So, I went to Antarctica, and I’m glad I did. Here is our ship, in situ on the Antarctic Peninsula. Small enough to avoid ice-bergs (mostly) navigate the narrow passages, enter the small bays and allow us to land on the continent.Russian crew. They were always referred to as thus, never just the crew. The only ones we saw were those serving in the dining room and those on the bridge.
We were in cabin number 535 on starboard side: important to know as various things were arranged according to deck level and by starboard or port-side. Our cabins were made up daily with fresh towels etc and our beds were turned down and little chocolates left before bed-time. Very civilised. We also made use of the library and the comfortable lounge chairs outside it which were near our cabin. Very cosy for reading when we were between destinations.
[Joe outside the library reading]
About the first thing we did on board, was an emergency drill. This involved us donning what Boris (tour leader) called our foul weather gear, plus warm footwear, grabbing our life jackets and assembling on the deck by the lifeboat, then putting on said life jackets and being prepared to abandon ship. This drill was taken a bit more seriously than the aeroplane safety briefings we’re used to! We had a look inside the lifeboat and it would be pretty horrendous to be in there with the number of people it can take, in a heaving sea. Brought to mind the horrors experienced by refugees seeking asylum in Australia.
There was much talk on our first night about sea sickness and how to prevent it. The ship’s doctor, a GP from New Zealand, was very nice and very helpful, but did not have enough patches to go around all of the Australian passengers who wanted them. These can be obtained in every other country but here; very strange. In the event only Eleanor was unwell enough not to enjoy breakfast next morning. She spent an uncomfortable first day not leaving her cabin. I found the rocking of the ship quite comforting during the night. We were travelling across Drake’s Passage which can be quite a rough crossing apparently, being nick-named Drakes Shake. However Boris gave our two journeys a 4 out of 10 and 3 out of 10 respectively so we were lucky.
Here is where we ate our three meals a day. The chairs are chained to the floor, and very occasionally on our first couple of days we had to hold our plates in situ as the ship rolled. The food was very good. Buffet breakfasts and most lunches, three course multiple choice menus for dinner and occasionally lunch. Lots of wine to choose from; Argentinian, Californian, Italian, French and Australian. Over our eleven days on board we got to meet lots of people; both passengers and from the One Ocean team. All mealtimes were enjoyable. A highlight was when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Eleanor, just up from her sick bunk, at dinner on the 20th of March. She was presented with a birthday cake which not only looked wonderful, but was delicious. Unfortunately no pics of the grand occasion.
One sunny day we even had a barbeque lunch on deck which was a treat. Great work from the crew and the team to get it all set up. There were about four different barbeques and great food. We also got warm spiced cider to drink. However as you can see from these pictures the sun was illusory regarding warmth, but what a view!
The ship had an open bridge which meant we passengers could go up there at any time. We had to be quiet so as not to disturb the crew members. We all spent a bit of time there, although Eleanor and Patrick did so more often.
At first about the only things we saw were birds. Watching them was strangely compelling as they soared and dived over the water. The albatrosses were amazing and there were also petrels. There was a book to help you identify them and spare binoculars although we had all been supplied with one pair per cabin.
We also spent quite a bit of time on the different decks. When we were in Antarctica the ship was quite steady although the decks were wet and slippery. We were exhorted to hold on! This picture of me and Patrick was taken on our first morning off the peninsula. We were so excited to see the continent we rushed out to the deck at about 6.30am. Note my hat. Purchased on shore before we came on board it was too big, falling over my eyes and too loose around my ears especially on the zodiacs. I later bought a better one, with other issues, but which kept me much warmer.
Here is me on deck with my new hat!
During the crossing we spent some time attending presentations. One was compulsory; about what to do and not do in Antarctica. Take away only memories and photographs. There is an International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators of which One Ocean is a member. Later we went to a talk by Harry about governance of Antarctica which went into more detail about the Antarctic Treaty and the international agreements made under it. Harry having been a member of various New Zealand Government negotiating teams. The continent is a zone of peace and science. It’s a fragile place. A shout-out to the Hawke Government that allied with France to stop approval being given for mining here. Unbelievable anyone wanted to do it. Gives one pause about being a tourist here.
