Our Day Was filled With Firsts

I suppose it isn´t surprising that on our first trip to Antarctica our days would be filled with many amazing first time experiences. We had many wonderful experiences that are not listed below, but here follows a few of the day´s highlights and most interesting firsts.
1. Our first iceberg was seen early this morning. The spotting of the first iceberg in Antarctica is one of those moments that truly heralds your arrival to the land of ice!
2. Our clothes were vacuumed! I´m sure none of us had had our outdoor clothing and backpacks vacuumed before. It was all part of the measures to prevent the introduction of alien species to Antarctica program.
3. Humpback whales! For many of us it was the first time to see a whale. This morning at 9:20 as we approached Nelson Strait two humpback whales surfaced about 100 metres from the ship. We had excellent views of the mammalian behemoths. We could even see what they had been dining on for breakfast as a brilliant pink cloud of digested krill plumed behind one of the whales just before it dived.

1. It was our first time in the speedy sturdy Polar Cirkle Boats. It took all of about 120 seconds to get from the ship to the shore where the Expedition Team greeted us. Expedition Leader Anja Erdmann gave us the layout of the landing and a time to be back to the landing site. Helpful expedition Team members were spread along all of the points of interest on shore.
2. Who will ever forget the first time they laid eyes on a real live, walking, swimming, defecating penguin? Who will forget the head-bobbing walk, the pendulum body wobble, the wings wide-to-the-side, the dissonant chorus of the Chinstrap ecstatic display, the olfactory-ness of a thriving penguin colony?
3. A crested penguin. Without a doubt Macaroni´s are one of the coolest of all birds. Most of us climbed a small hill to visit with one muddy Mac in the midst of the Chinstrap colony.
4. Our first Antarctic Fur Seal which was also the first pinniped for many of us. We had been schooled during our rather comprehensive IAATO briefing earlier in the day that Antarctic Fur Seals are aggression on flippers. This animal was the exception that proved the rule. The healthy young male slept through almost the entire landing. Perhaps he could be best described as passively aggressive.
5. And please remember… this is only day one of our landings. There is an entire boat load of exciting adventures to come.

Sir Francis Drake and Drake Passage

Sir Francis Drake was a captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, a politician and a pirate. He was a hero to the English and was feared by the Spanish.
We anticipated a day with his namesake, Drake Passage, with nervous trepidation. Would our experience be something more akin to the actions of the violent pirate or the smooth politician? All of us were aware of the Drake’s justified reputation. The roughest body of water in the world. Sure, there are other bodies of water in the world with storms just as tempestuous as here but nowhere are there cyclones circling with such fierce frequency
Some of us wished for a storm. An adventure. They wanted to see whether this was all rep or real. Not me. Never me. Why ask for an adventure that does not have an off switch. There is no getting off of this roller coaster until Drake decides.

It turned out that today was a near perfect Drake Day. There was enough motion to the ocean to placate the adventurous souls amongst us and yet not so much as to confine too many of us to our cabins. There was sunshine. There were patches of blue sky. It was wonderful really.
The conditions were also ideal for the many seabirds about the ship throughout the day. There was enough wind to keep the albatross and various other seabirds effortlessly aloft, This morning from 10:00 until 12:00 we joined our lecture team on the upper aft deck to o-o-o! and a-h-h! as majestic Wandering albatross glided by. They are truly seabird royalty. We also saw; Southern Giant Petrels, White-chinned Petrels, Prions, Wilson’s Storm Petrels and Black-bellied Storm Petrels
Throughout the day the winds dropped. The seas dropped. Perhaps the next Drake will better suit the storm chasers amongst us. I hope not.

Fantastic conditions for our bird watching session. However, the company of two cups of coffee
would have made it ideal.

Don’t cry for us, Argentina!

In the morning Ushuaia bade us a stunning welcome in bright sunlight. Patagonia is always beautiful, but today was special with warm temperatures and the sun reigning for most of the day. However, the southern end of the world would not be true to its fame, if it stayed sunny the whole day, so every now and then stunning cloud formations and strong winds created spectacular backdrops. We had to say goodbye to our passengers of the past week and even the youngest one was seen off with an emotional farewell.

