We showered in the Drake Passage - Actually, while passing through the rocking & rolling Drake Passage yesterday, we both managed to take showers without killing ourselves. Yesterday (Thurs - 1/24/13) was first full day in the “Drake,” and it finally started to live up to its reputation as the world’s roughest seas. Last night, the seas really kicked up about dinner time. There were wine glasses sliding across the tables at dinner, and a wave or two would wash over the portholes in the dining deck (Deck 3). Last night in the mostly deserted bar/lounge, large chairs were sliding around the wood floor. Winds were about 60 knots, seas were about 10 feet waves (with a few bigger ones here & there), and it was chilly - about 3 degrees C.
We’ve asked the expedition staff if this is rough and one answer was: it’s rough when you get tossed out of bed and wake up sleeping on the floor. Another answer was: It’s rough when they cancel breakfast, lunch AND dinner. As a person who’s cruised a half dozen times on large ‘regulation size’ cruise ships, the motion on this ship exceeds anything I’ve ever experienced, but you get used to it. Daily notes from past several days follow.
Wed - 1/23/13: We left Ushuaia in the evening, and after dinner we started the first of many mandatory meetings. We were being issued our nice ‘Quark Expedition’ parkas, and when we were leaving the area we asked to speak to someone about the cross country skiing, because all of the Expedition Staff were introduced at a previous ‘meet & greet’ and there were no ski leaders introduced. We were told that the skiing was cancelled (as was the Mountaineering), and we should have been notified about that a month or so ago. Too many crevices in both cases, i.e., snow is melting, and it’s too dangerous to do either. Several of the skiers and mountaineers went to the front desk to complain, and asked if we could be switched into the sea kayaking (a much more expensive option, but we figured it was a good 2nd choice). Well, the onboard staff had to e-mail the ‘home office’ and ask about this, so we awaited their answer.
Wed evening meetings also introduced the Expedition Staff (the kayak leaders, the ornithologists, the geologists, the historian, the zodiac drivers, etc.), as well as key crew and hospitality staff. There are about 100 Japanese out of the 170 passengers, so many meetings are longer due to translations. There is a MD onboard, Raymond, an ER Dr. from Louisville, KY, and he is the most down to earth guy ever - “If you need my services, call and I’ll come to you, it’s free.” He asked if there were other medical people on board as passengers - one of the kayakers is also a female ER Dr. from Washington, DC, another kayaker is an Italian from Genoa doing her surgery residency, a 3rd kayaker is a retired Army Colonel, who is also a Dr., so we’re OK medically-wise. Took our 1st ever Dramamine pills at the recommendation of Dr. Raymond, who we met in the ship’s lounge late at night. He said it would make his night easier if everyone took them.
Bridge Report: 0700, Thursday, 24 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 30 kts, SW
Temp: 6ºC Sunrise: 0520 Sunset: 2140
178 Miles from Ushuaia
Lat: 56º45’ S Lon: 065º02’ W
Thurs - 1/24/13: Attended sea kayaking briefings in hopes of working out an equitable settlement anyway. Quark came through with a good customer relations answer, which was that we could all switch into the sea kayaking option for no extra charge and they were sorry we weren’t notified ahead of time. The sea kayakers get their own zodiac and own ship departures vs. the many regular passengers queuing up to go zodiacing ashore or cruising around.
The sea kayaking will be challenging. We were all issued full dry suits (to protect us if we fall in or flip), skirts (to keep water out of the kayak), and special boots, life vests (Personal Floatation Devices, PFDs), and dry bags to hold cameras, spare clothes, sunscreen, etc., that are ‘bungied’ atop the kayaks. The kayak group (17 of us) 1st boards a zodiac to leave the ship, kayaks are trailed along behind (both single and doubles), and we then find a good spot to get into the kayaks from the zodiacs, paddle around among the whales, icebergs, penguins, and/or also go ashore. We had a group interview session yesterday afternoon, to find out everyone’s skill level, and many are very experienced sea kayakers, but some are novices.
Other mandatory briefings and/or events while crossing the windy, gray, wavy Drake Passage:
•Life boat drill
•Boarding the zodiac briefing
•Getting a pair of ‘wellies’ (boots) to use ashore
•International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) mandatory briefing on protecting the Antarctic (can’t go ashore unless you sign the pledge), including how to ‘decontaminate’ your boots after coming back onboard
•Bio-gear check and vacuuming (bring all outer wear/backpacks, etc.) to stations around the ship, to have any dirt, seeds from other places, etc., cleaned off the gear, so as not to contaminate Antarctica
•And a few others I’ve forgotten already
Lectures on oceanography, including crossing the Antarctic Convergence (approx. at 60 degrees south latitude, the start of colder Antarctic waters, and the ‘real Antarctic’), lectures on sea birds - they do keep us busy, hardly time for a nap at all. The navigation bridge is open often, unlike large cruise ships, and the staff there enjoy your company, answer your questions, explain everything - a real treat and a great view!
Bridge Report: 0700, Friday, 25 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 35 kts, SW
Temp: 1ºC Sunrise: 0421 Sunset: 2154
496 Miles from Ushuaia
Lat: 61º34’ S Lon: 060º42’ W
Fri - 1/25/13: Awoke to ship’s announcement that included this: ... and there’s our 1st iceberg off the starboard bow. Soon thereafter, we stopped gawking at the many small icebergs (smaller than small buildings, that is) off the ship because they became commonplace.
Today’s morning schedule:
•8:30 am kayak safety briefing
•9:15 Penguin lecture
•10:15 History of the Antarctic lecture
•11:15 Geology lecture
However, we’ll have to miss the geology lecture because we have another kayak briefing at 11, this one on practicing how to get in/out of a kayak off a zodiac, out on the stern deck. The South Georgia Islands are coming into view - snowy mountains off in the distance, but our 1st landing site - Half Moon Island, and 1st kayaking this afternoon.
An update after kayak practice: We’re not stopping at Half Moon Island, we’re on to Deception Island instead, an old volcano. They say to be flexible on these trips.
As we cruise along the South Georgia Islands, all along starboard side are snow covered islands with jagged peaks, glaciers, huge snow fields, and many small icebergs in the water. After taking 18 photos, just panoramic views from bow to stern, I stopped taking pictures - there’s just too much to take it all in! We haven’t had an announcement yet as to a kayak time, but 1st lunch, then hopefully we’ll know. There’s also talk that later this afternoon there may be the one opportunity for the “Polar Plunge.” We’re advised to wear our swim suits under our kayak kit (dry suit, skirt, PFD, etc.,) so we can strip down after the kayaking and join in with the rest of the ship’s crazies.
Internet onboard is slow, expensive, and bandwidth limited. We will probably not be able to send any photos back while on the ship, just text e-mails.
Fri - 1/25/13, pm: Our ship, the Ocean Diamond, cruised into Deception Island’s sunken volcano caldron, and cruised around its sights before dropping anchor. This is still an active volcano, sort of. We could see steam rising around the shoreline at certain points. It was a bright sunny day, calm winds inside the volcano/bay, temps about 5 C. We saw two other smaller cruise ships like ours, the National Geographic Lindblad (sp?) ship, and another private cruise line. We also saw two summer-only research stations, one Spanish, one Argentinean, along the shore. They are doing seismic and meteorological research. We anchored off an old whaling station, still very well preserved.
First kayaking - how cool, inside a volcano off Antarctica. Transition into the kayaks off the zodiacs went well, and we paddled around in relatively shallow water. Shallow enough to see many white whale bones on the bottom of the bay. We saw several chinstrap penguins along the shore, plus a large seal.
The penguins weren’t part of any large colony, just several pairs ‘on holiday’ as the staff were saying (meaning that they were non-breeding pairs, so sad). We also kayaked past a small iceberg, maybe car size, but very neat to be able to get that close in a kayak. We ended up quite far away from the ship, maybe a mile or so, then the winds and waves kicked up, so we headed back into the wind and past the ship to the shore. Water was splashing over the kayak, but the splash skirts did their job, keeping water out of the kayak.
We went ashore by the old whaling station, had a chance to walk along the dirt shore with the few penguins there - snow covered hills were off in the distance. We saw at least one of the kayakers strip down and plunge in, a young guy from Seattle. He was glad he did it, but, boy, was he cold!
As I write this, it’s close to midnight, and it’s still a little light outside. The sun went down around 11 pm, and will be rising tomorrow at about 4 am.
Bridge Report: 0700, Saturday, 26 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 10 kts, NNE
Temp: 2ºC Sunrise: 0414 Sunset: 2226
Lat: 64º28.5’ S Lon: 061º54’ W
Sat - 1/26/13: Awoke to see many icebergs outside the window. We’re in Wilhelmina Bay, another island off the Antarctic Peninsula. This morning there will be no kayaking because the ship will be cruising throughout this large bay full of icebergs and marine life. Per our 8 am kayak briefing, we’ll do some kayaking in the afternoon, when we’re in Cuverville Island, a very large Gentoo penguin colony.
This morning we’ve seen Humpback and Minke whales and many icebergs of all sizes, from small trash can sized to large ones half the size of this ship. My favorites were a small iceberg with a pair of penguins that just went drifting by, and a much larger house-sized one with blue ice just below the surface extending well away from its sides. The ship is only going 3-4 knots, and it just pushes them aside as we snake through the fields of ice and open water.
The bridge has been open all morning, and the captain is pressed up close to the front bridge glass constantly looking out ahead of the ship, quietly relaying instructions to the helmsman behind him, one at the wheel (yes, they use a wheel), and one on the engine controls. They maneuver around the icebergs or follow whales. It’s a real treat to be on a ship with an open bridge policy. Having sailed on larger cruise ships, all bridges on most large ocean cruise lines are closed to passengers post-9/11.
