The Story of our trip to Rio, Iguazu, and the Antarctica with the MV FRAM, Feb. 09

[snowbird1]

Do you mind clarifying whether the cost is a lot higher on the Fram or on others, as I haven't gone into the cost comparisons yet.

 

Please let me say that I am not the expert on pricing just yet but from what I have seen (some tours on the Fram for singles) appear to be cheaper than some of the other other as noted they may not go to the same places for example Georgia Island.

 

I noticed the prices on the National Geographic cruise seem to be quite high but it sure looked like a nice cruise. Hope there are others who are experts on the pricing that can comment.

[caramelo]

Friday, the 27th of February.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were warned the evening before about the possibility of seeing whales between 6:30 and 7am but that this wasn´t guaranteed, but just in case….. we set our alarm clock for 6:30am. We didn´t see any whales but some of the other passengers did see one but just very briefly.

 

However we were not sorry that we had got up so early as the scenery at this time of the morning was fascinating and we were very lucky with the good weather and the sea was so calm that it was like a mirror.

 

 

See these images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw a group pf penguins jumping in the water very near our ship:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

And more scenery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We anchored before the Cuverville Islands at 8:30am and the first group went ashore.

 

Today they started with group number two, they call the groups on a rotating system which is fair as then it is not always the same groups who go first or last.

 

When we arrived ashore….. the penguins were already waiting for us .. you can see how close the come to our boat:

 

 

 

The penguins in Cuverville are the “Gentoo” type with the orange coloured beaks and feet.

 

 

[caramelo]

We got to go on land at about 10:40am and I calculate that this time we were there for quite a bit longer than an hour. Everything was so beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were loads of penguins everywhere but they were totally different to the ones we had seen the day before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were very active and there were a lot of baby penguins. The babies were as tall as the adults but they were easy to recognise first because of their fluffy hair which they are now losing so they have patches with fluff and other patches without, and you could also recognise them by their infantile way of playing, runny around and crying with their mouths open running after their mother looking for her to give them food, etc.

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

We saw some very nice and tender scenes with the mothers feeding the young, and the penguins with the icebergs in the background, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

And these general images:

 

 

 

 

And with our ship in the background:

 

 

 

 

Some seals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

And we saw other penguins jumping in the water:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It had been a total dream and today we had the lottery with the weather. On the way back to the ship we were taken first on the “polar circle” boat for a drive around the different icebergs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

Our slip lifted up the anchor at about 1pm and we spent around 2 hours navigating through the Errera Channel, where we were able to enjoy some magnificent scenery and views. It all seemed so unreal and you can not believe that you are seeing this you’re your own eyes.

 

 

We saw some seals enjoying the sunshine lying on the top of an iceberg:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More scenery:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

And we saw more penguins jumping in the water, and the water was so calm that you could even see the penguin underneath the water…..:

 

 

 

 

And ……… I even managed to get this image of one penguin jumping out of the water and his reflection below making it look like a second penguin! I was very proud of this photo but it was just luck that it came out so clear and well:

 

 

 

 

Later we saw two whales but when we got closer they hid away and it was imposible to photograph them, I could only get this image:

 

 

 

And some icebergs with their blue colour:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

These are more images of the way between Cuverville and Neko Harbour, with the reflections in the water so you see everything double:

 

 

 

 

 

At about 14:45pm we anchored again, this time at Neko Harbour.

 

 

 

 

Our group went ashore from 5 until 6pm. We were welcomed by hundreds of penguins who were waiting for us as our boat arrived. We could see them from a distance before we arrived:

 

 

[caramelo]

This time the penguins were more curious and very active and the came up close to the people. You can see from the following photo how close they were to the people:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some general images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

And with the ship in the distance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

There seemingly had been a refuge, a wooden type of hut, with the Argentinian flag which was here since 1949 called “Captain Fleiss” but it was totally destroyed by storms only about 10 days before we arrived here.

 

 

 

There was a high hill where the people climbed up to see some panoramic views and some slid down again on their bottoms, the say that it takes 20 minutes to get up and 3 to come down!

