For vacation I went on a cruise to the Antarctic and was gone 16 days, between January 16 and January 30. It may go down as one of Mountain Travel-Sobek's best Antarctic trips ever. Just about everything that could go right, did.
I flew from Indianapolis to Santiago, Chile. It was an overnight flight, so we spent a day in Santiago to catch up. We then flew to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina at the very southern tip of South America. Ushuaia is the southern-most city in the world. While people live in various other places further south in Tierra del Fuego and there are people on the Antarctic continent, this is the southern-most city.
We boarded our ship in Ushuaia and set sail. The ship was a former Russia research vessel, about 200 feet long, about 30 feet wide and carried a maximum of 44 passengers. There were about 20 Russians running the ship and maybe 8 or 10 staff members running the trip. I had a roommate and we had a small cabin with a private bathroom.
For the first two days on the ship we crossed the Drake Passage. This is the open sea between South America and the Antarctic peninsula. It can be smooth, known as the Drake Lake, or rough, known as the Drake Shake. We got the Drake Lake. While a few people were seasick, most of us did just fine. Coming back, it was a little rougher. While I didn't get sick, I wasn't a happy camper either.
During the crossing we were getting lectures and seeing videos on the Antarctic, mainly about it's history and it's animals. The lecture room got the nickname "Sleepy Hollow" because so many of us nodded off there. This wasn't because of the videos or lectures which were always great. It's just that the room got warm when it filled up with people leading to drowsiness.
After dinner our second day crossing the Drake, we made our first landing. After two days at sea, it was nice to see land, any land.
For landings, we had 4 Zodiacs. These are small boats with a metal bottom, inflated heavy-duty rubber around the sides and outboard motors. We would go down the ship's gangplank and then step into the Zodiac. The Zodiacs couldn't go all the way onto the beach so we usually stepped into a little water and then splashed ashore. This is why we had to take along knee-high rubber boots, to wear on landings.
Our first landing was at Penguin Island and was close to the roughest landing we had. The sea was a little rough and stepping from the gangplank into the Zodiac required a little timing. The sea swells made it something of a moving target. The next day they told us that if this hadn't been our first landing with everyone feeling the usual excitement, they would have canceled it due to the rough sea. However everything went fine.
On our first full day in the Antarctic region, we made a landing at Portal Point, which is on the Antarctic Continent. We wanted to get a continental landing checked off our list of things to do. Of the 12 landings that we made over the course of the trip, there were eventually 3 on the continent, the rest being islands of various sizes. However at this first the leaders carried bottles of champagne ashore and we all drank a toast. At the end of the trip we got signed certificates saying that we'd landed on the Antarctic continent.
The next day we got to visit Palmer Station, one of the three U.S. research bases in the Antarctic. The other two are McMurdo and South Pole. In one sense, Palmer is more remote even though it is much farther north than the others. They can be supplied by air while Palmer receives all its supplies by ship.
We were quite lucky to visit Palmer. It's necessary to apply for permission to visit it and only about 1 out of 10 applications is accepted. This is simply because it is a research base and they don't want to spend all their time handling visits. They're happy to have visitors and have a tiny gift shop where you can buy T-shirts. But they want to keep this traffic to a manageable amount.
The main research at Palmer is marine biology. Some of the things they're looking at are the impacts of the possible global warning and the ozone hole on the plankton and krill in the area. These are very important factors in the food chain in this region. If either of them is being affected, it could have very serious consequences on the other animals higher up in the chain.
After visiting the base, we had a short Zodiac ride to a small island with a number of penguin colonies. This island is also part of Palmer Station's research. They're studying the effect of people, tourists and researchers, on penguins.
There were flags dividing the island into half. We were permitted to go anywhere we wanted on half the island and weren't permitted on the other half at all. Over time the researchers would estimate the survival rate and reproduction success of the two halves to see if the penguins showed any differences.
This isn't the first study of this kind that's been done. Penguins have no predators on land so they tend not to get frightened by people. All studies so far seem to indicate than they are not affected. On the voyage down, one of the required lectures was on the guidelines for visitors to the Antarctic. One of the guidelines is that you are not to come closer than 15 feet to any penguin and not to disturb them in anyway, helping to keep them unstressed.
I talked with one of the researchers. One of my questions was whether we were becoming part of the research now. To answer, she pulled out her notebook and showed it to me. When there are visitors, every 20 minutes she had to note the location of everyone relative to the various colonies. In this way, the visited colonies could be categorized into high, medium and low stressed groups based solely on the number of visitors in the area of a colony. She commented that our group was one of the more scattered. She said most groups came up the hill and then spent most of their time at a point between three colonies. When she said this, I looked around and at that time she and I were the only ones anywhere near that location.
The next day was our crossing of the Antarctic Circle. Most tour groups do not go this far south. And I understand that the Mountain Travel group that attempted this the year before didn't make it due to heavy ice. We made it just fine.
The estimated time for the crossing was late afternoon. In the morning, it was very slow going due to ice. The captain turned west, more toward the sea, and found that it was clearer going out there. There were many large icebergs, but quite far apart and not a problem.
When we were getting close, they called everyone to the bridge so that we could all cross together. There wouldn't be anyone in the bow to claim they were first. There was a GPS (Global Positioning System) on the bridge. Since the Antarctic Circle is defined as 66 degrees, 33 minutes south, we could use the GPS to determine when we crossed. No, there wasn't a white line in the sea marking the circle.
As we crossed, more champagne was broken out. Also, we were visited by King Neptune. One of the leaders had on an aluminum-foil crown, a trident with some sea- weed on it and a cape. The other leaders were also decked out. We then trooped topside for the ceremony. We went up to King Neptune one at a time, knelt and had water from inside the circle sprinkled on our heads.
The next day we were on our way from one landing to the next when an announcement came over the ships intercom, "We think everyone should go outside and see this." There were 6 humpback whales feeding in the channel. We spent the next hour and a half watching these whales. Folks on the lower deck said that they could look into the water and see the krill that the whales were feeding on. Krill are small (2" or so), shrimp-like and are one of the main food sources for humpbacks.
I've seen much better pictures of whales on TV in various nature shows. But there's still something very exciting about seeing them live. I shot a little over a roll of film while one of the professional photographers shot 17 rolls during this time.
Our last day in the Antarctic region included a visit to Deception Island. Must tours visit here since it's an old whaling base and very accessible. However most do not visit Bailey Head, on the opposite of the island from the whaling station. This can be a difficult landing due to tides, waves and a steep beach. While it was a little bit of a difficult landing compared to all of the others, everyone made it ashore just fine.
Usually when we visited penguin sites, we might see a number of colonies totaling a couple of hundred at most. At such times we would see penguins going into and coming out of the water. This would be at a rate of something like 20 or so an hour coming and going. When we landed at Bailey Head, the rate might have been something like 600 an hour. There was practically an interstate highway of penguins.
We hiked up the valley, around the corner and ended up surrounded by hills 3oo feet high covered in penguins. Someone described it as "Woodstock for penguins." While we were used to visiting penguins by this time, the number was truly impressive. An estimate was that there were 60,000 breeding pair here. Since either the male or the female is feeding while the other is taking care of the egg or chick, penguins are counted in pairs.
One of the purposes of the trip was to view animals, mainly penguins, seals and whales. We did a really good job on all counts. We saw penguins on 9 of the 12 landings. We saw a number of seals, but generally not in large numbers. Several times we saw them on small icebergs as we were sailing along or during a Zodiac ride. While "The Pod" was the most exciting whale sighting, we saw whales on a number of other occasions.
However penguins were the main animals we saw. We got very good at recognizing the three different types we came across, chinstrip, Adelie and gentoos. Summer is the main breeding time so we saw a lot of chicks almost all of them still with their down.
There are three things the nature films don't always communicate to the viewer about penguins, the smell, the noise and the mess. On our first landing, about 100 feet from shore, everyone started sniffing. It was the penguins. Think of a birdcage which hasn't been cleaned for several months and you may get the idea. The noise can also be impressive. Calls help them identify each other. There are also territorial calls which seem to cascade. If one starts, eventually everyone in the neighborhood chimes in. And finally the mess. Usually you see the clean black and white birds on TV. However these are the ones just coming out of the water. Those going into the water are not nearly so white. The chicks are basically messy eaters and spill all down the front of the parents.
My roommate came up with a good description of the other mess problem. He referred to it as "projectile pooping." When they defecate, they lean forward and shoot out a stream of white which goes about 4 feet, another good reason to follow the guideline of not coming within 15 feet of penguins.
We were there during the height of the Antarctic summer. When you consider that most of the sea that freezes over winter melts in the summer, you have to figure that during the summer, the temperature has to be over freezing for a fair amount of time. During our time in the region, I don't think it ever got below freezing. I never saw ice, frost or snow on the ship.
The following is from "South to Antarctica - A Handbook for Antarctic Travelers" by Sharon Chester and James Oetzel and is quoted by permission.
"The Antarctic Treaty is an international agreement enacted in 1961 that provides a framework for cooperation and management of Antarctic concerns. It designates the area south of 60 degrees south latitude as a demilitarized zone to be used solely for scientific research and peaceful purposes."
Some of the provisions not referred to above include no nuclear explosions or nuclear wastes, free access for anyone, free exchange of scientific information and no weapons.
In 1989 the Wellington Convention banned exploitation of mineral resources in the Antarctic for 50 years.
There are also the "Antarctic Visitor Guidelines." Basically they say not to disturb anything, plants, animals, rocks or buildings, even if abandoned. Don't litter or otherwise spoil the environment. For example, our ship never released any wastes other than engine exhaust into the environment. All waste water was fully treated before being discharged. Trash was carried back to Ushuaia.
The comment has been made that one way of fixing the world's problems would be to expand the Antarctic Treaty one degree north every year. Which might work. I was every impressed with the respect and concern that is accorded to this area of the world by everyone we came across.
Since it was not a big ship, it only took us a day to learn our way around it. Every cabin had a view to the outside. However for viewing, we spent most of our time in three different places, the bow, topside or the bridge. My favorite spots were the bridge and topside. The bridge was large and we were welcome there at anytime. I liked it because is was enclosed and warm. Topside was nice because I think it had better views than the bow, but was also colder. Even though the air temperature was never too bad, the wind- chill could be, especially when the ship was underway.
A typical day would be a wake-up call over the ship's intercom at 7:30. Breakfast would be at 8:00. During breakfast "The Daily Quest" would be distributed. This was a one page "newspaper" with a brief summery of the previous day's activities and the current day's schedule. On the back would be some sort of reference information, a map, a whale identification sheet, and so on. Lunch would be at 1:00, tea at 4:00 and dinner at 8:00. Of course all of these times varied depending on the landing schedule.
The food was great. We were all sure we'd put on a bunch of weight, we were eating so well. Breakfast was fairly basic, cereal, porridge, fruit and/or a hot plate which might be pancakes, French toast or eggs. Lunch got a bit fancier. Pasta, spaghetti, pork schnitzel and the like were typical. Tea came with cookies or pasties. Dinner was really fancy. There was always a salad. Then there would be a choice of three main courses, meat, fish or vegetarian, for example Brazilian prime rib, Chilean seabass or zucchini torte, which we selected at lunch.
At the end of the trip my roommate was awarded the title of "Polar Geek." Early in the trip one of the PC's used by the staff was unable to print. He was good enough at computer hardware to narrow the problem down to the parallel port in the computer. He explained that when returning to Ushuaia it should be possible for them to pick one up and get things working again.
What he didn't factor in was the resourcefulness of the staff. Some of them went ashore at Palmer Station and did some bartering. We traded some fresh fruit and vegetables for, among other things, a parallel port for the PC. Glen was able to configure the port and get the PC printing again, hence, earning him the title of "Polar Geek."
It is interesting to look at the skills that we acquired over the course of this trip that we may never need again. The first is "sea legs" or just getting around on a ship underway. The very first lesson we learned on boarding was "One hand for the ship." This meant that you should always hang on to something at all times when you're moving around the ship. Of course this mainly applied while we were in the Drake Passage. The rest of the time, around Antarctica, this wasn't nearly as much of an issue.
Another skill we got really good at was making landings. As you would expect, our first landing took awhile. We had to figure out the mud room where we changed into our rubber boots and got our lifejackets. Then up on deck to the gangplank, getting into the Zodiac and then getting out ashore. Then repeating the process in reverse. On our 12th landing, we just zipped through this like the pros we'd become.
The final skill was taking a shower with one hand. Remember "one hand for the ship?" Well now picture taking a shower. There was a handle by the shower for hanging on, leaving one hand for washing.
This was an excellent trip. But some of the highlights were more just the luck of the draw. Having fairly smooth seas in the Drake Passage and good weather overall was luck. Getting to visit Palmer Station was luck. Crossing the circle was a bit of luck Seeing the humpbacks feeding was luck. Landing at Bailey Head was luck. Even without most of these events, it would have been a great trip. Now picture all of these in addition.
The main title, "6 Down, 1 To Go" refers to continents. I've now been on 6 continents and only have Australia to go. I'm sure I'll get there eventually but getting all 7 checked off isn't a high priority for me.
The subtitle, "Rockin' and Rollin' the Night Away" refers to the Drake Passage. Waking up the first night on the ship with it rocking and rolling was quite an experience. Even though we had fairly smooth crossings, it certainly got my attention.