Over the course of the trip a number of different presentations were offered and we went to most. How to use your camera was a useful one for me and Joe and Patrick went to one on how to use your binoculars. Others were about the animals we were seeing; whales, seals, penguins. And there was a great one by Harry, Ice, that was very illuminating about the many different types of ice. Later there was a terrific one, by Harry’s wife Karen, about women in Antarctica and the struggle for them to get access to the research stations here. No toilets! An old, but dispiriting story. There were also talks on the historic expeditions to Antarctica, Shackelton et. al. by an American called Glen. Another lovely one tracked Harry and Karen’s relationship over the years; relevant because it commenced here in Antarctica many years ago. It included great photos of their younger selves. Karen was one of three women and sixty men at the Australian Ross Island, McMurdo station. Here are Patrick and Eleanor in the presentation room which was down in the bowels of the boat and therefore always very hot.
We also had a bio-security session which involved us taking our foul weather gear (black waterproof overalls, red outer jacket and green gumboots) down to what is called the Mud Room and vacuum cleaning all the velcro straps and washing the boots in soapy water. Thereafter we had to scrub ourselves down every time we came back onto the ship after a landing or zodiac cruise. Here is Joe in the mud room either getting into or out of his boots. And here are three of us standing outside the mud room in our gear, including life jackets.
As promised by Boris, on our fourth day on board, 20 March, we woke up and found icebergs outside our windows. How exciting. Very calm sea, no more rocking. Lots of snow and ice. These are my first pictures of Antarctica (prior to my session about camera use, and therefore overly blue).
From now on our days became more active. We had our first zodiac outing on this our first day. Its quite an exercise for the team getting the zodiacs into the water and then the zodiac drivers wait for us to get aboard. The team member in the picture of the zodiac here was a Welshman, Mark, who works on environmental tourism projects around the world. He worked in Victoria for the Bracks Government’s Otways walkway project. Had fond (not) memories of the CFMEU (Timberworkers). Here he was the zodiac man in charge of allthings pertaining to our zodiac excursions.
We had to give our name and our cabin member to a team member at the top of the gangway, both on our way into and on our way out of the zodiac. I always found it difficult to remember, probably because I was concentrating on holding my camera and focussing on getting down the 20 or so steps of the very flimsy ladder! We were also instructed in how to carefully get in and out of the craft as it bobbed up and down, using a sailors hold was critical; as was placing one foot on the zodiac edge. You felt quite secure once you were in even though you were sitting on the side of it. They scooted over the water, not through it, and so were remarkably stable. are Eleanor and Patrick in a zodiac on their way to a kayaking cruise. Joe and I are waiting on deck to get into our zodiac. The kayakers have different gear and different life jackets.
From now on our days were largely spent as follows: 7am wake up call from Boris, 7.30 breakfast followed by a morning excursion, back to the ship for lunch during which it would move to another location, possibly a presentation if time permitted. Sometimes there was afternoon tea and there was always an afternoon excursion, then back to the ship for dinner, and an activity in the bar post dinner (talks which were called fireside chats or games like one I went to called How Big Is It where, grouped in teams, we had to guess how big things like a piece of krill, or a whale flipper are – our team did very badly). Or you could go to another presentation, or have a quiet read in your cabin. The excursions were either a landing on the continent at a penguin colony or old whaling station or a zodiac cruise amongst ice-bergs or seals or whales. Action packed! On our first day we landed at Neko Harbour to see a colony of Gentoo penguins, the most common penguin here and expanding into more areas. They were very curious about us and not at all fearful.
As well as the penguins, we were near some glaciers including this one, which the team were expecting to calve any minute. We could hear sounds like thunder, and we saw a small bit crash into the ocean, but not a big ice-berg.
Harry, our ice-man, climbed a glacier nearby to measure whether crevasses that he was monitoring over the summer had expanded. We never did find out whether they had. I think he was wanting to monitor them for a longer period before making any pronouncement.
Here are Eleanor and Patrick on their first outing in the kayaks. Which they would continue to do for all but one of the days to follow. Looks cold but they enjoyed it very much as did their kayaking companions. They (the kayakers) were considered the elite on board (at least the kayakers thought so).
