Antarctica, Continued

 

Continuing our Antarctic adventure...

Additional. landings were at Cuverville Island, where we saw many more Gentoo penguins; Port Lockroy, a British observation post during WWII; Peterman Island, the most southern point on our trip; Neko Bay, where we went ashore on the Antarctic Continenet; Whalers' Bay, the site of an abandoned large whaling operation; and Deception Island, a collapsed volcano where people could swim in warm waters.

Whalebones on one of our excursions.

At different landing sites we saw whale bones and even two complete skeletons put in place at one landing.  As we explored different areas we weren't always certain whether something was petrified wood or whale bones. 

 

At Cuverville Island...

Here we saw a lone Chinstrap penguin in addition to hundreds of Gentoo penguins. Also we saw many whalebones strewn around the area.

Port Lockroy...

Port Lockroy was a major harbor for whalers until the 1930's. During World War II it was one of three secret bases established by the the British in Antarctica to keep an eye on German shipping. It is now a museum and a popular stop for tourists.  More than 7000 people visit it each year. Part of the interior is preserved as it was in the 1940's. There is a large souvenir shop which finances the operation of the site. Yes, credit cards are accepted! The most southern post office in the world is also located here. Be warned, delivery takes 2 to 6 weeks.

 

It was a great place to land, with penguins and beautiful views and the operators of the museum were very cordial.

Note the specialized Antarctic footwear. We were amused and surprised to see the person manning the station wearing purple Crocs.  He said that before he started wearing them he had great difficulty with chilblains.  He also told us that a representative of the company was there and said they would be in touch for advertising purposes and he is still waiting to hear from them.

Peterman Island....

Peterman Island, at 65 degrees 10'5 South, was the southern most point we traveled on our journey. We were about 85 miles north of the Antarctic Circle. There is an abandoned refuge hut here that we were told not to enter or touch. It is used sometimes by Antarctic workers to get away from the bases to which they are assigned. At one end of the island, there is a cross to commemorate the deaths of three British survey workers who died in 1982 while crossing the ice.

During a "special tour" of Peterman Island, which was very rocky, Carlos took us into a cove with many penguins to help a leopard seal, who was following us,  find food. We were treated to this view of a seal up on the rocks.

On the continent of Antarctica...

Antarctic is the 5th largest continent (Europe and Australia are smaller).  The continent has almost 90 percent of the world's ice and 70 percent of its fresh water. It was first sighted in 1820. It is about one and a half times the size of the United States. The exact size cannot be determined because it is very difficult to differentiate the ice cover from the land mass. Ninety eight percent of the continent is covered with ice which has an average depth of over one mile, making it the highest continent in the world. One interesting fact we have learned is that, based on precipitation levels, Antarctica has the largest desert in the world. Also, 500 million years ago the South Pole was at the equator

Here we are on the Antarctic continent at Neko Bay. We couldn't go quite as far south as the Antarctic Circle due to weather conditions, but we could set foot on the continent.  It was the only place we landed where there was sand on the beach, rather than just slippery rocks.

After a brief walk around we decided to head back to the ship. However, as we waited and circled around in our zodiac we watched the ship move. It was trying to get away from the moving ice floes and ice chunks that were swarming around the boat.  The captain was concerned that some of the larger chunks could endanger the anchor chain and the ice floes made it difficult to get back on to the ship. As we watched, the ship moved right into an iceberg and anchored there.

At the top of the iceberg was a pool of water and a couple of intrepid men, Ian and Declan, decided to swim in the pool.  After being transported to the iceberg by zodiac they began the difficult climb until they reached the top and plunged in very briefly.

Returning to the bottom was much more difficult. They tried to slide down and Ian was more successful at that.  It might have had something to do with his cotton swim trunks.  Dec, on the other hand, was wearing a Speedo and stuck to the very dry ice. Also, it was easy to get feet stuck in the deep crevices in the iceberg. Finally, after some very hairy moments that we observed from the deck of the ship, he was able to get to the bottom and swim to the boat.  After that, however, he had to eat most of his meals standing up! 

 

Next to Whalers' Bay...

Here is Marie, standing beside a whale bone fragment, at Whalers' Bay, which we visited on a foggy pre-dawn landing. (See our ship in the upper left corner)In addition to many whalebones we saw abandoned boats, large towers for holding whale oil and other remnants of the whaling industry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also at this stop the group saw 20 Antarctic fur seals. One of the highlights at this early morning visit was the performance of a sea lion less than ten feet away from us.  The show went on for at least half an hour before the performer slid gracefully into the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deception Island...

Our last excursion was Deception Island, which is a collapsed volcano.  The rising steam was indicative of the thermal heat which made swimming in Antarctica a more realistic possibility.  Those who decided to take the plunge told us that there was an area about 10 meters wide where the water was warm and just outside of that area it was ice cold.

After leaving Deception Island we knew that we could look forward to 48 more hours of rough seas, when we met up with "Mr. Drake" as Julio put it. And indeed we did, with estimated wave crests of 30 feet and winds at more than 40 knots.  By now we had an idea what to expect as we watched out our window and from other vantage points (never outside!) and found it fascinating and mesmerizing.

Our ship's literature included this quote:

Some of us are over the seasick stage

 and no longer want to die.
 

n

(Harford, after 10 days on the

 Nimrod with Shackleton, 1907)

A funny thing happened when we finally got into the Beagle Channel. We spent the night aboard the ship waiting for a pilot boat to escort us up the channel and back to Ushuaia.  No one could sleep in the quiet, smooth, glasslike sea --- including those who had been seasick for much of the trip!!

 

Finally we had to say good-by and that was really tough.  We had become quite attached to our new friends and the wonderful crew who contributed to making this such a special trip. In his farewell address, Julio told us that the trip was meant to create as closely as possible how it would have felt to be among the early explorers to Antarctica.  We thought that they had succeeded.

 

 

It was the end of an exciting adventure, but before returning home we were going to spend a few days in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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