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Day 5: Half Moon Island

December 19, 2016 No Comments

3:30 PM: Potentially the last landing of our trip at Half Moon Island. This time, we get to see more chin strap penguins and even one lone macaroni penguin. Not sure whether or not he’s lost, or just likes hanging out by himself. On my way down from the viewpoint, one of the rocks I grab onto for stability has guano on it. Unwittingly, I wipe my forehead with my hand afterwards and end up with a face and hair full of guano. Sigh, it was bound to happen at some point.

We follow behind one of the guides who creates a path for us (we have to be careful not to step on endangered moss) to another viewpoint. Expecting a 10 minute detour, we end up on an hour-long excursion to the other side of the island, where we find two crabeater seals resting on the beach. Alex, our guide, tells us more about the variations of rocks on the island and about how half the island was likely underwater at some point, as evidenced by the smooth, round rocks in certain patches. We also find some of the rare moss that only grows 1mm per year, which is why it is forbidden to step on it.

Across the water is Livingston Island, which is beautiful – all covered in white and untouched. The segment we face also has a constant shroud of fog – this happens year round, possibly due to the Drake Passage on the other side of the island.

Alex also touches upon the different views of tourism to Antarctica – some research stations will always say “no” when tourist ships ask for a landing. One such station is the Spanish one, which never allows non-research related landings. Most other stations oscillate between yes and no, depending on their own schedules and whether or not they need to do work out on the land.

6:45 PM: Again, we have our daily recap along with a few end-of-trip treats. The Doctor presented a slideshow of the events of the other three Zodiacs earlier that day in the ice floes. After one zodiac got stuck in the ice, a second tried to rescue it… only to get stuck itself. When the ship attempted to tow both zodiacs, it became stuck in the ice as well. Eventually, the zodiacs pushed the ship out of the floes and all was well.

7:30 PM: Last dinner on the boat! Cake is served and toasts are made, both to us and to the ship’s wonderful team and expedition crew.

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Log

Day 5: Deception Island

December 9, 2016 No Comments

7:00 AM: Wake up to Mariano’s wake up call about entering Neptune’s Bellows in ten minutes. Jump out of bed and get changed – by the time I arrive on the deck, we’re already entering Deception Island. It’s a very surreal landscape outside, with snow covering the black volcanic sand of the island. The island is part of an active volcano – which accounts for its unique donut-like shape and “warm” water in its bay (in certain parts, the water reaches 70 degrees F).

9:00 AM: Land onto Deception Island, where we begin to tour the abandoned buildings of Whalers Bay. Originally, the island was a whaling outpost, but the industry faded once all the whale supply was exhausted.

We hike up to Neptune’s Window, which as a great view outside the island and to the waters below. After Neptune’s Window, we move on to the Polar Plunge. I’m still kicking myself over the fact that I didn’t just say F it! and run into the water myself. Nevertheless, it was good fun watching folks run in and curse all the while on the way out. The crew made sure to greet each of them with a shot of vodka upon making it back on land. Later on, one of the crew members “fell” overboard on a Zodiac – guessing someone lost a dare and had to pay up!

2:00 PM: After lunch, I catch up on my logs in the Panorama Lounge. The waters are getting quite choppy, and this is one of the more stable spots in the ship.

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Day 4: Neko Harbor & Gabriel Gonzalez Videla Research Base

December 9, 2016 No Comments

1:30 PM: Our second landing of the day was at an active Chilean research base, the Presidente Gabriel Gonzalez Videla station. Though the base looks like it’s situated on a tiny island (filled with penguins and guano, no less), it is actually part of the main continent. In the winter, when the high tides recede, you can see that it’s connected to the mainland. Though we didn’t converse with the researchers much, we did pillage the gift shop and get our passports stamped.

3:00 PM: Not long after, we had our third landing of the day at Neko Harbor. The weather was pretty much perfect, and the main attraction at this stop was a hike up to the top of the mountain where you were rewarded with a sweeping view of the harbour below. Trekking through snow was a great workout – which made me feel better about that second helping of dessert at lunch :) The wind picked up towards the summmit, but the views were well worth the struggle.

6:30 PM: Back on the ship, we had our daily recap with the crew. This time, we learned a bit more about Antarctica territory claims from Adrian and also about seals from Miguel.

Side note: At this point, I noted that it was crazy that we only had two full days left on the trip, and wished that it were longer. Famous last words!

