Algarve

Today we had the chance to explore the Algarve coast of Portugal. We arrived in the city of Portimao early morning. Again our excursion buses were standing ready on the pier. The local guides waiting for us patiently, but eager to show us their region. The Algarve region lies in the South of Portugal and is famous for its beaches and beautiful coastline. In the western part you have fine golden beaches everywhere along the coastline, often lyingbetween high cliffs. One of this beaches was lying actually just 20 minutes from the place we were docked. Praia da Rocha has a length of 4 kilometers and numerous restaurants and bars in the vicinity. Many guests found their way to this beach and some even took a dip in the ocean. A little chilly at first but With a sea temperature at around 20 degrees not bad at all! The walking possibilities are very nice in this area too. Steffen, from the expedition team, tried out a new hike that goes along Praia da Rocha and then over the cliffs to other secluded beaches and cliffs. Definitely an option for next time! Cape St. Vincent is the southwestern most point of Portugal with far views to both sides. It was almost possible to see Africa and America from there... For our German guests it was possible to buy the last 'Bratwurst' before America! Some actually did and received a certificate for it.

The lighthouse on Cape St. Vincent is garding one of the busiest shipping areas in the world, it is also a landmark for the ships traveling to or from the Mediterranean. The cliffs at the Cape rise vertically from the Atlantic up to 75 meters high. After this relaxed day we make our way to Africa!

The great elephant of Nantes

At 8 o'clock this morning we moored at the pier of the island of Nantes. It is fair to say that the main attraction on this island is the museum "Les Machines de l'ile". This museum is built on the location of the former shipyards and it shows mechanical creations where Jules Verne's "invented worlds" are combined with Leonardo da Vinci's mechanical universe. The main attraction of this museum is the great elephant. After 30 months of construction it was ready in 2007. The elephant is 12 m high, 21 m long, exists out of 48 tons of steel and wood and costed around 2,5 million euro to build. But it was worth effort and the money!!  People can actually sit (max 49 passengers) on this humongous elephant and have a ride for half an hour. In the first four years the elephant carried already 250.000 passengers. It's really amazing, it walks like a real elephant, majestic and it even flaps its ears and can spray water if spectators are coming too close. But the city of Nantes has much more to offer. Especially on a day as today, mild temperatures and sun! Nantes is located on the Loire River 50 kilometer from the Atlantic coast. By the way, the Loire river is the longest river of France with a length of 1012 km. One of its main tributaries is the Erdre River and on this lovely river we could join a river cruise in the morning. This excursion was combined with a visit to the St. Pierre Cathedral and the castle of Dukes of Brittany, which both lie in the centre of Nantes. Also the surroundings of Nantes are very beautiful. In the afternoon we had two excursion possibilities, either to the town Guerande or to the Chateau Goulaine & Clisson. At 20.30 we left the pier and made our way west to sail down the Loire towards the Bay of Biscay.

Paris by night!

Yesterday afternoon we took the bus to 'the city of lights', 'the city of love', Paris! We were lucky to miss the traffic leaving Rouen and too late to have any conflicts driving into Paris. So 1,5 hour later we drove around the l'Arc de Triomphe and shortly after down the Champs-Élyseés. There was still an hour of daylight left, so we could enjoy all the main hightlights with good light. From our high bus seats we could enjoy all the choas around us. We were all glad we had a good chauffeur who was used to the Parisian traffic, and that we were not driving ourselves! At 20 o'clock we were at the bottem of the Eiffel tower where we boarded our restaurant boat! It was like stepping into another world, with all the glass windows around us we could enjoy the amazing views of the Eiffel tower, the Notre-Dame cathedral and the numerous

bridges. 

All this while eating a delicous french dinner, listening to the romantic live music and moving gently down the stream of the river Seine. A success! 

Today we had the entire morning to explore the city of Rouen. Either by taking the shuttle bus or by the offered guided tour. Another excursion possibility was to Giverny, to visit Monet's museum: the house and gardens formerly owned by Monet. In the afternoon the Fram turned around and we made our way westagain, down the river Seine towards the Atlantic.

Rough sea on our way to Hamburg



A day at sea can be a day to relax, catch up on some reading, sit longer at breakfast then usual, visit the sauna or to stand on one of the outerdecks to enjoy the views. But this was maybe not possible for everybody today since the sea was quite rough. We had windspeeds of 18-20 m/s (8 on the scale of Beauford) and waves of around 4 meters high, which made the ship moving quite a bit. But still some guests visited the bridge in the morning and attended one of the several lectures given during the day. A few hours after midnight we will arrive at the river mouth of the Elbe, to make our way to the German city Hamburg. Here a big group of new passengers will come on board in the afternoon.