After lunch, on our way to a new spot where whale sightings were promised, we stopped and it was announced we were surrounded by whales. So zodiacs were unloaded and we had a completely magical afternoon surrounded by humpback whales. It was hard to capture the excitement and majesty of these animals. They seemed to be playing with us; coming close, just hanging nearby, languidly diving down, then gliding under and around the zodiac. Incredible. Amazing afternoon. Freezing when we came back to the ship after two hours, we were welcomed with mulled wine which was lovely.
The next day we were woken early, to travel through the Lemaine channel to a place called the ice-berg graveyard. Apparently spectacular. The channel itself is very narrow, and called the Kodak channel because its a photographer’s dream. But the day was very misty and you could not see the sheer cliff tops surrounding us. Soon enough our path was blocked by an ice-berg.
So we changed course and cruised slowly to our next planned outing; which was to the American Antarctic research facility, Palmer Station. Our visit was preceded by a presentation from the Station chief which was interesting as was seeing the station. Our visit was made a bit more exciting because we had to traverse brash ice to get there. Not for the faint hearted! Nor would living on the station be much fun in winter. The people there were all preparing to go home as summer was ending, leaving only a skeleton crew. It will all be covered in snow soon. No-one asked whether Trump was going to keep funding this research. Our visit put one furphy to rest that Eleanor has been curious about. People who work on these stations do not have to have their appendix out before they come!
And here is the brash ice that we traversed. They did something with the engine to push the ice away from the gangway when we were leaving and again when we returned. This is serious ice. Although not reflected in this photo, we saw the sun for the first time during our afternoon here.
It snowed overnight. I woke up at 4am and saw it falling, heavily. Doesn’t make a difference to the landscape here, there is plenty of snow about already. It does make a difference to the ship though and we were warned to be careful out on deck. Which is where we went because again, the ship was surrounded by whales. We had trouble getting onto the zodiacs because there were a couple of whales playing around the gangway. Never happened before we were told. Another wonderful experience all morning. It was cold, 0 degrees and continued to snow. We went to another Gentoo penguin colony passing whales on our way there and back and seeing crabeater seals for the first time and also fur seals and briefly a leopard seal.
Crabeater seals are so called because people thought they ate crabs but they don’t, krill is their food. I think they are terrific. Although they don’t do much. Lie on the ice and occasionally pop into the water for a swim.
We also went around and past beautiful ice-bergs. These ones were small and translucent aqua in colour. I don’t know whether this signifies they are new or old. Either way, beautiful.
It was so cold and wet we pulled out the little yellow hoodies from our red jackets. Joe befriended a penguin and and here is our first fur seal. They don’t bother the penguins but they are quite active on land. they can also be aggressive so you need to be careful around them. The rookeries are incredibly smelly. Also rocky, given that it is summer. Will be covered in snow soon. There is a lot of red stuff around which we were not sure about; maybe regurgitated food from feeding? The chicks are now the same size as the adults and they are all moulting which we are told is very energy intensive and therefore be mindful of this.
That was just the morning. In the afternoon we went out again, me somewhat reluctantly (I was exhausted), but it was another magical experience. Humpback whales so close! One went right under our zodiac. They make a snoring sound, like cows, says Joe. They lie quite still and then they rock and then dive softly, just bending slightly, no tail splashing. They only do the full blown dive further away from us; perhaps knowing that if they did it closer they would turf us out!
They actually look like submarines in the water, apparently they are sleeping after a hard night’s work filling themselves with krill.
On day seven, the 23rd of March I saw the sun rising. Quite a sight. And it lasts for a long time – much longer than at home. So not much effort involved in catching it on film. It cast an eery light behind the bluff we were sailing past. These photos were taken from our cabin.
Later we had another landing at a spot with lots of Gentoo penguins. Eleanor and Patrick were with us, not kayaking. It was a beautiful day. Blue sky and sunny. But still cold on your face. Here is one of my favourite penguin photos.
Here is the family and another picture of me. Joe thought I looked like a penguin!
