surface, some were low and flat, others towered high above, all curves or angles. And occasionally hanging out on top of one would be a leopard seal. The second largest seal in the Antarctic the only natural predators of the leopard seal are orcas and sharks. With their distinctive whitish throats dotted with black spots they grow to over 3m and weigh in at up to 600kg. Typically we found them snoozing on an iceberg, the red splattered ice surrounding them all that remained of the penguin they'd had for dinner. The most magical encounter though was with one who took a rather attentive interest in us. We were cruising between some bergs when one of the guys spotted a leopard seal stalking us in the dark waters off the back of the zodiac. And it stayed with us for the next
30mins or so, one minute behind us, before disappearing only to reappear a few minutes later on one side or the other, swimming alongside, trying to bite the zodiac or just peering at us across the surface of the water. The Gentoos we'd seen on land had been inquisitive but this was just something else.
Eventually we were called back to ship and had to leave our new friend behind. As the last group back on board we were still on deck cleaning our boots as one of the funniest sights I've seen unfolded. An iceberg had come close to the ship, so close in fact that it was just a few feet from the front of the ship. So the last two zodiac drivers out used their zodiacs to try and edge it out the way... Russian Zodiac driver vs Iceberg.... the berg lost!
The afternoons landings were a little different from the others. First stop was Wordie Hut, completed in March 1947 it was initially occupied by five men and occupied continuously until 1953. From there we went round to the Vernadsky Station - originally a British station named Faraday it was transferred to the Ukraine
on the 6th of February 1996. We had a guided tour round the station and it was fascinating to see how the guys lived and worked, from labs that gave me flashbacks to my PhD days, the gym with its pictures of semi-clad women (somethings don't change I guess!) to the equipment room with skis for winter and a football for summer. Finally there was the bar, complete with home brew Vodka and a pool table where our Russian Zodiac drivers were playing their regular match against the Ukrainians.
Next morning was our final landing of the trip - Dorian Bay. The weather was just as stunning as our first landing, in fact it'd been great the entire time we were at the peninsular. The sky was clear, the waters still and all around were beautiful snowy peaks. This was my favourite landing of the whole trip simply because we had 2 hours of free time to do as we wished, whether that be penguin watching or climbing up to the viewpoint where there were stunning 360o views, down to the harbour and the Prof one way and on the opposite side another bay and the Port Lockroy station.
We watched as the arrival of a seal scared a group of penguins into huddling together... I guess the theory is safety in numbers, i.e. in a group you've got less chance of being dinner. Fortunately for the penguins though the seal didn't seem too interested.
Back on board we started our voyage home - two more days across the Drake Shake. Oh joy. And even better news was that there was another big storm at the Cape, we were heading straight for it and things would get rough again. More joy. But thanks to some cunning manoeuvring by our captain we managed to avoid it - just as well because the normal swells had me feeling super seasick again. Instead we awoke on our final morning to the calm waters of the Beagle Channel and sunshine in Ushuaia! We moored up next to another floating apartment block and had plenty of time to guess how many people it held as we waited for our bags to be unloaded.... apparently the answer was something over 3000! Kind of dwarfed out little bathtub boat. Finally it was time to leave and as we grabbed our bags and headed off down
the pier the crew started to prepare for the next lot of passengers that would arrive later that afternoon..... and I started to feel a rather rude case of land sickness coming on!
Next up - lake, glaciers and a sense of humour failure - hiking Torres del Paine National Park.
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