The better part of the day was taken up by preparations for our new passengers. One of the highlights of the days in port is always the arrival of the luggage. Everything must be checked and delivered to the cabins quickly, because our new arrivals should find it in place when they come in. So by the end of the day we take our leave from Argentina and set the course for Antarctica again. We will miss all the wonderful flowers in the eternal ice of Antarctica, but don’t cry for us, Argentina, we will be back!

Drake Shake

We were gloating about an easy Drake Passage too early yesterday, because a big storm got us in the middle of the night. Our sleep was quite disturbed by the huge waves and high winds with which our ship was battling. The morning on board was not comfortable at all. Almost all the lectures had to be cancelled and some of the crew and passenger felt like they had never been this sick before.

Luckily the sea calmed down in the afternoon, so that our routine was going back to normal and we enjoyed fresh waffles and a lot of leisurely reading apart from the newly resumed lecture program. Late afternoon brought us into South American waters. Here in the shelter of the continent the water is very calm so that everybody can enjoy their last evening on board our MV Fram, it is going to be easy cruising towards Ushuaia; by now the shake which we received on the Drake seems nothing but a bad dream.

Drake Lake

Today the dreaded Drake was very calm and peaceful for us. Everybody on board enjoyed the smooth cruise we were getting. An elusive Antarctic Petrel was bidding us a last farewell from Antarctica. It was a very special sighting indeed, as these birds are rare and it is unusual to see them at this time of the year. On board the passengers enjoyed bridge visits. A rare opportunity to take a glimpse of the innermost secrets of the ship’s command, and our gallant captain was patiently answering all questions.

The rest of the day was filled with lectures on all various topics around Antarctica. We learnt a lot about the wildlife, the history, and the ecology of our planet’s last continent of wilderness. In the evening we began to realize that the time to say goodbye to MV Fram is getting near, because the captain’s dinner reminded us that the cruise is drawing to its close. Our eager and friendly service team from the restaurant and the housekeeping department were there to wish us a safe journey home just as well as the captain and his officers. During the past week we were living our dream and cruising back on a very pleasant “Drake Lake” made the entire experience so much more memorable.

A day in Paradise

Today we really call ourselves lucky. We started out in the morning with a cruise in the Neumeyer Channel and some of the surrounding bays hoping to find some whales: and how lucky we were! A good number of humpback whales made an appearance all around the ship and we were privileged that these awe inspiring animals allowed us to watch them closely. On board the excitement was running high and everybody was on their feet trying to get the best shot with state of the art cameras down to cellphones.

In the afternoon we came to our last landing site on this cruise in Paradise Bay, and the weather was clear enough for us to see the spectacular scenery. Everybody enjoyed our second contact with the Antarctic continent. The birdlife was abundant and some of the animals were really getting friendly with one another, even though it is already late in the season. Two sheathbills were courting and two penguins were definitely well past the first stages of courtship. Well and truly, it was a day in Paradise for everybody; many of us got infected with the “Antarctic virus”. And, oh yes, good bye Jean Louis, you will be sorely missed, and Happy Birthday Frieda!

A wonderful day in the wilderness

This morning started with yet another highlight of our Antarctic quest. We were welcomed at the Ukrainian station of Vernadsky. They are one of the most hospitable and relaxed groups of scientists on the entire continent. We all enjoyed the interesting information on their work down here and we were impressed by their very active social life with vodka and every possible trait of merriment. Even the patron saint of mariners, St Nicolas, gets to display Antarctica’s natives – the penguins – on an icon inside the station. Thank you very much, guys, for a nice morning.

In the afternoon we reached Petermann Island, an all time favorite landing site. It looked as if our Fram had stranded and was about to be entered by the resident adelie and gentoo penguins who were as endearing and funny to watch as ever. The cormorants on Petermann were busy rearing their chicks; the poor creatures can never supply enough food to feed the hungry beaks. We all lined up to watch the rookeries and everybody enjoyed this unique spectacle of Mother Nature. Just to make a wonderful day perfect, the skies started to clear for the first time this evening so that the spectacular Antarctic panorama was not hiding behind thick fog and clouds any longer.