The air temp is 5 C (41 F), the wind is calm, and the sea is flat calm. Early in the morning it was cloudy, but the sun is working its way out as the day goes on. The icebergs are all sizes and colors, from dirty brown to the whitest white, with blue and turquoise hues. You have a hard time taking your eyes off the scenery. The background (land) is jagged peaks, mostly snow and glacier covered, but with some sharp rock outcroppings here and there. Many large glacier fields are flowing to the waters edge, feeding their icebergs into the bay.
-- Just took a break; while typing this saw a ship-sized iceberg outside our cabin window that the captain was skillfully maneuvering us around, so had to rush out on deck and take 100 more photographs. Back up on the bridge for more viewing, including two crabeater seals (which actually don’t eat crabs, they eat krill) lounging on a small iceberg. The captain maneuvered his ship right alongside them, approaching slow enough such that the seals didn’t even bother moving away. In between the whales and the seals, he is also skillfully maneuvering through everything from slush ice fields and numerous icebergs that are car-sized and house-sized. The ship seems like it can turn on a dime - such a treat to watch and take it all in!
Sat pm - Kayaking around Cuverville Island - WOW! Picture a flat calm, sunny day, temps in mid-40’s, light wind. What better day to go kayaking around a large penguin colony, plus navigate your way through icebergs. An amazing day of kayaking. Words can not describe the sights of the large penguin colony, many ‘way up high on the rocks (penguins can only lay eggs on land, not snow), nor can words capture the smell of penguin poo nor can they capture the sounds of many penguins and their noises. Kayaking around icebergs of all sizes, from coke bottle size to house size. The colors - those blues that only can be seen here in Antarctica, the subsurface portions, simply amazing. Question - what happens when a kayak hits an iceberg bigger than itself - it’s like hitting a rock - the berg doesn’t budge.
Besides dodging icebergs, our penguin watching/photographing consisted of paddling close to shore, observing the penguins ashore, sitting on the rocks, thinking about jumping into the water (the penguins, not us), and otherwise baying at us and each other (the penguins, not us). We also had fun watching/photographing penguins ‘dolphininig’ all around us, as in swimming by us, jumping out of the water in herds, and generally making us swivel our heads in too many directions at once, trying to take it all in.
Calving glaciers and gunshots - while circumnavigating the island, we heard gunshots on the far side. The noise is glaciers, either pressure ridges, or pieces breaking off (calving). We all happened to be kayaking next to a huge piece of a glacier that calved off. Just spectacular to see it/hear it roar. Fortunately, it was bounded by land between it and us, otherwise we would have been in big trouble with the pressure wave/tidal wave. See our earlier description (above) of the ship navigating around icebergs in Wilhelmina Bay - that’s exactly what us kayakers were doing this afternoon, pushing icebergs all around us. At several points in the trip we had to go single file, following our guide, as he snaked our way through the ice fields. At one point, the ice closed in and we temporarily lost the last half of the kayakers - ice had blown in and blocked their passage.
Tonight the ship is anchored at Cuverville Island. Many passengers are doing the overnight camping option ashore tonight. They left after dinner, about 9:30 pm, and will return before breakfast tomorrow at 7:30 am. They sleep in tents, but can’t pee on the mainland, so while it’s nice to say you camped in Antarctica, it’s not like a campfire gathering that we all know!.
Jan 26 - Australia Day - the dozen Aussies onboard are celebrating their holiday today, the anniversary of the first prisoner ship landing in Australia from England. There’s also an alternative version: it’s the day the country became federated, but most of the Aussies don’t care, other than it’s a day off and a chance to drink and celebrate.
Tomorrow - two more landings, more of the same as today, although it will be very hard to beat the excellent kayaking trip today. We’re running out of adjectives to describe this place!
Bridge Report: 0700, Sunday, 27 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 10 kts, NW
Temp: 2ºC Sunrise: 0418 Sunset: 2224
Lat: 64º47.9’ S Lon: 067º36.5’ W
Sun - 1/27/13: Awoke about 6 am, as many of last night’s campers came back on board looking for warmth, hot coffee, breakfast, and a place to pee, perhaps in reverse order. Some thought it was fascinating, some were miserable - a not unexpected spectrum of opinions. This morning we’re off Danco Island, a small island literally a stone’s throw from mainland Antarctica. There’s a large (1,600 mating pairs) Gentoo penguin colony scattered on the hill. I went ashore to climb the hill and get an up close and personal look at penguins and their chicks & eggs. As we pulled away from the ship in the zodiac heading for Danco Island, a radio message is heard over the zodiac driver’s walkie-talkie that asks another empty zodiac to please move the icebergs away from the gangway so other passengers can disembark the ship. It’s that kind of day, lots of blowing icebergs being pushed this way and that by the wind, a little snow in the air too.
The hike up the hill was on a path that consisted of various modes of: slush, water, soft snow (where your feet break through the 1 ft thick snow), frozen snow (where you ‘skate along the top if it’), or some variation thereof, and rocks & stones. After huffing and puffing my way to the top I was appalled to read later that the hill is only 600 ft in elevation, but the description I read did say it was a steep climb, so I feel a little better.
There were several patches of exposed rock at various elevations on the hill, which is where the penguins were hatching their young. Penguins do need this exposed rock to build their rock nests, and only 2% of Antarctica has exposed rock, even in the summer! Hence, the crowded colonies. Saw many families of young chick and mom & dad, some with a 2nd egg that won’t hatch this late in the season. Atop the hill there was a large colony of nesting penguins, and while getting there we crossed several ‘penguin highways.’ These are well-worn penguin walking paths that go straight up/down the hill and the penguins use them for going down to the sea and back up. They’re been worn down into 1 foot deep ruts by the 1,000‘s of penguins who traverse the route up and down to/from the sea to/from their nests. At several points along the trail there were ship’s expedition personnel acting as ‘traffic cops’ to hold the passenger traffic along the walking trail while the penguins had the right of way up or down their highway that intersected the path.
Back down at the bottom of the hill and at the shoreline there were zodiacs waiting to take people either cruising or back to the ship. Having been spoiled by yesterday’s absolutely fabulous weather and kayaking, I went back to the ship. Getting the zodiacs away from the shore was a challenge, since the wind had blown icebergs of all sizes into the shore. The zodiac driver literally had to kick the icebergs away from the outboard motor in order to lower the motor and then she had a hard time navigating a clear path. There’s a big ‘bump’ noise as a zodiac runs over an iceberg, then a ‘crunch’ noise as the propellor shaft hits the berg. They say many propellors are lost to ice down here.
A word about ice. The ice is the most obvious element of this continent. The stuff floating around in the water with us is of all sizes, from cocktail ice cubes to bergs big enough to land a plane on. It has all been carved into fantastical shapes by the wind and the sun. If you bump into a piece that looks like you should easily push aside, you are surprised by how dense, hard, and immovable it is. Often you get bounced off of a piece of ice you thought you would just run over. Mostly the ice is white, but sometimes you find ice that is perfectly clear. In fact, this clear ice looks black in the right light. One guide claims the clear ice is water that has melted from the glacier and has refrozen in cracks and pools. It has less entrained air than ice made from compressed snow, and so is not white, but clear. Sometimes the clear ice also has a very dimpled or scaly surface, kinda like dragon skin. She had no explanation for the dimpling. Some little bergs look like mushrooms because the sea water erodes the sides of the berg faster than the top melts in the sun. Others are still the great blocks that fell from the glacier. A berg will often roll over as the melting makes it unstable. The guides don’t let us get too close to anything they think might roll over on us. This turning and rolling produces mostly random shapes to the bergs. If you let you imagination loose, many real and fantastical things appear. Today we saw the Lock Ness Monster, a modern museum building, a winged-cat, and several other recognizable shapes. And finally, some bergs emit an unearthly blue light. This is a blue found nowhere else in nature. Sometimes it is a very intense blue light. It’s as if a bunch of low-rider car crazies snuck in and put blue neon bulbs around the base of the icebergs. I have a few pictures to prove this.
In the afternoon we’ll be in Neko Harbor, part of the mainland of the Antarctic continent. It’s the only time we’ll be ‘on the main continent’ (although all these islands are part of the same rock outcrop) so we opted out of the afternoon kayaking in order to go ashore and have our pic’s taken kissing the ground. Scratch another continent off the list!
Snow - in Antarctica! - Who would have thought it would snow here, but this afternoon it is. While ashore for ~ 2 hrs ‘on the continent’ it probably snowed a 1/4 inch, light and fluffy, which may represent about 10% of Antarctica’s annual precipitation! Many of the Expedition staff were greeting the incoming zodiacs and asking if this was #7, which apparently it is for many passengers. Besides snow, weather overcast, temp’s ~ 4 C. Got many nice ‘up close & personal’ pic’s of the penguin colony. Many of the rock nests had two live chicks, one had a 3rd live chick. Fun to watch the penguins - males being sent out for rocks for the mother’s ‘nest,’ some males just stole rocks from surrounding nests, some went up to 10 yards away, some came back without and ‘faked it’ by pretending to drop a rock. (Parental advisory for next sentence) We also got to watch penguins ‘hurling’ as in upchucking whitish/pinkish vomit, not sure if it was intended for the chicks or what its purpose was, but the nests seemed to have ‘hurl tracks’ around the compass points of each nest.
Bridge Report: 0700, Monday, 28 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 10 kts, N
Temp: 2ºC Sunrise: 0422 Sunset: 2223
Lat: 64º50.5’ S Lon: 062º54.7’ W
Monday - 1/28/13: Paradise Harbor in the morning and Port Lockroy in the afternoon. The ship is settled into its routine. Arrive at a place in the morning, ~ 3 hr shore excursion or kayaking, then back onboard for lunch, then move a little ways down the Antarctic Peninsula for another shore excursion/kayak trip in the afternoon.
Paradise Harbor was named by whaling ships who found refuge in its calm waters. At the moment (8:45 am) it’s lightly snowing, overcast skies, calm wind, 3 C. Kevin, our kayak leader says: ‘dress warm this morning, and bring a hood!. Hmmm.
