New Island, Falklands- let the pictures speak!

Be prepared! We ARE prepared!

As we get closer to our first destination of our cruise- the Falkland Islands, we are methodically completing all the necessary tasks to make our landings both enjoyable and safe.

This morning was Muck Boot morning and our lecturers became shoe salespersons. First some explanation, Muck Boots are very comfortable, breathable and warm rubber boots that our passengers will wear on landings ashore. Of course they come in different sizes so this morning passengers were fitted with their pair which they will keep for the entire cruise.

Also, briefings for tomorrow’s landings were given as well as specific details on our smaller tender boats called the Polar Circel boats, which we use to get to shore from the Fram, and are therefore a key part of our expedition.

Of course our lectures continued and included an on-deck workshop by Marsel and John on photographing birds in flight.

We discovered another stowaway bird today- a small finch that was very busy on deck 7 catching moths which were attracted to the lights and came on board in Buenos Aires. It turned out to be a female Ringed Warbling-Finch from South America.

The fantastic weather and calm seas that have been with us since Buenos Aires continued today, and we all hope that our amazing luck will continue!

Birds do it, whales do it, let’s do it, let’s sail south!

Another unbelievable sea day was presented to us. There was no wind and the sea was flat like a lake. In the morning we had a little fog, but that gave us a special feeling. Later on the sun burned the fog away and we were sailing under a blue sky in the direction of our first destination, the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas which we expect to reach on Monday in the early afternoon.

Even though there was nearly no wind - and the seabirds need the wind to fly – some Black-browed Albatrosses, Giant Petrels, Cape Petrels and even Wandering Albatrosses followed the ship. Our vessel created turbulence and updrafts and that’s what they like. We saw several whales today, including in the distance a Sei Whale, and we hope to see more whales when we come further to the south.

The first passengers had the opportunity to visit our bridge in the morning. Thank you Captain Rune Andreassen for the time you offered us. At the same time we continued our extensive lecture series. So you see all of you at home, we are not really on holiday, we are working hard but we have fun and we enjoy all the information we are receiving from our lecture team.

And now we are looking forward to get our own impressions. In the afternoon our photographer Marsel gave us important tips to make good photos. So we hope to bring nearly professional pictures with us home, to make our friends and family a little bit jealous.

In the evening many passengers were sitting together in the bar, in our cafeteria or in the reception area, talking with new friends. If you are traveling on a small ship like FRAM with not so many passengers, it is easy to find people with the same interest; this is an important part of our cruise too! It makes our trip unforgettable. Adding to this feeling was a spectacular sunset this evening.

We are sailing! We are Sailing! Smooth water – We feel free!

This morning we awoke to the smell of the South Atlantic ocean which also gave its presence away with very small movements of the ship. So we had officially left the Rio de la Plata and were on our way south! Temperatures were still warm at about 17° and the outside air felt pleasant on the face.

We had a busy day with a full slate of lectures morning and afternoon, and our mandatory lifeboat drill in the morning before our “Fram University” started.

Throughout the day, seabirds followed us along on our journey and for many of us it was our first chance to sea the iconic albatross- we saw many immature Black-browed Albatrosses roaming the sea around us, looking for food. We also saw petrels and shearwaters and even penguins. On the mainland to the west of us lies a huge colony of Magellanic Penguins at Punta Tombo in Argentina and “our” birds seen from the ship were undoubtedly from there. Several South American Sea Lions were also spotted laying on their backs, seemingly enjoying the day.

By mid-morning it was clear we had at least one uninvited stowaway on board the ship. It was a bird called a Great Kiskadee, which had likely come on in Buenos Aires or before. It is very common for birds to hitch lift on board a ships. We are hoping that the bird eventually decides to leave us before we reach the Falkland Islands on Monday.

As the next days go by, our sense of anticipation for what we will experience in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica will only get stronger!

The 2011-2012 Antarctica season starts!

After a long trans-Atlantic voyage from Las Palmas, the good ship Fram arrived in the port of Buenos Aires on 2 November at around 2:00 o'clock pm. Staff members from all over the world had already arrived and waited patiently for their home away from home to come to port. Everyone was looking forward so much to the new Antarctic season just starting.

The next day passengers started arriving in the morning. They too were from all over the world and made the Fram a truly international place. After check-in and our first lunch on board the ship we set sail exactly 24 hours after she had arrived the day before.

Our first destination on our first cruise of the season is the Falklands Islands- Islas Malvinas, but first we had to sail east out of this famous river, the Rio de la Plata. We noticed the river water was quite brown and assumed this was from the silt washing down the many streams and rivers that feed this rio. 

Vessel traffic is very well controlled and we steamed down a narrow shipping channel, passing several huge container ships coming into port. The amount of ship traffic we will experience will change very soon as we head south into much quieter waters.

The weather treated us perfectly today and out Antarctic season started today with temperatures 28° and sun! For sure this will be our warmest day for the next almost three weeks! We took advantage of this by having our after-lunch nap on deck before lectures brought us inside. Photo workshops brought us again out on deck.

