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Published: March 20th 2006
Where do you start with this one? A stupidly spontaneous decision at an airline checkin desk and 3 days later we were on a lovely red ship bound for Antarctica. This would be something different.
After checking in to our nice little cabin, replete with bunks (including nice little rails to keep you in bed when the boat swings through 80deg at 4am) we wandered upstairs to the lounge expecting to be greeted with the US pensioner set and their nurses. Couldn't have been more wrong. This was the last trip of the season for our ship, the Explorer, before the ice sets in, so much of the normal set were long gone, back to Florida. Instead, we seemed to have hooked up with the rest of the backpacker set who'd come down here looking for the lastminute deal that we got.
The boat finally set sail around midnight once some unlucky folk navigated Aerolineas Argentina's flight schedule but not before we tucked in to our first 5 course meal. This was going to be an experience for our waistlines as well as everything else.
The dreaded Drake Shake which we had been warned about never came, and we passed the Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands in one piece (thanks to my seasickness tablets) over the course of the next 2 days. Just before reaching land, we sighted something really cool - a huge tabular iceberg reminiscent of the Borg ship in Star Trek for those familiar with it was adrift on the horizon...and when I say huge I really mean HUGE. Not the size of Sweden or anything like that, more the size of Wembley Stadium, with near-perfect straight edges...fantastic.
We managed to squeeze in the first of many Zodiac landings that evening on Aitcho Island, just north of the peninsula itself, so not strictly speaking Antarctica yet. Beautiful lighting and hundreds of smelly penguins. A great start.
The next five days or so consisted of waking up, eating, zodiac landing, eating, zodiac landing, eating, drinking, sleeping, with occasional whale spotting and general seagazing in the freezing Antarctic wind in between. It wasn´t actually that cold for the most part - I think we got very lucky with the weather, only seeing snow once, in a place aptly known as Iceberg Alley, where we had snowball fights between Zodiac boats amidst the most beautiful icebergs...something really special.
The wildlife was everywhere - I mentioned whales and penguins above, but there were many seals, sealions and birds everywhere we went. The crew of the ship comprised a number of subject matter experts (mostly from Canada and the UK) who were there to give lectures on the wildlife, the geology and interestingly the history of the areas we visited. This was great to have available and really made a difference to what we saw and did. I never knew beforehand how evil a leopard seal could be, and I never want to meet one when I´m swimming. One slight downer was the 2nd visit to Wilhemena bay, where we went out in the Zodiacs in search of whales, primarily humpbacks, which we had seen from the boat. Our boat didn´t manage to see the humpbacks, but did come very close to a pair of minkie whales, which circled the boat for some time...most of the others did get a near-religious encounter with some humpbacks, and they all returned elated at what they'd seen. The fervour of those that had seen the whales contrasted greatly with those that hadn't and caused a lot of disappointment for some of us in an otherwise fantastic trip.
On a lighter note, we had a chance to visit a Ukranian Research station called Vernadsky, where we sampled some local-brew vodka in the most southerly bar in the world. The bar I´d recommend, the vodka I wouldn´t. This interestingly was the place where the Ozone Hole was first discover ed. A UK post office at Port Lockroy (yes - no other reason to be there) offered the chance to send some exotic postcards, and we also visited some abandoned whaling stations. The latter were once a mainstay of the area, where thousands of whales were caught and their blubber used to fuel the industrial revolution elsewhere..very sad.
I'm not much of a swimmer, but having the chance to swim (briefly) in the cold Antarctic waters was not something I could pass up. The fact that I could run swiftly back to a hot volcanic pool dug in the beach by the crew really helped out. The island, Deception, is a semi-active volcano, and beneath the black volcanic sand there is a layer of hot water about 4 feet down which you can dig into quite easily. A great place to put a whaling station, people thought many years ago, until the volcano erupted and flattened the place!
So much more to say on this trip, which truly was a lifetime experience...maybe I´ll edit this later. I´m sure Laura will add some more.
Laura's bit:
Well, we're in Bariloche now, so I finally have internet access to add my tuppence worth.
Antarctica, wow, what can I say? It was amazing. Save up and go see if for yourselves, as I doubt I can find the right words to do it justice. It probably needs some new adjectives to describe it adequately.
One highlight for me was definately the zodiac trip around Iceberg Alley. The snow softly falling on us enhanced the silence, as we glided amongst the icebergs searching for seals and other wildlife. It really brought home to me just how remote Antartica is, as it felty like a different planet, not just a new continent. (luckily the boats have GPS to help them find the big ship again...). We saw pieces fall off icebergs as we passed, rocking the boat, but luckily nothing too large, as the survival rate in that water is only a few minutes. And of course the outing was topped off by a surprise drive-by snowball attack on another boat on the way back.
A few days later another zodiac cruise gave the chance to see Adelie penguins, then rounded a corner into a huge expanse of water, with snow covered mountains and glaciers rising stright out of the sea. It was a striking view, like sailing through the Alps, if the valleys had been flooded.
Given the chance to swim in the Antartic on the last day was something I couldn't miss out on. Emboldened by memories of numerous swims in the chilly North Sea, I imagined me being brave enough to swim around for a bit before legging it back to the heated water area. Confidently I ran in and ducked under, only for my body's survival instinct to kick in and have me heading straight back out again for the pool. This pattern was repeated a few times until the lure of a warm shower became too strong to resist.
The lectures on the trip turned out to be an unexpected bonus. Probably even more interesting knowing no essay writing would be required afterwards! One fact which really stuck with me after our visit to the remains of the whaling station was that 97% of the worlds oil in WW1 came from whales. No wonder they were almost driven to extinction. A lot of dead animals required to fuel the munitions factories in order to produce a lot of dead humans. Apparently at one point the massive bay we anchored in was full with whale carcasses, until someone found a way to extract oil from the bones too. Very sobering stuff.
Seeing so much wildlife up close was a brilliant experience and I feel very privileged to have been there. Amongst others, we saw fur seals, crabeaters, leopard and elephant seals; gentoo, adelie, macaroni and chinstrap penguins; wandering albatrosses, giant skuas, minkie whales and humpback whales. It's amazing how much time you can happily spend watching penguins waddle up a hill, then slide back down the snow on their bellies. Or watching seals playing in the water, fighting like teenage boys or scratching like dogs. And I didn't fully grasp how large an elephant seal is until I saw the beasts sprawled on the beach, sleeping the days away. On the last day, having thought we'd seen all we would, the few of us left on deck were treated to the sight of several Peels dolphins by the boat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another 40 or so appeared and followed the boat for a good 20 minutes, leaping and playing around the stern. Well worth almost missing lunch for.
I've made it to the South Shetland Islands now - maybe one day I'll get to the Scottish ones. I was more than a little amused to find the Discovery Visitors Guide in the ship library, all the way from Dundee. Never far from a reminder of home, wherever we go.
After 10 days at sea, we felt fattened up like elephant seals, in preparation for the leaner times ahead backpacking. It was odd to be back on land again and to interact with others who'd not shared the experiences we had had. Seeing trees, roads, houses and other trappings of civilisation was almost a shock, as we returned from the semi mysterious place we'd been. A few nights out in Ushuaia with others from the ship helped the transition though. We've turned back north now and are currently up in the lake district, but I'll leave writing about that for another day, once we've had time to get a proper feel for the place.
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patricia mcadams
non-member comment
glad to see you back in one piece. looks great, though i dont think i would appreciate the cold. i cant stick our 6degrees at home at the moment!