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

We saw amazing sights, again the mothers feeding their young, surrounded by their enemies the Skuas who were awaiting their opportunity:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The young penguins running and falling in the snow, others playing in the water and some more dirty than others, hihihi :

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

And eating the snow:

 

 

 

 

 

In the morning, this image made me laugh, as it wasn´t a seal, but somebody even said that it was the ship´s doctor:

 

 

 

On the way back to the slip again we were brought amongst the many different icebergs and I was amazed by the blue colour they had. This day alone, I think I went toooooooo far…… I seeming took nearly 800 photos but although it seems a lot there was so much wonderful sceenery on the way and we also had two different landings. Also we were so lucky with the weather. Even one of the Expedition team told us that he has worked for many years in the Antarctica and this was only the second day he had experienced such good weather as we had today.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED…………..

[caramelo]

Saturday, the 28th of February.

 

 

We got up at 6:30am to see the passage through the “Lemaire Channel” which is 11 km long and 1,6km wide, although it seems a lot narrower.

 

 

 

 

 

With the following image you can calculate how narrow the area is, with the closeness of the ship and the rocks:

 

[caramelo]

It was funny to see how the ship had to do some complicated manoeuvres to avoid the blocks of ice in its path.

 

 

 

We saw a whale but it hid away quickly before I could take a photo, and then we saw some seals sleeping on some icebergs.

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

On the way we saw the HANSEATIC ship which stopped and gave way to our ship first:

 

 

 

 

 

Today we went ashore in “Petermann Island” from 10:30am to 11:30am.

 

 

These were our first images arriving at the island:

 

 

 

The access was a little more difficult because of the different levels, rocks and ice, but it was also a very nice landing and again with very good weather.

 

The difference between today and the previous landings is that on “Petermann Island” we saw the penguins playing a lot more in the water.

 

[caramelo]

 

They were very funny, trying to climb onto pieces of ice and falling off again. I was laughing all the time just watching them. In the following image you can see a Penguin with his stomach over a piece of ice ........ well the Penguin finished up by falling over the other side into the water again!

 

 

General Images:

 

 

 

 

and with the ship:

 

[caramelo]

 

 

There was a hill where we went up for some nice panoramic views.

 

 

 

 

In Petermann Island there were mainly the Gentoo type of penguins, but we also saw some Adelie type of penguins which we saw for the first time. You can tell the difference as their faces are totally black without the orange of the Gentoo.

 

This is a Gentoo penguin:

 

 

 

And this is an Adelie penguin:

 

 

 

The Gentoo penguins at todays landing were very curious and came close to the people. I just sat on the ground and did nothing.....just waited, and it only took a couple of minutes until I had 2 of them picking at my boots, my bag and my arm! They we very cute and I laughed a lot with them. In the next 3 photos the blue material which you can see is my trousers, my knee! :

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

and even one Penguin wanted to help us with our video, hihihi:

 

 

 

There was a wooden hut which was an Argentine refuge from the year 1950 and beside it, to the right of the photo you can see (not very clearly) a cross in memory of three men who didn´t survive their expedition in the year 1982.

 

 

 

When all the passengers were back on the boat, we went back in the direction where we had come from, for the Lemaire Channel. Again we saw more seals on top of ice.

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

After lunch, we arrived at Port Lockroy.

 

You can see from the map above that there are two places marked: Jougla Point & Port Lockroy. These 2 places are nearly together, so first we went to Jougla Point, this time just for 30 minutes, and then we went again in the “polar cirkle” boat to Port Lockroy again for 30 minutes.

 

When we arrived at Jougla Point our first image was that of a load of old whale bones:

 

 

It was here that we saw the smallest baby penguins which we had seen up until now.:

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

We even saw 3 recently born ones:

 

 

 

 

We were not sure as to whether these penguins being so young would survive or not being so late in the season, but one of the expedition team told us that they had a good chance....... it would all depend on how soon the extreme winter conditions would start.

 

 

The following image is not a penguin but a comoran bird, we saw a lot of them at the stop:

 

 

 

 

And some general images of Jougla Point:

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

The penguins together with the comorans……. It is difficult to distinguish between them!!!

 

 

One, two, three, and jump………….:

 

 

Splash…., hihihi:

 

 

And again a mother feeding her young:

 

[caramelo]

 

 

When we finished at Jougla Point we took our boat and within a few minutes we were at Port Lockroy.

 

The first image arriving:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port Lockroy is a British base which was set up in 1941 to control ships of the enemies and to destroy old fuel stored there.

 

[caramelo]

 

Here is some information about Port Lockroy and its history: