Friday 12 February

Drake Passage/Port William/Ushuaia

It raged all night, winds getting up to 11 Beaufort. The ship tossed and turned, even with the stabilisers employed. Thankfully we managed to sleep through the movement and noises.

We are in Chilean waters, since we have to do a resupply/restock at Port Williams, before moving on to Ushuaia. We passed Cape Horn about 7.30am. This is a series of islands rather than being part of the mainland. It’s a desolate place, almost devoid of trees because of the high winds (Furious Fifties).

Just after lunch we anchored off Puerto (Port) William to refuel, and stayed a few hours. We weren’t allowed off ship, the Chilean authorities insisting on full passport checks for us all which would have taken as long as we were at anchor! So, many of us took the opportunity to start packing. We have managed to get the parkas in the bags after vacuum-sealing them. However, because we still needed to have clothes out for the gala dinner tonight we couldn’t fully pack until night.

Thursday 11 February

Return across Drake Passage

Yesterday afternoon we were told that we would not be having a calm crossing back to South America, and it could be worse than our earlier crossing. Last night during our dinner the cabin crew had started putting sea sick bags along hallways and removing items likely to fall off shelves in our rooms onto the bed and floor.

Following our departure from Half Moon Island yesterday, we cruised further north-east along the protected southern edge of the South Shetland Islands to the English Channel. Once in the English Channel and heading north-west, the ship encountered a 2m swell which as the evening progressed got worse, so after dinner at around 9.30pm we went to our room and laid down on our bed, fully clothed as we were not feeling the best. We later got changed and went to bed. Sometime during the night the swell abated some and by breakfast we only had a 1m rolling swell.

During the trip back we had lectures by some of the naturalists: on lichen growing in the big freeze; volcanic and rock formation; whales; seals; and so on.

The bad weather has returned as pay-back for the beautiful day yesterday. This time it is worse than coming over, with winds up to 10 Beaufort (55-65 knots), and the seas are heavy with a high swell. This time the outside decks are out of bounds, and the lounge and restaurant on deck 6 are both closed, as are the lifts. Most of us now have sea legs so most are not seasick again. Lesley is on Kwells, and has also taken one of the seasick pills the doctor gave her just to keep the tummy settled. The Captain has said it will ease overnight, so that is good news! We are getting very tired of constantly having to brace ourselves to keep upright, even when sitting down! And the constant rolling of the ship is getting very wearing!

Wednesday 10 February

Antarctica Day 5 – Deception Island & Half Moon Island

We woke this morning at 5.45am to a clear blue sky and a Fin Whale swimming past the ship. Lesley was one of the few, if only one, to get this photo, identification later confirmed by the naturalists. This Fin Whale is one of the largest whales in the world.

This morning’s early rise was due to us having to have had breakfast and be ready for an 8am departure to inspect the old whaling station/1940s British Expedition/survey base. The remains consist of rusty oil tanks, a number of wooden buildings, an aircraft hangar, machinery, and old wooden whaler boats.

On approaching Deception Is, we noticed another ship the “Ocean Explorer” sitting outside the entrance to Port Forster. It went into the bay as we approached and from our observations whilst on the island, the Ocean Explorer appeared to just cruise around the bay without stopping.

Port Foster is the well-protected bay inside Deception Island. The Bay is the result of the island being the rim of a volcano which last erupted in 1991-2. The beach is black volcanic rock/ash.

The British no longer have a base in the bay, but both Spain and Argentina have bases further around the bay from where the remains of the British base is located.

Although we were supposed to return to the ship after 90 minutes, we were on the island for two hours having looked at the various buildings which still stand, climbed a peak overlooking the bay and walked a kilometre or two along the beach where we saw numerous Antarctic fur seals and our first pair of Chin Strap Penguins, right where we were to board the zodiac to return to the ship.

chin strap penguins in for a visit

steam rising near the shore once the tide dropped as we were leaving. It is still a very active volcanic area.

Over lunch the ship cruised north-east to Half Moon Island where it stopped and we were given another 90 minutes to explore the Chin Strap Penguin colony and look at the numerous Fur Seals and Weddell seals.

This little chap was a real poser. You could almost picture the donation box in front - gold coin for a photo!

The Argentine Govt has set up a station on the island and two of their naval ships were anchored in the bay when we arrived. One ships was a two masted cadet training sloop whilst the other was a re-supply cargo carrier. A small barge appeared to be taking gear and men off the island and out to the resupply ship, as more men appeared to be on the barge on its return from the island than on the way in. The resupply ship left not long before our ship started on its way back to Ushuaia, with a stop in the Chilian port of Port William to resupply.

Argentine base near where we landed

We got off the ship in clear blue sky and little wind, so the temperature had risen to about 4°. Stuart didn’t use his outer gloves or walking stick. Lesley to start off wore a set of gloves and three layers of clothing. As we stayed longer on the island, Lesley took off her gloves, and inner and outer jackets and tied these around her waist.

Stuart is sitting on a 100 yr old jawbone for a fin whale, the same type of whale Lesley photographed this morning.

In among the Chin Straps we were shown a solitary Macaroni Penguin. The Macaroni Penguins are distinguishable by their yellow head feathers. This one has been coming here for years – an individual with an identity crisis!!

Tuesday 9 February

Antarctica Day 4

FYI. Sunrise is at 4.40am and sunset was at 9.15pm. As we are not that far south (63° 35’S), the night is dark.

We woke up to a white out with visibility of only 100m, but as our group, the second group to leave the boat, was not scheduled to depart on our excursion to Heroina Point on Danger Island until 8.15am we were not too worried. During breakfast it was announced our departure would be delayed until 8.30am (the other group left at 7am).

Due to the fog and low visibility the zodiacs went out in groups of three. Danger Island is a major breeding ground for the Adelie penguin with over 300,000 nests. That meant there were over 1 million penguins in residence when we visited (ie 300,000 x2, plus single birds plus, at least one chick per nest).

As our trip to the island progressed, the fog dispersed and we had a very enjoyable trip through ice blocks and ice frazil, viewing a large leopard seal up very close (2m) whilst it lay on a small ice sheet, with the remains of its penguin breakfast nearby. We then went to a rocky beach where we landed and we were able to see thousands of Adelie penguins up close. The penguins were not just around the water’s edge but up to 150m up the side of the island. We also noticed that the chicks on this island were not as developed as those we saw yesterday afternoon – they had more down. Lesley saw (and photographed) one penguin which had been attached by a seal and was missing a large section of feathers on its belly and side, but was still very much alive.

As we returned to the ship the fog again appeared and the ship was not visible until we were only a few hundred metres away. 

leopard seal

this chap came off second best with a leopard seal perhaps. Huge chunk missing from his torso.

Once everyone was back aboard, the ship headed back to the Antarctic Sound and Brown Bluff for our afternoon excursion. This was our first opportunity to step onto the continent itself (up to now it has been islands and an icefloe).

At this morning’s Recap (of this morning) and Briefing (for this afternoon and tomorrow‘s excursions) we were told this morning’s temperature was 0°C but when wind chill is taken into consideration, about -10°C.  A bit cold, even with thermals and inner and outer snow gear.

For those interested, the zodiacs are powered by a single 60hp four-stroke Yamaha outboard engine.  There are also a couple of centre console zodiacs with twin 60hp engines. Each zodiac takes 10 passengers, five sitting on each side and carries a ship-locating beacon. We wear our zodiac life jackets even when we are on land, only taking them off when we return to the ship.

The ship arrived at Brown Bluff in bright sunshine and 4°, and dropped anchor about 500m from shore. We have experienced, on this cruise, all weather conditions except blizzard. Our zodiac trip from the ship to shore was again through ice. Once on the stony beach we climbed along a bluff (rubble scree barely covering ice underneath) and then across a flat to the base of a glacier which we then ascended for a couple of hundred metres (they didn’t want us going too far and falling into a hidden crevasse!). The glacier was melting and there were little fast-flowing streams and ponds all over.

walking onto the glacier

face of the glacier

Afterwards we went to the base of the glacier and then went to look at another penguin rookery. This was a much smaller one than previously seen. There were both Gentoo and Adelie penguins here. It was funny watching the chicks of both chasing their parents to be fed. One Gentoo parent ran into the water to force the two adolescent chicks to follow, which both did – briefly! Chicks don’t like the water. These two will have to do it shortly as they’re nearly adult and will have to care for themselves.

We returned to the landing spot to return to the ship. During our stay on land (mainland Antarctica) the ship had moved a further kilometre out to sea as it had started to get blocked in with ice.

After dinner we went to a singing/dancing show. [During the afternoon Lesley went to a piano recital of Chopin’s music given by the ship’s concert pianist. It was lovely! He is a concert pianist in real life – this is a great way to get paid and see an amazing part of the world at the same time!]

boots lining the hallways

Monday 8 February

Antarctica Day 3

Lesley, as usual, was the first up and opened the blinds to see Orcas/killer whales in small pods not far from the ship. At the time we were passing through the Antarctic Sound. Within 10 minutes, the Captain made a public address announcement (waking those who were sleeping) that there were numerous killer whale pods in the area. The killer whales were hunting the penguins which were plentiful and feeding on krill. The Captain turned the ship in a circle so we all got to see the killer whales, before we headed off to our first destination for the day.

During breakfast the Captain and expedition leader announced that following discussion with other boats in the area, today’s itinerary was being changed from that published. Due to icebergs and large amounts of ice sheets, the ship was not able to travel south as planned, into the Weddell Sea.

After breakfast, our group was told we had 40 minutes to get ready for an excursion onto a floating piece of ice sheet (approx. 50m square). The guides had been searching for over an hour to find a suitable ice sheet on to which we could be landed. We boarded the zodiacs and climbed onto the ice sheet where we were served Champagne and orange juice! Special!! As the ice sheet was not that large only about 50 people were on the ice sheet at any time. It was rather windy so we had to be careful of our footing, but we were in no danger of falling off into the water.

Following the return of everyone, the ship headed off east, towards our next destination, whilst the Expedition leader and guides briefed us on our next landing. This was to be Paulet Island, which was a rookery for Adelie penguins. This is a conical island, brown dirt and rock. Hundreds of thousands of penguins were there, adults and chicks. In about two weeks there will be no penguins there so we are lucky to have been able to see them. Fur seals lay on the shore, brown skua hung around to pick off a neglected chick or two, cormorants were drying and preening their feathers. Chicks chased parents around until they got fed, adolescent penguins practised swimming, adults waddled around or sat thinking. A very busy place. Penguin chicks were moulting the down and getting their adult feathers. They looked rather comical. Once they are fully fledged they are completely on their own. Parents have nothing further to do with them.

The sun came out and shone on brilliant white icebergs. One such berg we passed is 11 miles (15km) long. One day it will melt, but not for some time yet! We were able to get some nice shots of sunset over this iceberg.

in the bridge