Leixoes, Porto and Guimaraes

We are in Portugal! 

Early this morning we moored in Leixoes, Portougal. But the ship clocks had been set back by one hour, so that meant 1 hour MORE to sleep. A nice start of the day for everyone. Unfortunately, our gangway seemed to" sleep" a little bit longer than usual also, it would not open, and we had to wait for some time before we could leave the ship.

What to do in Leixoes? Being here, we had different options: Some stayed in Leixoes, and took a walk around the harbour, or maybe enjoyed the nice beach. Some went on an excursion to Guimares, one of Portugals most historical cities.

Others went to Porto, either on their own or on a city tour, - combined with a river cruise on the river Douro..

..and a visit to a port wine cellar. Skål!

Join in

There have been lots of superlatives in this blog. Writing about today it is tempting to add more. But it would not describe this day properly. Because to all of the superlatives about wildlife, scenery and beauty there was something extra, something special today. And that cannot be expressed by nicer and bigger words. It is more about something that happens inside, deep inside. It happens to individuals every day. Just today there were many onboard that had this special impression. As many that it was possible to feel it "in the air". A feeling of very close connection to the nature surrounding us. A feeling of being a real part of it, free of the loads that the usual daily life in the 'world at home' is presenting.

We saw Humpback Whales and Orcas in the Errera Channel moving around the ship, diving and showing up again. We could hear their breathing and see the giant bodies move gently in the water. Further in the Channel we stopped at Neko Harbour for a landing. On every rocky patch there were Gentoos breeding and all the time there are others on the "penguin highways" between nests and shore. There were lots of ice chunks, bergies and a few ice bergs in the small bay and while we were ashore we witnessed several more calvings of the glacier. One falling part of the glacier caused a set of waves rolling onto the opposite beach where we were. One of the waves around two meters high.

From Neko Harbour we went on through the nearby Paradise Bay. It was surprisingly silent on the ship. Many passengers were standing on decks 5 and 7 being totally attracted by the mountains and glaciers around. Three hours later we arrived at the northern end of Lemaire Channel. While we went through the channel there were just small comments on the decks like "What did I do to deserve this beauty". The upper part of the mountains was hidden in clouds but here and there we could see snow covered peaks through some holes in the clouds. In the channel there were again chunks and bergs of ice but still leaving enough space for us to manoeuvre in-between them to the southern end of Lemaire Channel. Passing by some impressive arched icebergs we turned northward towards the Drake Passage.

That is what we saw. The atmosphere on Fram and the feelings deep inside most of us are far beyond words. It is more like joining in to the nature's own heartbeat.

Pack Ice

On our way roughly southwestward we continued with the Fram University, which offers a wide range of subjects from popular science, over unique first hand expedition reports to discussions about current polar topics. And this university is as open and flexible that the lectures have breaks when there is something thrilling going on around the ship. Like a group of fin whales, groups of penguins on drifting ice, or spectacular ice bergs with intense blue holes, caves and arches. In this area there are mostly tabular icebergs, formerly parts of the circum Weddell Sea ice shelf areas.

On the second Christmas Day we reached the pack ice north of the Weddell Sea.

The ice of the Weddell Sea is rotating clockwise. It was this movement of the ice that saved Shackleton's Expedition by taking them northward. But for us going southwestward it was a problem. Reaching far out north the pack ice forced us to change our course for a couple of hours and go northward to circumnavigate it. Finally at a place where the ice coverage was less than 8/10th we pushed our way through to open water on the other side and continued towards Elephant Island and Antarctic Peninsula.

And again we were accompanied by big groups of birds and whales.

British

Stanley, main town on the Falkland Islands, 2500 inhabitants, plus 500 extra on the rest of the Falkland Islands in the southernmost Atlantic Ocean. It is British on the Falklands. A British warm welcome already on the pier, driving on the "wrong side" on the way from harbour to town, British style pubs, even a British telephone booth and not least British humour.

Besides town visits we went on a set of excursions to choose from.

For example a nature walk around the peninsula that forms one half of Stanley's natural harbour. Local experienced guides explained the local and Falkland's typical wild and plant life.

Another tour headed for the Bluff Cove Lagoon. A place set in a wide bay, in former times just with the weekend cottage of a farmer and his family, with the specialty of having about a thousand of breeding pairs of Gentoo penguins around.

 

Today it is more than a cottage. Land Rovers took us through the rough ice-age sculptured landscape to the lagoon and the penguins.

Since a few years there are even some king penguins that found their place next to the Gentoos.

After a stroll along the beach there was time for not British but Falklandish cookies and cakes. They are served with British tea, or coffee or hot chocolate in a cafe with wonderful view on the high waves that roll onto the sandy beach. And with a bit of luck you can even see penguins in the waves taking the chance of being drifted ashore with them.

After the excursions there was time for a walk in "downtown" Stanley, as well as through the "uptown" streets with their bright and colourful painted houses.

What a pleasant British day far far South.

Ushuaia and the first day at sea

We arrived early in Ushuaia and were greeted – as usually is the case – with stronger and colder winds than in Antarctica, as the Beagle channel functions as a gigantic funnel where winds are aligned and accelerated; and the pier is a structure that juts out into this natural wind tunnel.

As we do, we bid farewell to our departing guests and started preparing MV Fram for the incoming ones; it is nice to think that to the newly made friends we are saying goodbye to, we will soon add new ones – as friends are irreplaceable! After having checked everybody in, having performed the emergency drill, and having started cruising down the Beagle Channel en route to the Falkland/Malvinas islands, we enjoyed a welcome toast offered by Captain Andreassen and his crew; the first steps of a new friendship…

After a quiet night, we awoke on our first day at sea overlooking the majestic peaks of Staten Island to our starboard. As we gently sailed past the island and into the open sea, we started getting ready for the adventures ahead: showing our passengers how to don their life jackets and board our tendering boats; offering them lectures on the areas we’re travelling through and lie ahead, as well as the animals and curiosities in them; showing them from the outer decks, the various and gracile birds following the ship; giving them time to start building up the emotion of the wonderful trip we are starting.

 

Yankee Harbor

A photo diary of our first landing.