This has been a long day for everyone and we will retire for the night with great expectations for what the next days will bring. Stay tuned!

Latitude 27°16.5 South Longitude 044°17.7 West

A few days since the last blog, we are busy to get the ship cleaned and ready for arrival to Buenos Aires and a new season in the Antarctic. 241 passengers awaits us for the coming trip to the fantastic destiantions Falkland, South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsula.

The main stairwells have got a particular thorough revival, paint and re-carpeting. Here you see the guys who have trotting up and down for days. They are not "Marsians", they are the deck crew. You see Bosun Renato upper left, Mon upper right, Bong lower left and Angeles lower right.
We have experienced quite a bit of wind the last few days, and the temperature outside has dropped quite a bit compared to what we had around equator, but don't get us wrong it is till warm and nice with approx 30 degrees celcius.

Todays crew Interview is with our extraordinary clever electrician BOB. Bengt Olav Berntsen himself.

Name: Bengt Olav Berntsen
Position: Electrician
How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
7 years
How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
4 times
What do you like best about equator crossings?
Happy times
Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
Yes
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
General maintenance and cabin repairs

Latitude 16°16.6 South 036°24.2 West

Our blogspot today is mainly to report new sightings of birds.

It is a Masked Booby. Confirmed by John and Frieda. It appeared actually the 23 of October at 10:10, we thought nobody had captured it by camera, but luckily the guys on the bridge had the camera ready.

This is a Brown Booby. Spotted yesterday 25th of October at 17:15, and it stayed with us for an hour or so.
The wagtail "John bird-bird" has not been seen for a couple of days now. Seems he has left us.

The sunsets on the big blue Ocean are quite nice. This was Monday night 24th of October.

Todays crew interview is with Cabin Stewardess Aurea.

Name: Aurea Gacutan
Position: Cabin Stewardess
How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
8 Years
How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
7 times
What do you like best about equator crossings?
Having baptism to the new crew or first time to cross the equator.
Is your job different when the ship do crossings?

Not really, it is almost the same, mainly cleaning.
We do get additional tasks on the crossing that our housekeeper wants us to do.
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Thorough cleaning of the cabins, public areas and other ship facilities.

Latitude 12° 9.9 South Longitude 034° 26.3 West

Sunday afternoon 14:30 local time (GMT-1) Galley Mervyn and his  deep "bass" like voice thundered RRRRRRRADIOOOO EQUATORRRRRR over the ships PA system. He announced the arrival of King Neptun and his entourage for the much awaited and dreaded baptism of the "Equator novises". This is a long and proud seafarer tradition. At 15:00 the ceremony started. The Netun Baptism party rushed to cabin 625 to dress for the event. It is almost as fun to prepare for this event as the event itself. We have a number of personlaties that need to be present in the King Neptun entourage, according to tradition. First of all our ships photographer for the occasion was William from the restaurant staff. King Neptun was Frank chief engineer, his devoted queen Karin the expeditionleader. Doctor  was JR, nurse was Sherry Ann, Elmer was Barber, Arsenio, Peter  were Police force, and Richard and Raymond were banging on kettles to make as much noise as possible, and ohhh they did.
Captain Rune and Safety officer Andreas was leading the event, making sure we were on the right latitude and to see the ceremony being conducted according to tradition.

The next coming collages have been made my dear ladies and gentleman, to give an illustration of how extremely much fun it is, and at the same time how feared this ceremony is for the "novises". One thing is for sure. When you are baptised crossing the equator, never wear clothes you want to use again. You STINK for days. A funny reoccuring event is that some of our crew are notorious to forget their certificates. You have to show your certificate, which is the only valid criteria to not be baptised again. Neptun always checks this thorougly. Our navigation officer Clyde, forgot his for the second time, and this time he was baptised by his colleague Andreas, safety officer, Lets hope for Clydes's sake he remembers the certificate next time. Those he did not get baptised, surely were spectators to the event, and the onboard knitting party Musti and Else Kristine used the time efficiently.

 We have of course a crew interview, and today our beloved Hotelmanager Else will be answering the questions. We also felt she needed to be thoroughly introduced, so we made a "mugshot" of Else.

Name: Else Kristine Tjessem
Position: Hotelmanager
How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
Almost 14 years
How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
4+ now
What do you like best about equator crossings?
Fun looking at crew getting baptised
Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
Yes, there is a lot to organise, but the bigest difference is that we have no passengers. Anyway we have to do the normal "reporting routines". The crossing days go by so fast.
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Plannning ahead
Relax a bit, be social, recharge my batteries

To John, Frieda and Glenda who are keenly watching our blog for more birds. We spotted a Northern Gannet on sunday at 10:10 am, approx 2 degrees South latitiude, but did not get a photo. We are still on keen lookout though folks.

Position 01°33.8 N Latitude 028°2.2 W Longitude

Sunny, rainy, overcast sums up the last few days. One thing is for sure it is very warm outside compare to what the good lady FRAM experiences most of the year when she roams the Polar regions. We have promised John Chardine, our distinguished ornithologist to make a record of the birds we do see on the crossing. We have a sparrow like bird which has been resident here since 17th of October out on various decks. He has now a name "John bird - bird". Some of us spend an hour a day to walk around deck 5-6-7-8 for exercise, and "John bird - bird" has been a trusted companion flapping about for the whole week.