Kayaking in Paradise Harbor was paradise! Flat calm seas, it snowed all morning, but only accumulated about a 1/2 inch on the kayaks and us - nice light, wet, fluffy stuff, which adds to the quiet. Many small icebergs and lots of brash ice - everything from ice cube size to kayak size = brash ice, which the wind collects in areas, making for a ‘crunchy’ kayak paddle. As we paddled we also heard numerous gunshot and thunder-type sounds from glacier pressure ridges and glaciers calving off into the sea. Followed several humpback whales, but the whales always seemed to win the contest - they are a lot faster! The highlight was coming upon a large (bigger than our kayaks in length, and certainly fatter) leopard seal, lounging around atop a flat iceberg that was 4 feet off the surface. We all quietly kayaked close to him/her, and sat and watched for 20 minutes as he/she rolled around, assumed various poses - sort of like a circus seal show.
Monday - 1/28/13 (pm): More kayaking in the afternoon around Port Lockroy, a restored British research station, with an active gift shop (no kidding), a post office, and a Gentoo penguin colony that you literally have to step over on your way to the research station. If you mail a letter maybe it’ll arrive 8 months later. The mail goes by way of the Falklands, then over to England, then off to its final destination. Kayaking was not nearly as exciting as in the morning. We did have more snow, but very little icebergs in the water - mostly ice-free waters surrounded by large mountains shrouded in mist and low hanging clouds. Everywhere we paddled there were glaciers coming right down to the waters edge - not a landing area in sight!
There is a documentary movie called “Australis” whereby 3 extreme backcountry downhill skiers come to Antarctica to hike up these peaks and ski down, all the while making great ski movies. The kayak guides were telling us that this is the area where they filmed the movie. The onboard MD, Dr. Raymond, was telling us that he’s seen the motorized sail boat (the Australis) that they used to get to/from Antarctica (hence the name of the movie) here and there while he’s been down here on these cruises.
We just happened to strike up a conversation with the Dr. while sitting in the bar/lounge. One neat feature of these cruises is that the staff eats meals with the passengers, hangs out with the passengers, and you can really get to know them and their interests, and they yours. Breakfast, lunch and dinner there is usually at least one staff member who sits at our table and just chats about the day, the weather, their work, whatever. Most staff have multiple jobs - the reception clerk runs one of the zodiacs, the kayak guide not needed for the afternoon kayaking will be helping the passengers on/off the zodiac at that day’s landing site, the geologist will be marking the trails to keep you away from getting too close to the penguin nests, etc. Everyone of the staff runs a zodiac - that’s kind of a prerequisite to getting a job on board.
The Port Lockroy research station is being restored, and the gift shop sales support that effort, as well as the mailing of postcards from there, so you can say you received mail from Antarctica. It’s a tiny little house on an island, and we can’t imagine anyone overwintering there, like they used to. Even now, the station is ‘manned’ by a man and a woman, only there during the summer cruising season. They have no running water, if they want fresh water they melt ice, and they have limited food to eat. The Ocean Diamond/ Quark staff brought the Port Lockroy couple onboard tonight, while we’re anchored here, so they could get a shower and have a proper hot meal. Many of the other visiting cruise ships do likewise, if they are staying in the area like we are.
The Gentoo penguins have build their nests all around the little house. The house is built on a pile of rocks, so there’s space under parts of the house for penguins to nest, as well as out in the side yard, and so on. To approach/go into the house (gift shop & museum), you are almost stepping on the nests. We saw many big, healthy chicks being tended to by their parents, many mothers with two chicks. Unfortunately we also saw a few nests with an unhatched egg (probably too late in the season for the chick to grow/survive) and someone saw an egg that had rolled out of a nest, with three or so penguins trying to decide what to do about it. It’s a hard, cruel life here.
Bridge Report: 0700, Tuesday, 29 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 15 kts, SE
Temp: 1ºC Sunrise: 0427 Sunset: 2316
Lat: 64º59.1’ S Lon: 063º46.5’ W
Tuesday - 1/29/13: Last full day in Antarctica before we have to head north tomorrow and back to Ushuaia across the Drake Passage. Today, before breakfast we cruised through the Lemaire Channel, a narrow, ice-filled channel with towering rocky peaks on both sides - channel goes between an island and mainland Antarctica. Spectacular scenery, and once again, we’re amazed at how close to each big iceberg the ship gets. Water depths through the channel were 70-90 meters, so plenty of depth, but as we scraped by each berg you could see the blue/turquoise ice beneath the water surface and that looked to be only several feet off the hull. Lemaire Channel is called the “Kodak Channel” because it’s so photogenic. First stop is at Pleneau Island, or, iceberg gallery, where many large (ship size and much bigger) icebergs (a few of the tabular variety) ground and get stuck. Later today we’ll cruise to Peterman Island, home to two large penguin colonies, one Gentoo (2,000 breeding pairs), and Adelies (500 breeding pairs).
Stormy Tuesday - Morning kayaking was an adventure to say the least. Fourteen of us piled into one zodiac, with a mix of single and double kayaks trailing behind, per usual. Once away from the Ocean Diamond, we headed for calm waters. Only problem was, there was no calm water. Found out later that winds were a steady 35 knots, with gusts to 50 knots. While motoring along in the zodiac searching for calmer waters to load all of us into the kayaks, several kayaks flipped behind the zodiac. We righted them and finally found calm enough waters to begin the process of getting everyone off the zodiac and into their kayaks. A sign of things to come!
Those of us that got in first were immediately blown down the bay, some blown up against small icebergs, some of us found safe refuge in small inlets next to the numerous Gentoo penguin colonies on the rocky shores. Once everyone was in their kayaks, our usual process is to follow the leader along a kayaking path. However, as soon as we started to turn and follow the leader, first one single, then a second single flipped, and a wet exit was in process for those two. The two kayak leaders, plus the trailing zodiac, were immediately on the scene helping the poor wet folks. We were all impressed by the professionalism and quickness of the kayak leaders in this recovery process. Fortunately, it was shallow water - one person could stand as water was only up to his waist, another actually hit his head on a rock as he was overturning, and his glasses scraped his face, so he gets a souvenir mark on his face. Fortunately no one was injured, but that curtailed this morning’s kayaking. Many of us had beached our kayaks up on the rocky shore, so we were fine. We got some great penguin pic’s while standing there on the shore taking in all the action. We all piled into the zodiac for the spray-filled ride back to the Ocean Diamond, leaving the kayaks behind for a return trip pickup by the kayak leaders. Someone else pointed out that the waters we tried to kayak in this morning were the start of the notorious Drake Passage, so we all agreed that we could say that we kayaked the Drake! That’s our story and we’re sticking with it!
Stormy Tuesday (cont.) - Afternoon kayaking was not as dramatic as this morning. It was more like kayaking the rock-bound coast of Maine with waves crashing and breaking against the shoreline (due to only 25 knot winds), and a little freezing rain/sleet falling throughout the afternoon to make visibility difficult. We all agreed, today was Antarctica as it should be! Kayaking around Peterman Island truly was just kayaking - not much ice, only several large bergs, and the main objective was to avoid being blown onto the nearshore rocks by the strong winds. After kayaking for several hours, we all hopped into the zodiac and went ashore to see the Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies. Penguins were everywhere, nesting with almost grown chicks as well as penguins walking along the same paths we were using to go see the penguins. The Adelie are true Antarctic penguins and this was one of their northernmost breeding areas, even though we are still several degrees north of the Antarctic Circle (60 degree latitude).
As this was our final kayaking, the kayak leaders encouraged us to keep all our gear on (personal floatation devices (PDFs), spray skirts, booties, dry suits) and take a shower fully dressed to rinse all the saltwater off the gear before we have to return it tomorrow. We hung all of those things out in the hallway to drip dry. The hallways are starting to look like a drying room - there’s gloves, hats, the standard Quark yellow Expedition Parkas, etc., all strung along the handrails on each deck, in addition to our kayak gear. I’m sure the cabin attendants aren’t happy about this, or maybe they are, vs. the alternative of stuffing all the wet stuff back into the room closets. This is definitely an expedition, not your standard large ship cruise line!
Back on board the Ocean Diamond, the bar/lounge was more full than usual - I guess the last night in Antarctica brings out the people to celebrate. We also had some great lectures and the results of the “Mad Hat Contest” from the previous evening, plus a plea to load your photos onto the ship’s computers so they can make the ‘trip DVD‘ to give everyone a copy. Passengers are also encouraged to grab a copy of any photo there. The kayak crowd has a special kayak folder so we can load our shared photos there for everyone to grab a copy - what a wonderful idea. As everyone says, this is an EXPEDITION, not a cruise.
At dinner Dr. Raymond was going around from table to table shouting out “drugs, who needs drugs,” since we’re starting back into the 2-day Drake Passage and things will get rocking and rolling again. Down at the bar, we watched as the bartender put the steel retaining bar up along the row of liquor bottles - don’t want that stuff crashing down, and I’m sure the stairways will once again be populated by airline-type motion sickness bags. Gotta go get pictures of all that!
Bridge Report: 0700, Wednesday, 30 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 30 kts, WNW
Temp: 1ºC Sunrise: 0426 Sunset: 2232
Lat: 62º42.0’ S Lon: 063º59.7’ W
Wednesday - 1/30/13: Last night we left Antarctica about midnight and headed back to Ushuaia across the Drake Passage. Overnight, the ship was noticeably rolling. I was up on the navigation bridge before breakfast, and the crew and Expedition Leader, Woody, were talking about fact that last night we caught the tail end of a passing storm, and today there’s another headed in our direction. Throughout the morning, the seas appear to be in the 10-15 foot range, overcast, temps = 0 C. The ship is really rolling, people are walking around like penguins, meandering from side to side (some would say they’re walking around like drunks!). The day is filled with onboard lectures - Mark the ornithologist gave a talk on Albatrosses, Diane, the historian, gave a talk on who owns Antarctica? (Ans: there are old claims dating back to the late 1800s by 6-7 nations, but the Antarctic Treaty, negotiated in the Eisenhower administration, essentially says no one; it’s a shared land for scientific research only.) Later today there are talks on photo techniques, and the “Expert-in-Residence,” Lorne, will talk on ‘Tourism on Ice.’ In the evening there’s more: Norm, the geologist/glaciologist, will talk about the Southern Ocean. Between the talks and eating, it sure is hard to get a nap in on this trip!
Thursday - 1/31/13: The last day of January, and the last day of this wonderful expedition. Today we have one more day of cruising through the rough Drake Passage before we come into Ushuaia tomorrow (Fri) am, and we all get tossed off the ship so they can reload with another set of passengers and head back to Antarctica for another trip - how sad for us!
We’ve had e-mail/internet troubles last few days onboard the ship. We tried to send a long e-mail yesterday, but we don’t think it went, so we are hopeful that when we land at Ushuaia we can send this and any other e-mails (maybe even a few pic’s).
One of yesterday’s talks by Lorne, a Professor from U. Tasmania who has studied impacts of tourism on Antarctica, was fascinating. We are loving this place to death - there are now approx. 30,000 - 40,000 tourists/year who visit the 7th continent. Most come via ship via the Ushuaia gateway (90+ % come this way), with the rest either long ship voyages out of Australia/New Zealand, or 1-day Qantas overflights out of Australia ($700). In the early days of tourism (early 1990s), there were only 6-7 tour companies, now there are over 90. Most visits (98%) are to the exact same places we’ve visited - along the Antarctic Peninsula, and most tours hit the same 20-60 places, either because they are ice-free enough to get a ship in there, or they offer unique scenery, e.g., research stations, penguin colonies, etc. Most tourists are from the US (30%), next most are Europeans (Germans, UK, etc.). Our Aussie kayak friends point out that even though Australia is only 3% of the visitors, on a % of the Australian population, many Australians are big travelers, so much so that when they are on holiday they wonder if anyone is left back home.
On this particular trip, 100 of the 170 passengers are Japanese. The next two Quark cruises are totally booked by Chinese tour companies. So, you can begin to se where the next wave of eco-tourists are coming from - a sign of changing economic influence in the world as well.
Last night, the ship held a charity auction to raise money for penguin research. Bidding was fierce; they raised $4800! They auctioned off things like: a chance to give the ‘wake up call’ speech on the ship’s intercom (a half hr before breakfast, there’s a general announcement from the ship’s bridge), a chance to pilot the ship for 15 minutes today while in the Drake, a hand knitted wool hat with penguin designs (made by one of the kayak leaders), original paintings (also by another kayak leader), the ship’s flag (autographed by the captain and all the crew), and other such items. Good fun and a good cause.
As we type this (Thurs, 10 am), we are experiencing the wrath of the Drake Passage. We just returned from picture taking on the navigation bridge, where large waves are periodically breaking over the bow and the spray is blowing up against the navigation bridge windows on deck 6. Navigation bridge windshield wipers are going all the time now. The seas are in a confused state - local wind waves atop swells. Winds were just measured by the bridge mate’s hand held anemometer at 50 - 55 knots, seas are 6 - 7 meters (20 - 24 ft) high, and the outside decks are closed to passengers - they apparently don’t want any passengers blown overboard. Looking out from the bridge you can sea waves tops being blown off by the wind, and whitecaps and sea spray everywhere. What a fantastic scene! Most everyone on board is handling it pretty well - the good Dr. Raymond has done his job and dispensed pills, patches, wrist bands and all manner of seasickness controls to the passengers.
Some people have asked about the other shore/excursion activities on this trip, since we’ve been so kayak-centric in our daily descriptions of life on this trip. Others have asked if we do anything else between Antarctica and Ushuaia other than ride the Drake Passage. For starters, the Drake Passage is 2 full days down, 2 full days back. Just a straight shot between the tip of Argentina (Ushuaia) to the Antarctic. The Quark expedition team fills those 2 days with mandatory briefings on the way south (see previous notes) and on this north bound sail they fill it with lectures. Already this morning we heard about their Arctic expeditions and we’ll soon have a climate change lecture, plus a few kayak photo sessions and group lunch. Oh, and there’s lots of rock & roll, as in the ship is really rolling about. They have this saying onboard - one hand for you, one for the ship - meaning, it’s hard enough to walk, but be sure you have one free hand to hold the ship’s handrails or other bolted down objects as you move about so you won’t go spinning and flying away.
We spent 4 1/2 days in Antarctica. The 1st day here (Fri) we did an afternoon kayaking trip in the sunken volcano crater of Deception Island. If we weren’t kayaking, the standard ship’s shore offerings each day are: a morning shore visit and/or cruise in a zodiac for 2-4 hrs, then back onboard for lunch, then repeat in the afternoon. Most of the passenger do just that - only 1 Japanese guy is kayaking with us, for instance, all of the 99 other Japanese just do the standard zodiac cruise/shore excursion, as do many of the non-Japanese onboard.
Each shore excursion/zodiac cruise works like this: You put on your Quark Expedition Parka (because it’s warm, but more importantly because it’s waterproof). You also have on waterproof outer pants, gloves, and the waterproof boots loaned to you by Quark. Each zodiac holds about 10 passengers, five on each side. You board the zodiac and it either takes you to a shore landing site (historic research station, penguin colony, etc.) or the zodiac just takes off on a 1 - 1 1/2 hr cruise around the area. The Ocean Diamond either drops anchor or maneuvers, if ice is present (so it won’t get blocked in by ice). Sometime in the middle of that 3-4 hr block of time the zodiac cruisers land, and swap places with the passengers who were put ashore to wander around. The shore passengers then go on their zodiac cruise and so on. At any one landing only 100 people can be on land at any one time, so the Expedition Leader, Woody, is on land keeping count of who’s where and directing the zodiac traffic. (Some sensitive places only permit 50 people ashore at any one time.) If you’re a kayaker, you have the option to go kayaking or to join the shore excursion. (Kayaker’s mantra - ALWAYS kayak!)
Our days in Antarctic are recapped as follows:
•Fri (1/25) - afternoon at Deception Island volcano (both kayaking and shore excursion possible)
•Sat (1/26) - morning ship’s cruise throughout the large Wilhelmina Bay - no kayaking, no shore excursion
•Sun (1/27) - morning kayaking and/or shore excursion to Danco Island, afternoon kayaking and/or shore excursion off Cuverville
•Mon (1/28) - morning kayaking and/or shore excursion in Paradise Harbor, afternoon kayaking and/or shore excursion to Port Lockroy
•Tues (1/29) - morning kayaking and/or shore excursion at Pleneau Island, afternoon kayaking and/or shore excursion off Peterman Island
So, we had 8 possible zodiac shore landings/cruises and 8 possible kayaking trips, and Quark made them all - none were cancelled. (I’ve heard of some cruises down here where they were successful only only 3/4 of their possible zodiac trips, either due to weather, ice, or they missed their ‘time slot’ - ship’s sign up to visit places a year in advance.)
Other advertised shore excursions on this trip were cross county skiing, mountaineering, and the one-time overnight camping. Both skiing and mountaineering were cancelled before the trip started, as reported earlier, due to poor snow conditions (too many crevices, unstable or insufficient snow, i.e., cancelled for safety reasons). So there were 17 kayakers (10% of the ship’s passengers) and the other 90% did the standard two a day zodiac cruising and/or shore landings. I am not unhappy that the skiing was cancelled (even though it was the prime reason we selected this particular cruise), since I had such a good adventure kayaking and our little group bonded very well. The cross country skiing was also going to be more extreme that I anticipated - use ‘skins’ to climb up the hills, use telemark skis, etc.
Travelers - many of the english-speaking travelers that we’ve talked to on this trip (plus many of the Expedition Staff that are rotating off after this cruise) are not going ‘straight home’ like we are. They are trekking through Patagonia, exploring Buenos Aires or Santiago, Chile, or going throughout South America AND then on to the states for more travel. Example - Shane, one of the more experienced Expedition Leaders who lives in Toronto, is going to San Francisco to visit friends, then snow camping in Yosemite, then motorcycling up and down the California coast, then going back to Toronto. Next year, he plans to ride his motorcycle from his home in Toronto down to Ushuaia when he picks up his next guiding job on the ship. Catherine, one of the kayakers who lives in Nova Scotia now (formerly lived in New England), is going to 3 places in Argentina, then a few weeks in Florida, then home (she’s unemployed, but not concerned). Longli, a young Chinese girl from Melbourne, Australia, is going all around South America, stopping in Rio for the carnival, then back to her new lawyer job in Sydney. This kind of trip definitely attracts a different kind of traveler.
Thurs 7 pm - We’re essentially ‘home,’ in Ushuaia’s Beagle Channel. Seas have calmed considerably from earlier in the day, especially once we ‘rounded Cape Horn - out of harm’s way! We’ll anchor here overnight, then early in the am the harbor pilot will come aboard and steer us to the dock, where we’ll all disembark and scatter to the corners of the world. This afternoon was one of packing, showering for the long ride home tomorrow, sharing pictures and lunch with the kayakers, sharing memories in the bar/lounge with everyone on board, saying goodbyes, having a captain’s farewell cocktail reception (real martinis', unlike the large cruise ships with their cheap champagne), seeing the passenger’s pictures that were selected for the trip DVD that we’ll all get, seeing the photo contest winners (some really good photographers and/or lucky shots). Whew, that was a looong sentence, but this afternoon was one of sharing e-mails with fellow passengers so we can stay in touch, swap photos, and generally begin to come down from this tremendous high that we’ve been on for the past week or so.
Tomorrow in Ushuaia, We'll attempt to send one or two e-mails to complete this trip log, since we failed to connect to the outside world over the past two days traversing the Drake.
Note from Ushuaia - the southernmost city on the world. We’ve back on land at the Hotel Albatross, using their WiFi to read/send e-mails and otherwise begin to reconnect with the world.