7:30 PM: Dinner time as usual, although there was a special surprise for us today. The cruise staff came out to sing happy birthday to my dad, with a guitar accompanist and all! They also baked a special strawberry mousse cake to celebrate, which was a sweet touch.

10:00 PM: After uploading photos into the group’s photo competition collective, I try to head to bed. We’re passing through the strait again, which means rolling waves – I end up staying awake until 3AM, when the sea starts calming down.

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Log

Day 4: Paradise Bay

December 9, 2016 No Comments

8:30 AM: After breakfast, we headed out to Paradise Bay – it was a slightly overcast day, but the views were gorgeous regardless. Vlad was our Zodiac driver and navigated us through the still, calm waters of the bay. We drifted up close to some amazing glaciers, from which chunks of ice occasionally broke off with a resounding crash.

As we waited and camped out in front of one particular glacier, Vlad regaled us with stories of previous trips and the work he’s done in the Arctic, along with his photography exhibitions in Russia. The photos on his CD were gathered from a span of 2 to 3 years and quite impressive. Photos that were particularly interesting to us were those of fur seals and king penguins, which we didn’t see on this trip (another reason to come back, right?). He also has exhibitions back home in Moscow, where he displays photos he’s taken on his Antarctic and Arctic journeys. He mentioned that one of his favorite aspects of taking wildlife photos is the fact that animals never complain about taking bad photos – absolutely true!

After waiting for about 10 minutes, we finally saw ice break off and fall into the water, causing miniature tidal waves that shook the Zodiac. Even before the ice broke off, every now and then you could hear the thundering cracks from within the glacier, with no other noises disturbing the silence and still water. You could also see the clear reflections of the surrounding mountains in the water, until our Zodiac trail disturbed them.

After Vlad’s tales about Arctic trips to the North Pole, we were all convinced that a trip up north would be added to our future goals. His favorite photo: a photo of the expedition leader eating BBQ in the foreground, with a polar bear eating a seal in the background. Quark Expeditions also offers trips to the North Pole once a year, where you cruise on a nuclear powered icebreaker. Sounds like an adventure, all right.

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Day 3: Lemaire Channel & Port Charcot

December 9, 2015 No Comments

1:00 PM: We attempt to cross the Lemaire Channel, also known as Kodak Valley for its photogenic nature, but alas, there is too much ice blocking the way. Strong northern winds are blowing all the ice floats into the channel, so it’s all filled up for now.

3:00 PM: After turning around, we set out to Port Charcot instead, where we try to get good shots of seals on the icebergs and floats. There’s a lot of ice floating around in the company of some truly majestic iceberg structures.

We also have a true Antarctica “experience” by getting stuck in a sea of ice floats. In an attempt to get closer to a crabeater seal, we move our Zodiac through some of the ice. While the clear path from our boat stays open for about 5 minutes, ice debris quickly fills in after that. At this point, there’s not much to worry about because we’re only 20 feet in from the edge of open water. After lingering for a few more moments, more ice has filled in behind us and we’re now 40 – 50 feet away from open water.

Sensing that it’s a good time to exit, we attempt to use a small iceberg in front of our zodiac to help pave the way and push debris out of the way. This method works for about 10 feet, before some ice jams up the motor. Miguel, our fearless Zodiac driver, tries to dislodge the ice with an oar. When that fails, he places both feet in the water to push out the ice. We boat passengers also move toward one side and start jumping up and down in an attempt to help dislodge the ice. Eventually, we have success and we’re on our merry way again.

However, we do still need to make our way through more ice to make it back to the ship – and we see that most of the paths are blocked by at least a few large chunks of ice. At this point, we hear someone on the walkie saying “Don’t go near the ice”. Whoops, a bit late for that. One of the other Zodiacs tries to help pave a path to us, but to no avail. We haven’t panicked yet – the worst case scenario is that we have to get towed by the ship. Vlad, in another Zodiac, points out a clearing behind us and ten minutes of navigating later, we’re free!

We find out later that three other Zodiacs had to get towed back by the ship before us, so we feel a little better about our adventure in Port Charcot.

6:30 PM: After a nice, hot shower after our hours-long adventure, Andrew presented a lecture on climate change, global warming and global cooling, which was quite informative.

7:30 PM: A surprise for tonight – a BBQ up on deck 5 outside with lots of great comfort food like ribs, chicken and baked potatoes!

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