We will like last time we crossed the Atlantic introduce some of the crew on the blog. Todays crew interview is with

Name: Milagros Aguirre
Position: Doctor
How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
1 month and 6 days.

How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
It is my first time I will be crossing equator.
What do you like best about equator crossings?
Barbeque time in the evening.

Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
No, because I see patients during the crossing. I update medicine supplies, getting ready for the new season in Antarctica.
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Update inventory and medicine supplies, organize pending purchasees of medical supplies. Reorganize medical lockers and conduct different medical trainings like use of heart-starter.

Tomorrow at 15:00 local time, the Equator baptism - Judgement day is upon us. King Neptun will decide who has given sufficiant proof of previous crossings. If you do not meet the standard demand of showing your certificate, you are in the hands of the King of the Seven Seas. Only tomorrow will show, and we will let YOU know. So long

Atlantic Crossing Southbound

To all our trusted followers, you have not seen a post for a few days now, we are back on track. Last trip ended in Las Palmas on the 16th, but not as expected. We discovered a failure with one of our lifeboat engines, and because safety is our highest priority, we flew all passengers from Agadir to Las Palmas to catch up with their original flights and vacation plans. The ship sailed with crew only Agadir-Las Palmas, and a new engine has been replaced. Unfortunately these circumstances affected the passengers we had planned to have onboard for the crossing. If any of you see this blog post, hope that you are able to join us another time folks. We were really looking forward to having you with us. We left Las Palmas the 17th of October at 18:00, and estimate to be in Buenos Aires the 2nd of November, at what time is still uncertain. For the next couple of weeks our blog posts might not be coming every day, but we will try as often as we can. A lot of work and preparations for the Antarctic season and generally for 2012 is planned for us onboard. We will give you a little impression on how it is to cross the big vast Atlantic Ocean with a bunch of sailors from various nations. For your information we have now sailed 309 nm since Las Palmas, and are currently doing 13,5 knots speed on our way south. Weather forecast looks good which is always pleasant.

Overnight or Overland to Agadir

Overnight to Agadir.   A modern city rebuilt after destruction by an earthquake in 1960.  The Kasbah with views over city and harbour survived.   A popular beach resort, the King has a palace in the city and visits reguarly.    In ruins, the Kasbah still gave a strong impression of it former strength.  The souk and the folkshow produced Morocco's promised colour.

The overland party returned after not only the excitement of Marrakesk but also the drive over the High Atlas Mountains to return to Fram.  Experimenting with the traditional mode of transport, some went camel trekking in the sand dunes.  Though it seems many preferred the camels carved in cedar wood in the souk to getting close to the real thing.

 

A jeep safari took in the Massa Valley National Park and returned to the harbour off-road along the coastline and the fisherman's simple homes.  

After another fabulous day in Africa, and as this voyage nears end, the evening was given over to a Phillipino Buffet followed by the ever entertaining Crew Show.

Africa - A new Continent for Fram

     A special day for Fram,  the port of Casablanca, the largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco, North Africa.  The very first time that the ship has been to this Continent.  Approaching in misty conditions the tower of the Hassan II mosque was one of the first sights, its minaret the tallest in the world at 210 m.  Designed by French architect Michel Pinseau and built on reclaimed land, almost half of the surface of the mosque lies over the Atlantic Ocean. 

     The calm of the mosque contrasted with crowded and hectic scene of other parts of Casablanca.   Local tea provided a welcome break.  By comparison those who headed to visit the political capital of Rabat loved its open spaces and groomed appearance. 

     A group set off from the ship to see Marrakesh, which entails an overnight stay, we look forward to hearing of their adventure when they rejoin Fram in Agadir tomorrow.

    

After a hot, steamy day the temperature dropped quickly after sundown. Then this evening, out of the freezer came a large block of ice for carving. Galley colleagues Rudolfo, Barry, Peter and Arsenio demonstrated their skills in producing cake and table decorations for an appreciative crowd.

Hannibal & Henry

     Today brought the chance to explore the Algarve Coast from Portimao.
     The Roman name for this harbour was Portus Hannibalis after the great Cartheginian military commander Hannibal.
     In the 16th Century not far away at Sagres, the third son of the King, known as Henry the Navigator gathered advisors at his Estate of Vila do Infante.  Here ships awaiting favourable winds were also catered for.

     Lagos, was capital of the Algarve region from the mid 16th to mid 18th centuries, and host to the first slave market in Europe. The market stands in the corner of the square, where the 500th anniversary of past governor Henry is celebrated with a statue.

     Cape St. Vincent Point is the far south western corner of mainland Europe, where views of the cliffs stretch to the horizon in both directions.

     With the beautiful beach Prai da Rocha just minutes walk away from Fram and sea temperature at around 22 degrees, a dip in the ocean was another popular option for the day.