BTimmer's Almost Live Antarctica Redux - Oosterdam 1/7/24 to 1/29/24

[Btimmer]

We've reached Antarctica at Palmer Station and had our first penguin sighting. Unfortunately the commentary is only broadcast on the outside decks and not the Crow's Nest.

 

 

Palmer Station

 

ice flows around the ship

 

 

 

Faux penguins

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

Here's some more pictures.

 

Juvenile Albatross

 

 

 

 

[montythecat]

One piano player !  Not sure about that but we are, of course,

not on the ship. However, last year on our Chile to Argentina 

Oosterdam cruise (no Antarctic) we had Meghan and Gabe. We 

loved them (best on any HAL cruise).  We would normally spend

more time in The Rolling Stone Lounge but they were so

good they became our evening priority, even though the

rock band were very good indeed.

 

 

[Btimmer]

11 minutes ago, montythecat said:

One piano player !  Not sure about that but we are, of course,

not on the ship. However, last year on our Chile to Argentina 

Oosterdam cruise (no Antarctic) we had Meghan and Gabe. We 

loved them (best on any HAL cruise).  We would normally spend

more time in The Rolling Stone Lounge but they were so

good they became our evening priority, even though the

rock band were very good indeed.

 

 

We had Megan & Gabe on the Nieuw Statendam in 2022 on a Boston RT to Greenland/Iceland and they were fantastic! 
 

The one piano player model is here and on the Westerdam.  It's here at customer request per Adam, the pianist, who's really good.

[Btimmer]

Our scenic cruising ended early today at 4:30pm due to deteriorating weather.  By 6pm, the winds had reached 65mph.  But we saw three research stations, Palmer (USA), Yelco (Chile), & Port Lockroy (GB) along with lots of penguins and humpback whales.  
 

Palmer Station

 

Yelco Station

 

Port Lockroy Station

 

Transported back in time

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the little boats are a zodiac.  It's blowing 40 knots and 2 meter seas.  Is that your cup of tea?  The large vessel is the mother ship.

[Ken the cruiser]

Cool pictures which are definitely getting us excited about our visit to the Peninsula next week on the Sapphire Princess. From the way it looks you're pretty much at a dead stop when I checked the Cruise Mapper website around 7:45 pm (local). Hopefully, the winds will die down soon so you can continue your cruise around the Peninsula!

 

 

MS OOSTERDAM Current Location (cruisemapper.com)

 

[Btimmer]

39 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Cool pictures which are definitely getting us excited about our visit to the Peninsula next week on the Sapphire Princess. From the way it looks you're pretty much at a dead stop when I checked the Cruise Mapper website around 7:45 pm (local). Hopefully, the winds will die down soon so you can continue your cruise around the Peninsula!

 

 

MS OOSTERDAM Current Location (cruisemapper.com)

 

Yes, we've come to dead stops many times to just drift or hoover.  The ship certainly weathers this just fine and is quite stable.  Antarctica is another magical place for us and I'm sure you'll love it also. The posted pictures are just a fraction of what I took today.  I may post a movie I shot of penguins sliding down a hill.  It was super cool to watch!

Edited January 17 by Btimmer

[Btimmer]

Day 2 of our Antarctic adventure is now in the books.  What a day!  Penguins. Penguins. Penguins!  Plus humpback whales and rugged scenery.  I will write more in my blog entry for today.  Here's a few pictures.  The rookery at Cuverville Island was incredible with the guano smell and thousands of Gentu penguins.  Whales were jumping all day.  We got way closer to Cuverville Island this voyage.  Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Fleeing penguin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Faux penguins" from an expedition ship

[Btimmer]

 

 

This morning we are in Charlotte Bay which is surrounded by 5 glaciers.  The walls are so steep, it's not conducive to penguin rookeries.  Later we are headed to Deception Island which does have penguins.

 

[Btimmer]

We just hit the whale jackpot.  On the starboard  side while walking the deck 3 pods of humpback whales were bubble feeding relatively close to the ship.  Here's a few pictures and I'll try uploading a short video later. This location is in the Gerlache Strait near where we overnighted on November 8, 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

At the end of the day we really had a good stop at Destruction Island and the chinstrap rookery there.  Smell-o-vision was in full effect from the 200,000 penguins there.  You really need to check out today's blog for more details.  Here are a few pictures.