Recently back -- trip report
in Antarctica
Posted
Trip notes from recent Quark cruise:
We showered in the Drake Passage - Actually, while passing through the rocking & rolling Drake Passage yesterday, we both managed to take showers without killing ourselves. Yesterday (Thurs - 1/24/13) was first full day in the “Drake,” and it finally started to live up to its reputation as the world’s roughest seas. Last night, the seas really kicked up about dinner time. There were wine glasses sliding across the tables at dinner, and a wave or two would wash over the portholes in the dining deck (Deck 3). Last night in the mostly deserted bar/lounge, large chairs were sliding around the wood floor. Winds were about 60 knots, seas were about 10 feet waves (with a few bigger ones here & there), and it was chilly - about 3 degrees C.
We’ve asked the expedition staff if this is rough and one answer was: it’s rough when you get tossed out of bed and wake up sleeping on the floor. Another answer was: It’s rough when they cancel breakfast, lunch AND dinner. As a person who’s cruised a half dozen times on large ‘regulation size’ cruise ships, the motion on this ship exceeds anything I’ve ever experienced, but you get used to it. Daily notes from past several days follow.
Wed - 1/23/13: We left Ushuaia in the evening, and after dinner we started the first of many mandatory meetings. We were being issued our nice ‘Quark Expedition’ parkas, and when we were leaving the area we asked to speak to someone about the cross country skiing, because all of the Expedition Staff were introduced at a previous ‘meet & greet’ and there were no ski leaders introduced. We were told that the skiing was cancelled (as was the Mountaineering), and we should have been notified about that a month or so ago. Too many crevices in both cases, i.e., snow is melting, and it’s too dangerous to do either. Several of the skiers and mountaineers went to the front desk to complain, and asked if we could be switched into the sea kayaking (a much more expensive option, but we figured it was a good 2nd choice). Well, the onboard staff had to e-mail the ‘home office’ and ask about this, so we awaited their answer.
Wed evening meetings also introduced the Expedition Staff (the kayak leaders, the ornithologists, the geologists, the historian, the zodiac drivers, etc.), as well as key crew and hospitality staff. There are about 100 Japanese out of the 170 passengers, so many meetings are longer due to translations. There is a MD onboard, Raymond, an ER Dr. from Louisville, KY, and he is the most down to earth guy ever - “If you need my services, call and I’ll come to you, it’s free.” He asked if there were other medical people on board as passengers - one of the kayakers is also a female ER Dr. from Washington, DC, another kayaker is an Italian from Genoa doing her surgery residency, a 3rd kayaker is a retired Army Colonel, who is also a Dr., so we’re OK medically-wise. Took our 1st ever Dramamine pills at the recommendation of Dr. Raymond, who we met in the ship’s lounge late at night. He said it would make his night easier if everyone took them.
Bridge Report: 0700, Thursday, 24 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 30 kts, SW
Temp: 6ºC Sunrise: 0520 Sunset: 2140
178 Miles from Ushuaia
Lat: 56º45’ S Lon: 065º02’ W
Thurs - 1/24/13: Attended sea kayaking briefings in hopes of working out an equitable settlement anyway. Quark came through with a good customer relations answer, which was that we could all switch into the sea kayaking option for no extra charge and they were sorry we weren’t notified ahead of time. The sea kayakers get their own zodiac and own ship departures vs. the many regular passengers queuing up to go zodiacing ashore or cruising around.
The sea kayaking will be challenging. We were all issued full dry suits (to protect us if we fall in or flip), skirts (to keep water out of the kayak), and special boots, life vests (Personal Floatation Devices, PFDs), and dry bags to hold cameras, spare clothes, sunscreen, etc., that are ‘bungied’ atop the kayaks. The kayak group (17 of us) 1st boards a zodiac to leave the ship, kayaks are trailed along behind (both single and doubles), and we then find a good spot to get into the kayaks from the zodiacs, paddle around among the whales, icebergs, penguins, and/or also go ashore. We had a group interview session yesterday afternoon, to find out everyone’s skill level, and many are very experienced sea kayakers, but some are novices.
Other mandatory briefings and/or events while crossing the windy, gray, wavy Drake Passage:
• Life boat drill
• Boarding the zodiac briefing
• Getting a pair of ‘wellies’ (boots) to use ashore
• International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) mandatory briefing on protecting the Antarctic (can’t go ashore unless you sign the pledge), including how to ‘decontaminate’ your boots after coming back onboard
• Bio-gear check and vacuuming (bring all outer wear/backpacks, etc.) to stations around the ship, to have any dirt, seeds from other places, etc., cleaned off the gear, so as not to contaminate Antarctica
• And a few others I’ve forgotten already
Lectures on oceanography, including crossing the Antarctic Convergence (approx. at 60 degrees south latitude, the start of colder Antarctic waters, and the ‘real Antarctic’), lectures on sea birds - they do keep us busy, hardly time for a nap at all. The navigation bridge is open often, unlike large cruise ships, and the staff there enjoy your company, answer your questions, explain everything - a real treat and a great view!
Bridge Report: 0700, Friday, 25 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 35 kts, SW
Temp: 1ºC Sunrise: 0421 Sunset: 2154
496 Miles from Ushuaia
Lat: 61º34’ S Lon: 060º42’ W
Fri - 1/25/13: Awoke to ship’s announcement that included this: ... and there’s our 1st iceberg off the starboard bow. Soon thereafter, we stopped gawking at the many small icebergs (smaller than small buildings, that is) off the ship because they became commonplace.
Today’s morning schedule:
• 8:30 am kayak safety briefing
• 9:15 Penguin lecture
• 10:15 History of the Antarctic lecture
• 11:15 Geology lecture
However, we’ll have to miss the geology lecture because we have another kayak briefing at 11, this one on practicing how to get in/out of a kayak off a zodiac, out on the stern deck. The South Georgia Islands are coming into view - snowy mountains off in the distance, but our 1st landing site - Half Moon Island, and 1st kayaking this afternoon.
An update after kayak practice: We’re not stopping at Half Moon Island, we’re on to Deception Island instead, an old volcano. They say to be flexible on these trips.
As we cruise along the South Georgia Islands, all along starboard side are snow covered islands with jagged peaks, glaciers, huge snow fields, and many small icebergs in the water. After taking 18 photos, just panoramic views from bow to stern, I stopped taking pictures - there’s just too much to take it all in! We haven’t had an announcement yet as to a kayak time, but 1st lunch, then hopefully we’ll know. There’s also talk that later this afternoon there may be the one opportunity for the “Polar Plunge.” We’re advised to wear our swim suits under our kayak kit (dry suit, skirt, PFD, etc.,) so we can strip down after the kayaking and join in with the rest of the ship’s crazies.
Internet onboard is slow, expensive, and bandwidth limited. We will probably not be able to send any photos back while on the ship, just text e-mails.
Fri - 1/25/13, pm: Our ship, the Ocean Diamond, cruised into Deception Island’s sunken volcano caldron, and cruised around its sights before dropping anchor. This is still an active volcano, sort of. We could see steam rising around the shoreline at certain points. It was a bright sunny day, calm winds inside the volcano/bay, temps about 5 C. We saw two other smaller cruise ships like ours, the National Geographic Lindblad (sp?) ship, and another private cruise line. We also saw two summer-only research stations, one Spanish, one Argentinean, along the shore. They are doing seismic and meteorological research. We anchored off an old whaling station, still very well preserved.
First kayaking - how cool, inside a volcano off Antarctica. Transition into the kayaks off the zodiacs went well, and we paddled around in relatively shallow water. Shallow enough to see many white whale bones on the bottom of the bay. We saw several chinstrap penguins along the shore, plus a large seal.
The penguins weren’t part of any large colony, just several pairs ‘on holiday’ as the staff were saying (meaning that they were non-breeding pairs, so sad). We also kayaked past a small iceberg, maybe car size, but very neat to be able to get that close in a kayak. We ended up quite far away from the ship, maybe a mile or so, then the winds and waves kicked up, so we headed back into the wind and past the ship to the shore. Water was splashing over the kayak, but the splash skirts did their job, keeping water out of the kayak.
We went ashore by the old whaling station, had a chance to walk along the dirt shore with the few penguins there - snow covered hills were off in the distance. We saw at least one of the kayakers strip down and plunge in, a young guy from Seattle. He was glad he did it, but, boy, was he cold!
As I write this, it’s close to midnight, and it’s still a little light outside. The sun went down around 11 pm, and will be rising tomorrow at about 4 am.
Bridge Report: 0700, Saturday, 26 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 10 kts, NNE
Temp: 2ºC Sunrise: 0414 Sunset: 2226
Lat: 64º28.5’ S Lon: 061º54’ W
Sat - 1/26/13: Awoke to see many icebergs outside the window. We’re in Wilhelmina Bay, another island off the Antarctic Peninsula. This morning there will be no kayaking because the ship will be cruising throughout this large bay full of icebergs and marine life. Per our 8 am kayak briefing, we’ll do some kayaking in the afternoon, when we’re in Cuverville Island, a very large Gentoo penguin colony.
This morning we’ve seen Humpback and Minke whales and many icebergs of all sizes, from small trash can sized to large ones half the size of this ship. My favorites were a small iceberg with a pair of penguins that just went drifting by, and a much larger house-sized one with blue ice just below the surface extending well away from its sides. The ship is only going 3-4 knots, and it just pushes them aside as we snake through the fields of ice and open water.
The bridge has been open all morning, and the captain is pressed up close to the front bridge glass constantly looking out ahead of the ship, quietly relaying instructions to the helmsman behind him, one at the wheel (yes, they use a wheel), and one on the engine controls. They maneuver around the icebergs or follow whales. It’s a real treat to be on a ship with an open bridge policy. Having sailed on larger cruise ships, all bridges on most large ocean cruise lines are closed to passengers post-9/11.