The route South: Bergen - Las Palmas



Fire is nice too!

The theme for today is fire, fire from underground. This morning we sailed through an opening in the caldera of the active volcano known as Deception Island. The opening is named Neptune’s Bellows and is probably a reference to the fierce winds that sometimes blow through. The bellows are tricky to navigate because of these winds but also because it is very narrow and has a rock below the surface in the middle. We had lots of ice floes going through which foretold what we would find inside the caldera.

There was lots of ice in Whaler’s Bay, which made landing impossible there. Instead we reached further into the caldera and found Telefon Bay free of ice. So we landed in this stark landscape, seemingly devoid of life and formed only by physical processes- volcanism and the interplay of rock and ice. Even in this place though, we saw a few birds like the Gentoo Penguin, Blue-eyed Shag and South Polar Skua. Many of us hiked up the side of the volcanic hill above the landing place, and eventually up to the peek of a cinder cone and around a greenish lake. We returned to the Fram feeling that we got to know a volcano a bit better!

After a short reposition over lunch we moored near the Argentinean base “Primero de Mayo” on the shores of Port Foster. Base personnel are not due to arrive until the beginning of the new year so we had the beautiful area to ourselves. We hiked along the beach and discovered a young Weddell Seal resting. Further along, two strong fumaroles were venting hot, sulphurous gases. The one down by the sea was literally boiling the seawater as it lapped over the vent. Sub-surface the water was stained with iron oxide. All this really made us feel close to the volcano. A real highlight for today was swimming in Antarctica! The volcanic activity warmed the water at the beach but beyond it was about 0°C! Many took the plunge and will receive a special certificate. Our intrepid photographer Simon captured all the action by immersing himself in the icy waters for almost the whole landing- "Mad dogs and Englishmen swim in Antarctic waters!"

So yesterday we had ice and today we had fire. Who knows what is in store for us tomorrow and we start crossing the Drake Passage on our way back to Ushuaia.

We made it!

It is understandably very important for our passengers to set foot on the mainland of Antarctica (although if you think about it, all land is connected and the separation of islands from the mainland by water is merely an illusion!). Yesterday we could not make our mainland landing due to waves and swell at the tender-pit, so today we had another go, this time at Almirante Brown in Paradise Bay. But before we tell you about our visit, we should mention our fantastic cruise through the Gerlache Strait this morning. Overnight we sailed on a bumpy Bransfield Strait but as soon as we entered the Gerlache, the sea smoothed out. The sun was shining through breaks in the cloud, illuminating Brabant and Anvers Islands to our starboard side and the mainland to port. The ice caps and glaciers on those islands always remind us of whipped meringue! The clouds were foreboding, especially the Altocumulus lenticularis clouds, which often indicate bad weather to come.

Almirante Brown is the site of an Argentinean summer research base, seldom used (no one was home today!). When we arrived in the afternoon, we were confronted with a lot of ice and icebergs apparently blocking the landing site. However, we were lucky to have a beautiful, clear path between two medium-sized bergs, which acted to shelter our landing from the very strong winds blowing at the time.

After we touched down on mainland Antarctica, many of us climbed the steep hill behind the station and admired the tremendous view of Paradise Bay before sliding down on our rears. What fun!

So, for those “ticking” continents in their travels "life list", Antarctica is the big one, and certainly the most difficult to achieve. Today we made it!

Ice and wood!

Two "elemental" themes for today were ice and wood. Ice in the Beagle Channel, and wood in and around Puerto Williams. The morning was devoted to ice as we cruised west along the beautiful Beagle Channel, named after the ship HMS Beagle during the first hydrographic survey of the coasts of southern South America in 1826-1830. Both sides of the channel are mountainous and on the mainland (north) side, the ice cap of the Darwin Cordillera, feeds several spectacular glaciers that end above or on the shores of the channel. Each glacier, starting with “España” to the west, and ending with “Holanda” in the east is named after a European country. The viewing conditions were wonderful with the sun lighting the glacial ice and ice-capped mountain tops and myriad puffy clouds strewn about the sky.

Once the glacial parade had finished, we continued down the Beagle to our afternoon destination of Puerto Williams, Chile. Puerto Williams is a smallish navel town on Isla Navarrino, Chile. It is the most southernly TOWN in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina being the most southerly CITY in the world. Magellanic forest, hills and mountains form the backdrop to the town, which we took advantage of by making two hikes- one to an ethnobotanical reserve and the other to a small waterfall and forest trail. Along the way we immersed ourselves in this cool forest, the smell of the Southern Beech wood, and its flora and fauna.

In the evening we returned to the ship for supper and started our voyage to Antarctica. Tomorrow morning we should be off Cape Horn with the Drake Passage in the front of us. Exciting times are ahead!