I stayed in for the afternoon, on the doctor’s recommendation, as I had a bloodshot eye. From the cold he said. I thereby missed another close encounter with whales. But I’d had plenty of those.
In the evening we had a presentation from the whale researchers on board. They’re fixing tags to the humpbacks to track the whale’s movements and are using drones to film whale activities, interacting with our zodiacs. If you zoom in on the picture on the left you can see Ari placing a tag on a whale. On the right is a photo taken from their drone footage near our zodiacs. You don’t appreciate their size when they’re so close.
Day 8 on the ship and our last day on the continent. In the morning we sailed to Deception Island which is an active volcano. The ship had to come through a very narrow entrance into a beautiful bay formed by the volcanic crater.
Owned by the British it was leased to a Norwegian whaling company and for a period about 600 people worked here. It stopped operations in around the 1930’s I think. The most recent eruption in 1969/70 seriously damaged the wooden buildings which, until that time had been in pretty good shape. Amazing landscape; Mordor. Dark earth, the remains of the eruption. Huge, rusty, half buried tanks used to store whale oil, odd iron equipment, a stove (an Aga)?, various buildings including the magistrate’s house (where the Brits collected the rent) and a wooden barn from which the first aeroplane flight on the continent was launched. The hole in the side of the tank you can see in the picture on the left was made by the British to prevent the Germans using these tanks for storage during the second world war. There were lots of fur seals about here and you had to be quite careful walking around. Its good to see they have made such a recovery after being almost wiped out for their fur. But keep your distance! There were also three graves, the remains of what had been an extensive cemetery.
All of this was quite interesting, but the big event was the polar plunge; an endeavour in which the younger and hardier members of the expedition participated. Including Patrick and Eleanor. A quick dip. Freezing! .
We had a final excursion in the afternoon to Hannah Bay on Livingstone Island. Here we saw lots of Chinstrap penguins and two Macaroni penguins who live in this rookery but have never bred any chicks. There were also more of the Gentoo which are everywhere. We didn’t see any Adele penguins which we might have expected. Nor did we see any Emperor penguins as these live further south. I really liked the Chinstraps, so named for the black line under their beaks.
Another bay surrounded by black soil. Elephant seals on the beach, so we walked a little above it. Lots of penguins coming back to the colony, like traffic in a rush hour. The penguins took no notice of us or of the seals, just went on their very determined way.
That was our last excursion. Back on the ship we were able to leave our foul weather gear in the mud room where the team went to work cleaning and drying it all. After dinner there was a charity auction with all proceeds going to Ari’s whale research. Joe, in what he is calling his Shackleton moment (he’d been reading a lot about the early Antarctica expeditions!) paid an exorbitant sum for a facsimile of the whisky that Shackleton took with him on his 1907 British Antarctic expedition. This is a whisky made to the exact specifications of the whisky that was found, still drinkable, years after the expedition. Down to the handmade box and lovely little hessian bag for the cork! Ah well a nice memento to keep. And money to a good cause.
On our return journey across Drake’s passage we reverted to later breakfasts, presentations, reading and afternoon naps. But what we take away from Antarctica is what we are permitted. Great memories and great photos.
Terry Garwood says
Thanks – I really enjoyed reading about your family’s amazing trip to Antarctica . I had no idea you could arrange such science/recreational / nature based trips there. The photos of the wildlife and scenery are spectacular ! Cheers Terry
Pauline says
Great read. Love the photos and enjoyed hearing the way scientific research and enviro tourism go hand in hand. Congratulations to Patrick and Eleanor on braving the water…they must be mad! And I think Joe’s ‘Shackleton’ moment is a wonderful momento of a great trip.
Mark Grant says
Yes, Jenny, a beautiful record of what was obviously a great family experience. I particularly love the photo of Joe, Eleanor and Patrick in the Bridge, and the one of Eleanor and Patrick looking so happy and in the full of the glow of youth.
Bruce C Hartnett says
Jenny – great descriptions of the events and the photos were fabulous – especially the whales – close encounters of the first kind!
Eleanor and Patrick most brave to venture out in the kayaks – little wonder they felt superior to the Zodiakers – like the cavalry feels about the infantry – but also in swimming in that water, no matter how briefly!
Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!