The air temp is 5 C (41 F), the wind is calm, and the sea is flat calm. Early in the morning it was cloudy, but the sun is working its way out as the day goes on. The icebergs are all sizes and colors, from dirty brown to the whitest white, with blue and turquoise hues. You have a hard time taking your eyes off the scenery. The background (land) is jagged peaks, mostly snow and glacier covered, but with some sharp rock outcroppings here and there. Many large glacier fields are flowing to the waters edge, feeding their icebergs into the bay.
-- Just took a break; while typing this saw a ship-sized iceberg outside our cabin window that the captain was skillfully maneuvering us around, so had to rush out on deck and take 100 more photographs. Back up on the bridge for more viewing, including two crabeater seals (which actually don’t eat crabs, they eat krill) lounging on a small iceberg. The captain maneuvered his ship right alongside them, approaching slow enough such that the seals didn’t even bother moving away. In between the whales and the seals, he is also skillfully maneuvering through everything from slush ice fields and numerous icebergs that are car-sized and house-sized. The ship seems like it can turn on a dime - such a treat to watch and take it all in!
Sat pm - Kayaking around Cuverville Island - WOW! Picture a flat calm, sunny day, temps in mid-40’s, light wind. What better day to go kayaking around a large penguin colony, plus navigate your way through icebergs. An amazing day of kayaking. Words can not describe the sights of the large penguin colony, many ‘way up high on the rocks (penguins can only lay eggs on land, not snow), nor can words capture the smell of penguin poo nor can they capture the sounds of many penguins and their noises. Kayaking around icebergs of all sizes, from coke bottle size to house size. The colors - those blues that only can be seen here in Antarctica, the subsurface portions, simply amazing. Question - what happens when a kayak hits an iceberg bigger than itself - it’s like hitting a rock - the berg doesn’t budge.
Besides dodging icebergs, our penguin watching/photographing consisted of paddling close to shore, observing the penguins ashore, sitting on the rocks, thinking about jumping into the water (the penguins, not us), and otherwise baying at us and each other (the penguins, not us). We also had fun watching/photographing penguins ‘dolphininig’ all around us, as in swimming by us, jumping out of the water in herds, and generally making us swivel our heads in too many directions at once, trying to take it all in.
Calving glaciers and gunshots - while circumnavigating the island, we heard gunshots on the far side. The noise is glaciers, either pressure ridges, or pieces breaking off (calving). We all happened to be kayaking next to a huge piece of a glacier that calved off. Just spectacular to see it/hear it roar. Fortunately, it was bounded by land between it and us, otherwise we would have been in big trouble with the pressure wave/tidal wave. See our earlier description (above) of the ship navigating around icebergs in Wilhelmina Bay - that’s exactly what us kayakers were doing this afternoon, pushing icebergs all around us. At several points in the trip we had to go single file, following our guide, as he snaked our way through the ice fields. At one point, the ice closed in and we temporarily lost the last half of the kayakers - ice had blown in and blocked their passage.
Tonight the ship is anchored at Cuverville Island. Many passengers are doing the overnight camping option ashore tonight. They left after dinner, about 9:30 pm, and will return before breakfast tomorrow at 7:30 am. They sleep in tents, but can’t pee on the mainland, so while it’s nice to say you camped in Antarctica, it’s not like a campfire gathering that we all know!.
Jan 26 - Australia Day - the dozen Aussies onboard are celebrating their holiday today, the anniversary of the first prisoner ship landing in Australia from England. There’s also an alternative version: it’s the day the country became federated, but most of the Aussies don’t care, other than it’s a day off and a chance to drink and celebrate.
Tomorrow - two more landings, more of the same as today, although it will be very hard to beat the excellent kayaking trip today. We’re running out of adjectives to describe this place!
Bridge Report: 0700, Sunday, 27 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 10 kts, NW
Temp: 2ºC Sunrise: 0418 Sunset: 2224
Lat: 64º47.9’ S Lon: 067º36.5’ W
Sun - 1/27/13: Awoke about 6 am, as many of last night’s campers came back on board looking for warmth, hot coffee, breakfast, and a place to pee, perhaps in reverse order. Some thought it was fascinating, some were miserable - a not unexpected spectrum of opinions. This morning we’re off Danco Island, a small island literally a stone’s throw from mainland Antarctica. There’s a large (1,600 mating pairs) Gentoo penguin colony scattered on the hill. I went ashore to climb the hill and get an up close and personal look at penguins and their chicks & eggs. As we pulled away from the ship in the zodiac heading for Danco Island, a radio message is heard over the zodiac driver’s walkie-talkie that asks another empty zodiac to please move the icebergs away from the gangway so other passengers can disembark the ship. It’s that kind of day, lots of blowing icebergs being pushed this way and that by the wind, a little snow in the air too.
The hike up the hill was on a path that consisted of various modes of: slush, water, soft snow (where your feet break through the 1 ft thick snow), frozen snow (where you ‘skate along the top if it’), or some variation thereof, and rocks & stones. After huffing and puffing my way to the top I was appalled to read later that the hill is only 600 ft in elevation, but the description I read did say it was a steep climb, so I feel a little better.
There were several patches of exposed rock at various elevations on the hill, which is where the penguins were hatching their young. Penguins do need this exposed rock to build their rock nests, and only 2% of Antarctica has exposed rock, even in the summer! Hence, the crowded colonies. Saw many families of young chick and mom & dad, some with a 2nd egg that won’t hatch this late in the season. Atop the hill there was a large colony of nesting penguins, and while getting there we crossed several ‘penguin highways.’ These are well-worn penguin walking paths that go straight up/down the hill and the penguins use them for going down to the sea and back up. They’re been worn down into 1 foot deep ruts by the 1,000‘s of penguins who traverse the route up and down to/from the sea to/from their nests. At several points along the trail there were ship’s expedition personnel acting as ‘traffic cops’ to hold the passenger traffic along the walking trail while the penguins had the right of way up or down their highway that intersected the path.
Back down at the bottom of the hill and at the shoreline there were zodiacs waiting to take people either cruising or back to the ship. Having been spoiled by yesterday’s absolutely fabulous weather and kayaking, I went back to the ship. Getting the zodiacs away from the shore was a challenge, since the wind had blown icebergs of all sizes into the shore. The zodiac driver literally had to kick the icebergs away from the outboard motor in order to lower the motor and then she had a hard time navigating a clear path. There’s a big ‘bump’ noise as a zodiac runs over an iceberg, then a ‘crunch’ noise as the propellor shaft hits the berg. They say many propellors are lost to ice down here.
A word about ice. The ice is the most obvious element of this continent. The stuff floating around in the water with us is of all sizes, from cocktail ice cubes to bergs big enough to land a plane on. It has all been carved into fantastical shapes by the wind and the sun. If you bump into a piece that looks like you should easily push aside, you are surprised by how dense, hard, and immovable it is. Often you get bounced off of a piece of ice you thought you would just run over. Mostly the ice is white, but sometimes you find ice that is perfectly clear. In fact, this clear ice looks black in the right light. One guide claims the clear ice is water that has melted from the glacier and has refrozen in cracks and pools. It has less entrained air than ice made from compressed snow, and so is not white, but clear. Sometimes the clear ice also has a very dimpled or scaly surface, kinda like dragon skin. She had no explanation for the dimpling. Some little bergs look like mushrooms because the sea water erodes the sides of the berg faster than the top melts in the sun. Others are still the great blocks that fell from the glacier. A berg will often roll over as the melting makes it unstable. The guides don’t let us get too close to anything they think might roll over on us. This turning and rolling produces mostly random shapes to the bergs. If you let you imagination loose, many real and fantastical things appear. Today we saw the Lock Ness Monster, a modern museum building, a winged-cat, and several other recognizable shapes. And finally, some bergs emit an unearthly blue light. This is a blue found nowhere else in nature. Sometimes it is a very intense blue light. It’s as if a bunch of low-rider car crazies snuck in and put blue neon bulbs around the base of the icebergs. I have a few pictures to prove this.
In the afternoon we’ll be in Neko Harbor, part of the mainland of the Antarctic continent. It’s the only time we’ll be ‘on the main continent’ (although all these islands are part of the same rock outcrop) so we opted out of the afternoon kayaking in order to go ashore and have our pic’s taken kissing the ground. Scratch another continent off the list!
Snow - in Antarctica! - Who would have thought it would snow here, but this afternoon it is. While ashore for ~ 2 hrs ‘on the continent’ it probably snowed a 1/4 inch, light and fluffy, which may represent about 10% of Antarctica’s annual precipitation! Many of the Expedition staff were greeting the incoming zodiacs and asking if this was #7, which apparently it is for many passengers. Besides snow, weather overcast, temp’s ~ 4 C. Got many nice ‘up close & personal’ pic’s of the penguin colony. Many of the rock nests had two live chicks, one had a 3rd live chick. Fun to watch the penguins - males being sent out for rocks for the mother’s ‘nest,’ some males just stole rocks from surrounding nests, some went up to 10 yards away, some came back without and ‘faked it’ by pretending to drop a rock. (Parental advisory for next sentence) We also got to watch penguins ‘hurling’ as in upchucking whitish/pinkish vomit, not sure if it was intended for the chicks or what its purpose was, but the nests seemed to have ‘hurl tracks’ around the compass points of each nest.
Bridge Report: 0700, Monday, 28 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 10 kts, N
Temp: 2ºC Sunrise: 0422 Sunset: 2223
Lat: 64º50.5’ S Lon: 062º54.7’ W
Monday - 1/28/13: Paradise Harbor in the morning and Port Lockroy in the afternoon. The ship is settled into its routine. Arrive at a place in the morning, ~ 3 hr shore excursion or kayaking, then back onboard for lunch, then move a little ways down the Antarctic Peninsula for another shore excursion/kayak trip in the afternoon.
Paradise Harbor was named by whaling ships who found refuge in its calm waters. At the moment (8:45 am) it’s lightly snowing, overcast skies, calm wind, 3 C. Kevin, our kayak leader says: ‘dress warm this morning, and bring a hood!. Hmmm.
Kayaking in Paradise Harbor was paradise! Flat calm seas, it snowed all morning, but only accumulated about a 1/2 inch on the kayaks and us - nice light, wet, fluffy stuff, which adds to the quiet. Many small icebergs and lots of brash ice - everything from ice cube size to kayak size = brash ice, which the wind collects in areas, making for a ‘crunchy’ kayak paddle. As we paddled we also heard numerous gunshot and thunder-type sounds from glacier pressure ridges and glaciers calving off into the sea. Followed several humpback whales, but the whales always seemed to win the contest - they are a lot faster! The highlight was coming upon a large (bigger than our kayaks in length, and certainly fatter) leopard seal, lounging around atop a flat iceberg that was 4 feet off the surface. We all quietly kayaked close to him/her, and sat and watched for 20 minutes as he/she rolled around, assumed various poses - sort of like a circus seal show.
Monday - 1/28/13 (pm): More kayaking in the afternoon around Port Lockroy, a restored British research station, with an active gift shop (no kidding), a post office, and a Gentoo penguin colony that you literally have to step over on your way to the research station. If you mail a letter maybe it’ll arrive 8 months later. The mail goes by way of the Falklands, then over to England, then off to its final destination. Kayaking was not nearly as exciting as in the morning. We did have more snow, but very little icebergs in the water - mostly ice-free waters surrounded by large mountains shrouded in mist and low hanging clouds. Everywhere we paddled there were glaciers coming right down to the waters edge - not a landing area in sight!
There is a documentary movie called “Australis” whereby 3 extreme backcountry downhill skiers come to Antarctica to hike up these peaks and ski down, all the while making great ski movies. The kayak guides were telling us that this is the area where they filmed the movie. The onboard MD, Dr. Raymond, was telling us that he’s seen the motorized sail boat (the Australis) that they used to get to/from Antarctica (hence the name of the movie) here and there while he’s been down here on these cruises.
We just happened to strike up a conversation with the Dr. while sitting in the bar/lounge. One neat feature of these cruises is that the staff eats meals with the passengers, hangs out with the passengers, and you can really get to know them and their interests, and they yours. Breakfast, lunch and dinner there is usually at least one staff member who sits at our table and just chats about the day, the weather, their work, whatever. Most staff have multiple jobs - the reception clerk runs one of the zodiacs, the kayak guide not needed for the afternoon kayaking will be helping the passengers on/off the zodiac at that day’s landing site, the geologist will be marking the trails to keep you away from getting too close to the penguin nests, etc. Everyone of the staff runs a zodiac - that’s kind of a prerequisite to getting a job on board.
The Port Lockroy research station is being restored, and the gift shop sales support that effort, as well as the mailing of postcards from there, so you can say you received mail from Antarctica. It’s a tiny little house on an island, and we can’t imagine anyone overwintering there, like they used to. Even now, the station is ‘manned’ by a man and a woman, only there during the summer cruising season. They have no running water, if they want fresh water they melt ice, and they have limited food to eat. The Ocean Diamond/ Quark staff brought the Port Lockroy couple onboard tonight, while we’re anchored here, so they could get a shower and have a proper hot meal. Many of the other visiting cruise ships do likewise, if they are staying in the area like we are.
The Gentoo penguins have build their nests all around the little house. The house is built on a pile of rocks, so there’s space under parts of the house for penguins to nest, as well as out in the side yard, and so on. To approach/go into the house (gift shop & museum), you are almost stepping on the nests. We saw many big, healthy chicks being tended to by their parents, many mothers with two chicks. Unfortunately we also saw a few nests with an unhatched egg (probably too late in the season for the chick to grow/survive) and someone saw an egg that had rolled out of a nest, with three or so penguins trying to decide what to do about it. It’s a hard, cruel life here.
Bridge Report: 0700, Tuesday, 29 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 15 kts, SE
Temp: 1ºC Sunrise: 0427 Sunset: 2316
Lat: 64º59.1’ S Lon: 063º46.5’ W
Tuesday - 1/29/13: Last full day in Antarctica before we have to head north tomorrow and back to Ushuaia across the Drake Passage. Today, before breakfast we cruised through the Lemaire Channel, a narrow, ice-filled channel with towering rocky peaks on both sides - channel goes between an island and mainland Antarctica. Spectacular scenery, and once again, we’re amazed at how close to each big iceberg the ship gets. Water depths through the channel were 70-90 meters, so plenty of depth, but as we scraped by each berg you could see the blue/turquoise ice beneath the water surface and that looked to be only several feet off the hull. Lemaire Channel is called the “Kodak Channel” because it’s so photogenic. First stop is at Pleneau Island, or, iceberg gallery, where many large (ship size and much bigger) icebergs (a few of the tabular variety) ground and get stuck. Later today we’ll cruise to Peterman Island, home to two large penguin colonies, one Gentoo (2,000 breeding pairs), and Adelies (500 breeding pairs).
Stormy Tuesday - Morning kayaking was an adventure to say the least. Fourteen of us piled into one zodiac, with a mix of single and double kayaks trailing behind, per usual. Once away from the Ocean Diamond, we headed for calm waters. Only problem was, there was no calm water. Found out later that winds were a steady 35 knots, with gusts to 50 knots. While motoring along in the zodiac searching for calmer waters to load all of us into the kayaks, several kayaks flipped behind the zodiac. We righted them and finally found calm enough waters to begin the process of getting everyone off the zodiac and into their kayaks. A sign of things to come!
Those of us that got in first were immediately blown down the bay, some blown up against small icebergs, some of us found safe refuge in small inlets next to the numerous Gentoo penguin colonies on the rocky shores. Once everyone was in their kayaks, our usual process is to follow the leader along a kayaking path. However, as soon as we started to turn and follow the leader, first one single, then a second single flipped, and a wet exit was in process for those two. The two kayak leaders, plus the trailing zodiac, were immediately on the scene helping the poor wet folks. We were all impressed by the professionalism and quickness of the kayak leaders in this recovery process. Fortunately, it was shallow water - one person could stand as water was only up to his waist, another actually hit his head on a rock as he was overturning, and his glasses scraped his face, so he gets a souvenir mark on his face. Fortunately no one was injured, but that curtailed this morning’s kayaking. Many of us had beached our kayaks up on the rocky shore, so we were fine. We got some great penguin pic’s while standing there on the shore taking in all the action. We all piled into the zodiac for the spray-filled ride back to the Ocean Diamond, leaving the kayaks behind for a return trip pickup by the kayak leaders. Someone else pointed out that the waters we tried to kayak in this morning were the start of the notorious Drake Passage, so we all agreed that we could say that we kayaked the Drake! That’s our story and we’re sticking with it!
Stormy Tuesday (cont.) - Afternoon kayaking was not as dramatic as this morning. It was more like kayaking the rock-bound coast of Maine with waves crashing and breaking against the shoreline (due to only 25 knot winds), and a little freezing rain/sleet falling throughout the afternoon to make visibility difficult. We all agreed, today was Antarctica as it should be! Kayaking around Peterman Island truly was just kayaking - not much ice, only several large bergs, and the main objective was to avoid being blown onto the nearshore rocks by the strong winds. After kayaking for several hours, we all hopped into the zodiac and went ashore to see the Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies. Penguins were everywhere, nesting with almost grown chicks as well as penguins walking along the same paths we were using to go see the penguins. The Adelie are true Antarctic penguins and this was one of their northernmost breeding areas, even though we are still several degrees north of the Antarctic Circle (60 degree latitude).
As this was our final kayaking, the kayak leaders encouraged us to keep all our gear on (personal floatation devices (PDFs), spray skirts, booties, dry suits) and take a shower fully dressed to rinse all the saltwater off the gear before we have to return it tomorrow. We hung all of those things out in the hallway to drip dry. The hallways are starting to look like a drying room - there’s gloves, hats, the standard Quark yellow Expedition Parkas, etc., all strung along the handrails on each deck, in addition to our kayak gear. I’m sure the cabin attendants aren’t happy about this, or maybe they are, vs. the alternative of stuffing all the wet stuff back into the room closets. This is definitely an expedition, not your standard large ship cruise line!
Back on board the Ocean Diamond, the bar/lounge was more full than usual - I guess the last night in Antarctica brings out the people to celebrate. We also had some great lectures and the results of the “Mad Hat Contest” from the previous evening, plus a plea to load your photos onto the ship’s computers so they can make the ‘trip DVD‘ to give everyone a copy. Passengers are also encouraged to grab a copy of any photo there. The kayak crowd has a special kayak folder so we can load our shared photos there for everyone to grab a copy - what a wonderful idea. As everyone says, this is an EXPEDITION, not a cruise.
At dinner Dr. Raymond was going around from table to table shouting out “drugs, who needs drugs,” since we’re starting back into the 2-day Drake Passage and things will get rocking and rolling again. Down at the bar, we watched as the bartender put the steel retaining bar up along the row of liquor bottles - don’t want that stuff crashing down, and I’m sure the stairways will once again be populated by airline-type motion sickness bags. Gotta go get pictures of all that!
Bridge Report: 0700, Wednesday, 30 Jan 2013
Wind Speed: 30 kts, WNW
Temp: 1ºC Sunrise: 0426 Sunset: 2232
Lat: 62º42.0’ S Lon: 063º59.7’ W
Wednesday - 1/30/13: Last night we left Antarctica about midnight and headed back to Ushuaia across the Drake Passage. Overnight, the ship was noticeably rolling. I was up on the navigation bridge before breakfast, and the crew and Expedition Leader, Woody, were talking about fact that last night we caught the tail end of a passing storm, and today there’s another headed in our direction. Throughout the morning, the seas appear to be in the 10-15 foot range, overcast, temps = 0 C. The ship is really rolling, people are walking around like penguins, meandering from side to side (some would say they’re walking around like drunks!). The day is filled with onboard lectures - Mark the ornithologist gave a talk on Albatrosses, Diane, the historian, gave a talk on who owns Antarctica? (Ans: there are old claims dating back to the late 1800s by 6-7 nations, but the Antarctic Treaty, negotiated in the Eisenhower administration, essentially says no one; it’s a shared land for scientific research only.) Later today there are talks on photo techniques, and the “Expert-in-Residence,” Lorne, will talk on ‘Tourism on Ice.’ In the evening there’s more: Norm, the geologist/glaciologist, will talk about the Southern Ocean. Between the talks and eating, it sure is hard to get a nap in on this trip!