 

On the iceberg

 

Closeup

 

Mass of penguins at the Caldera entrance

 

Closeup on the hillside of Destruction Island

 

 

 

Edited January 20 by Btimmer

[Btimmer]

Correction:  It was Deception Island not Destruction Island.

 

Today on our last day in Antarctica, we visited Pt. Wild where many of Shackelton's group wintered under two overturned boats.  They were rescued by Chilean Captain Pardo who is memorialized here.  Smell-o-vision was fully turned on.  Today we got within 1/10 of a mile behind the monument.

 

Edited January 21 by Btimmer

[bcummin]

Tim, I have enjoyed reading your comparison of Antarctica on the Oosterdam and on the Zaandam's Grand South America & Antarctica voyage.  Certainly ice and weather determine a lot, and you seemed to enjoy this second visit more.  But how would you compare the speakers/lecturers and the Antarctic information provided by HAL?  Did the GSA have better maps and speakers?

Barbara

[Btimmer]

2 hours ago, bcummin said:

Tim, I have enjoyed reading your comparison of Antarctica on the Oosterdam and on the Zaandam's Grand South America & Antarctica voyage.  Certainly ice and weather determine a lot, and you seemed to enjoy this second visit more.  But how would you compare the speakers/lecturers and the Antarctic information provided by HAL?  Did the GSA have better maps and speakers?

Barbara

The speakers on the Antarctica portion are from the same organization and are comparable.  They have been quite good. There have been no other lectures on the current voyage. We have two large travel groups onboard and they snag venue space.

 

We had great maps for the ports on the GSA and absolutely none on this one.  The CD is totally unapologetic about their lack.

[bcummin]

Thank you, Tim.  I am pleased that both cruises had the good Antarctic speakers.  Antarctica is so special, that it is really needed.

Grand Voyages do seem to have more lectures for other things.

And the maps are slowly returning.  First the grand voyages.  Hopefully other cruises will also be seeing port maps soon.

Barbara

[Btimmer]

4 minutes ago, bcummin said:

Thank you, Tim.  I am pleased that both cruises had the good Antarctic speakers.  Antarctica is so special, that it is really needed.

Grand Voyages do seem to have more lectures for other things.

And the maps are slowly returning.  First the grand voyages.  Hopefully other cruises will also be seeing port maps soon.

Barbara

On the GSA, maps were issued against corporate HAL policy.  I'm not optimistic for their return.

 

The ship is really moving tonight after dinner.

[bcummin]

I have faith that the maps are on their way back.  Our 2022 Grand Africa Voyage had next to none, but the 2023 GAV did have maps.  🙂   Several other voyages have also had maps.

Hopefully the seas will calm down for easy access to the Falklands.

Barbara

[Btimmer]

We've made it to the Falklands.  The seas are calm.  Now we need the wind to stay away.

 

 

Edited January 22 by Btimmer

[NorbertsNiece]

Have a fabulous day. I can see the first guest tender already heading to port. Sadly the port webcam isn't working. 

[Sea42]

5 hours ago, Btimmer said:

We've made it to the Falklands.  The seas are calm.  Now we need the wind to stay away.

 

 

Have a wonderful day!

[Btimmer]

What a wonderful day despite the wind at Volunteer Point on the Falkkand Islands.  Don't miss that excursion.  Here's a few preliminary pictures and my blog will have some important observations about this excursion. I'll post more penguin pictures after I upload them from my big camera.

 

 

Our Land Rover

 

in front of thousands of King Penguins

 

With Adam our driver 

 

A 2 plus hour ride with 1.5 hours 4 wheeling across peat bogs. Volunteer point is at the top.

[cunnorl]

So glad you were all able to get in! Looking forward to the pictures! 
thank you for all your efforts to include us in your travels. 

[Btimmer]

Here's your penguin fix for today.  There were thousands of them.  They weren't as smelly as those in Antarctica. The Kings are those with the colorful heads. 

 

Gentoo 

 

 

 

a thief

 

 

Baby Gentoo

 

 

I think I can fly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunviking90]

Beautiful pictures. Thank you!

[cunnorl]

Excellent pictures! Thank you very sharing with us. It is definitely on my list.