Antarctica was showing us its real face today

We had a day of authentic Antarctic weather conditions. It was relatively warm this morning, but today the wind got us. In the morning everybody had to show themselves flexible. We could not do our scheduled landing, because it was too windy; hence we had to alter our plans, but it turned out to be a change for the better: We landed at Neco Harbor which meant we made it to the mainland of Antarctica much sooner than we would have dreamt. The gentoo penguins welcomed us with their fanfares. There was a lot of ice at the landing site, so even the penguins found it difficult to get in out of the water, but we managed fine and were rewarded with wonderful impressions of wildlife and spectacular views of some glaciers.

In the afternoon the wind picked up and it was snowing quite heavily as we were cruising towards our second landing site in Port Lockroy. Now a terrible wait started if the wind would die down enough for us to make it to shore, but in the end all was well and we had a memorable visit to the British museum station. Everybody enjoyed the hospitality of the station’s charming crew and of the numerous penguins that inhabit the island with them. Of course everybody came back with many an everlasting impression of the interesting museum and laden with lots of souvenirs from one of the world southernmost post offices and souvenir shops on the planet. It was a long day, so sleep tight and sweet dreams.

We made it – Antarctica

What a wonderful day we had today! We arrived in Antarctica and made our first landing on Half-moon Island. But first things first: The day started with a lot of preparation for our arrival; who would have thought that it takes so much careful thought to visit this pristine wilderness? Everybody got an interesting briefing on how to minimize human impact on Antarctica, later lifevests had to be distributed and fitted for everybody, because safety is, of course, paramount, and then everybody was asked to vacuum their bags and rucksacks which they intended to take ashore in order to make sure we do not introduce any foreign organisms. This actually proved to be quite fun. But then things really started to get interesting:

As we approached Antarctica the penguins were just as happy to see us as we were to see them, so they started jumping out of the water. During our landing the most amazing wonders of nature were greeting us: A juvenile elephant seal was astonished to see us; a seagull seemed to prefer cuddling up with itself rather than showing an interest in us; and finally many of us got the impression that the penguins were having a discussion about human behavior, quite rightly so, because some humans were displaying very unusual behavior by storming into the freezing sea. In a nutshell, it was a brilliant start to our Antarctic adventure.

The dreaded Drake Passage

Today we are at sea crossing the Drake Passage, this much feared and dreaded waterway between South America and Antarctica. We had been warned that the crossing would be rough because it was quite stormy over the last days, but we were lucky in the end. What started out as a rather bumpy ride turned out to ease considerably as day developed. Everybody on board was finding their feet during the day and getting into the routine of life on board. We did a lot of bird watching and admired the beautiful aerial creatures which had perfect flying conditions. Giant petrel and albatross were putting on a wonderful show for us. In the evening there were rumors of the sighting of a large whale but that was not confirmed.

At various stages during the day we heard a lot about the history of Antarctica in all various kinds of languages and many an interested listener was astonished to learn how much history is connected with this uninhabited continent. In the evening we gather around the fireplace and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere on board, because by the end of the day there is nothing more stimulatingly soothing than two cups of coffee in friendly company. After all, it was a nice day in the not so dreaded Drake Passage.

A day in port

In the morning we found Fram moored at the pier in Ushuaia and so we knew a wonderful voyage had finally come to an end. For the staff and crew the day in port is always one of the busiest. We say goodbye to our guests in the morning and a little later some of us are leaving as well to start their well deserved holidays and new members of the crew arrive. Fram must be prepared for the new guests who arrive in the afternoon, because everyone deserves a clean and fresh ship for their arrival.

Once all of our new guests are on board in the afternoon we get really busy. Endless questions have to be answered, all guests must be equipped with their jackets for the cruise and of course the safety drill has to be held well before Fram leaves the pier again. Of course all of us hope that we may never have to use the knowledge which was conveyed in during that drill. A day in port is always a busy day, but today the weather in Ushuaia was nice and everything went smoothly so that in the evening we are happily sailing towards Antarctica again.