Thursday - 1/31/13: The last day of January, and the last day of this wonderful expedition. Today we have one more day of cruising through the rough Drake Passage before we come into Ushuaia tomorrow (Fri) am, and we all get tossed off the ship so they can reload with another set of passengers and head back to Antarctica for another trip - how sad for us!
We’ve had e-mail/internet troubles last few days onboard the ship. We tried to send a long e-mail yesterday, but we don’t think it went, so we are hopeful that when we land at Ushuaia we can send this and any other e-mails (maybe even a few pic’s).
One of yesterday’s talks by Lorne, a Professor from U. Tasmania who has studied impacts of tourism on Antarctica, was fascinating. We are loving this place to death - there are now approx. 30,000 - 40,000 tourists/year who visit the 7th continent. Most come via ship via the Ushuaia gateway (90+ % come this way), with the rest either long ship voyages out of Australia/New Zealand, or 1-day Qantas overflights out of Australia ($700). In the early days of tourism (early 1990s), there were only 6-7 tour companies, now there are over 90. Most visits (98%) are to the exact same places we’ve visited - along the Antarctic Peninsula, and most tours hit the same 20-60 places, either because they are ice-free enough to get a ship in there, or they offer unique scenery, e.g., research stations, penguin colonies, etc. Most tourists are from the US (30%), next most are Europeans (Germans, UK, etc.). Our Aussie kayak friends point out that even though Australia is only 3% of the visitors, on a % of the Australian population, many Australians are big travelers, so much so that when they are on holiday they wonder if anyone is left back home.
On this particular trip, 100 of the 170 passengers are Japanese. The next two Quark cruises are totally booked by Chinese tour companies. So, you can begin to se where the next wave of eco-tourists are coming from - a sign of changing economic influence in the world as well.
Last night, the ship held a charity auction to raise money for penguin research. Bidding was fierce; they raised $4800! They auctioned off things like: a chance to give the ‘wake up call’ speech on the ship’s intercom (a half hr before breakfast, there’s a general announcement from the ship’s bridge), a chance to pilot the ship for 15 minutes today while in the Drake, a hand knitted wool hat with penguin designs (made by one of the kayak leaders), original paintings (also by another kayak leader), the ship’s flag (autographed by the captain and all the crew), and other such items. Good fun and a good cause.
As we type this (Thurs, 10 am), we are experiencing the wrath of the Drake Passage. We just returned from picture taking on the navigation bridge, where large waves are periodically breaking over the bow and the spray is blowing up against the navigation bridge windows on deck 6. Navigation bridge windshield wipers are going all the time now. The seas are in a confused state - local wind waves atop swells. Winds were just measured by the bridge mate’s hand held anemometer at 50 - 55 knots, seas are 6 - 7 meters (20 - 24 ft) high, and the outside decks are closed to passengers - they apparently don’t want any passengers blown overboard. Looking out from the bridge you can sea waves tops being blown off by the wind, and whitecaps and sea spray everywhere. What a fantastic scene! Most everyone on board is handling it pretty well - the good Dr. Raymond has done his job and dispensed pills, patches, wrist bands and all manner of seasickness controls to the passengers.
Some people have asked about the other shore/excursion activities on this trip, since we’ve been so kayak-centric in our daily descriptions of life on this trip. Others have asked if we do anything else between Antarctica and Ushuaia other than ride the Drake Passage. For starters, the Drake Passage is 2 full days down, 2 full days back. Just a straight shot between the tip of Argentina (Ushuaia) to the Antarctic. The Quark expedition team fills those 2 days with mandatory briefings on the way south (see previous notes) and on this north bound sail they fill it with lectures. Already this morning we heard about their Arctic expeditions and we’ll soon have a climate change lecture, plus a few kayak photo sessions and group lunch. Oh, and there’s lots of rock & roll, as in the ship is really rolling about. They have this saying onboard - one hand for you, one for the ship - meaning, it’s hard enough to walk, but be sure you have one free hand to hold the ship’s handrails or other bolted down objects as you move about so you won’t go spinning and flying away.
We spent 4 1/2 days in Antarctica. The 1st day here (Fri) we did an afternoon kayaking trip in the sunken volcano crater of Deception Island. If we weren’t kayaking, the standard ship’s shore offerings each day are: a morning shore visit and/or cruise in a zodiac for 2-4 hrs, then back onboard for lunch, then repeat in the afternoon. Most of the passenger do just that - only 1 Japanese guy is kayaking with us, for instance, all of the 99 other Japanese just do the standard zodiac cruise/shore excursion, as do many of the non-Japanese onboard.
Each shore excursion/zodiac cruise works like this: You put on your Quark Expedition Parka (because it’s warm, but more importantly because it’s waterproof). You also have on waterproof outer pants, gloves, and the waterproof boots loaned to you by Quark. Each zodiac holds about 10 passengers, five on each side. You board the zodiac and it either takes you to a shore landing site (historic research station, penguin colony, etc.) or the zodiac just takes off on a 1 - 1 1/2 hr cruise around the area. The Ocean Diamond either drops anchor or maneuvers, if ice is present (so it won’t get blocked in by ice). Sometime in the middle of that 3-4 hr block of time the zodiac cruisers land, and swap places with the passengers who were put ashore to wander around. The shore passengers then go on their zodiac cruise and so on. At any one landing only 100 people can be on land at any one time, so the Expedition Leader, Woody, is on land keeping count of who’s where and directing the zodiac traffic. (Some sensitive places only permit 50 people ashore at any one time.) If you’re a kayaker, you have the option to go kayaking or to join the shore excursion. (Kayaker’s mantra - ALWAYS kayak!)
Our days in Antarctic are recapped as follows:
• Fri (1/25) - afternoon at Deception Island volcano (both kayaking and shore excursion possible)
• Sat (1/26) - morning ship’s cruise throughout the large Wilhelmina Bay - no kayaking, no shore excursion
• Sun (1/27) - morning kayaking and/or shore excursion to Danco Island, afternoon kayaking and/or shore excursion off Cuverville
• Mon (1/28) - morning kayaking and/or shore excursion in Paradise Harbor, afternoon kayaking and/or shore excursion to Port Lockroy
• Tues (1/29) - morning kayaking and/or shore excursion at Pleneau Island, afternoon kayaking and/or shore excursion off Peterman Island
So, we had 8 possible zodiac shore landings/cruises and 8 possible kayaking trips, and Quark made them all - none were cancelled. (I’ve heard of some cruises down here where they were successful only only 3/4 of their possible zodiac trips, either due to weather, ice, or they missed their ‘time slot’ - ship’s sign up to visit places a year in advance.)
Other advertised shore excursions on this trip were cross county skiing, mountaineering, and the one-time overnight camping. Both skiing and mountaineering were cancelled before the trip started, as reported earlier, due to poor snow conditions (too many crevices, unstable or insufficient snow, i.e., cancelled for safety reasons). So there were 17 kayakers (10% of the ship’s passengers) and the other 90% did the standard two a day zodiac cruising and/or shore landings. I am not unhappy that the skiing was cancelled (even though it was the prime reason we selected this particular cruise), since I had such a good adventure kayaking and our little group bonded very well. The cross country skiing was also going to be more extreme that I anticipated - use ‘skins’ to climb up the hills, use telemark skis, etc.
Travelers - many of the english-speaking travelers that we’ve talked to on this trip (plus many of the Expedition Staff that are rotating off after this cruise) are not going ‘straight home’ like we are. They are trekking through Patagonia, exploring Buenos Aires or Santiago, Chile, or going throughout South America AND then on to the states for more travel. Example - Shane, one of the more experienced Expedition Leaders who lives in Toronto, is going to San Francisco to visit friends, then snow camping in Yosemite, then motorcycling up and down the California coast, then going back to Toronto. Next year, he plans to ride his motorcycle from his home in Toronto down to Ushuaia when he picks up his next guiding job on the ship. Catherine, one of the kayakers who lives in Nova Scotia now (formerly lived in New England), is going to 3 places in Argentina, then a few weeks in Florida, then home (she’s unemployed, but not concerned). Longli, a young Chinese girl from Melbourne, Australia, is going all around South America, stopping in Rio for the carnival, then back to her new lawyer job in Sydney. This kind of trip definitely attracts a different kind of traveler.
Thurs 7 pm - We’re essentially ‘home,’ in Ushuaia’s Beagle Channel. Seas have calmed considerably from earlier in the day, especially once we ‘rounded Cape Horn - out of harm’s way! We’ll anchor here overnight, then early in the am the harbor pilot will come aboard and steer us to the dock, where we’ll all disembark and scatter to the corners of the world. This afternoon was one of packing, showering for the long ride home tomorrow, sharing pictures and lunch with the kayakers, sharing memories in the bar/lounge with everyone on board, saying goodbyes, having a captain’s farewell cocktail reception (real martinis', unlike the large cruise ships with their cheap champagne), seeing the passenger’s pictures that were selected for the trip DVD that we’ll all get, seeing the photo contest winners (some really good photographers and/or lucky shots). Whew, that was a looong sentence, but this afternoon was one of sharing e-mails with fellow passengers so we can stay in touch, swap photos, and generally begin to come down from this tremendous high that we’ve been on for the past week or so.
Tomorrow in Ushuaia, We'll attempt to send one or two e-mails to complete this trip log, since we failed to connect to the outside world over the past two days traversing the Drake.
Note from Ushuaia - the southernmost city on the world. We’ve back on land at the Hotel Albatross, using their WiFi to read/send e-mails and otherwise begin to reconnect with the world.