Southern Ocean Reminder

Yes we were reminded today that we are in the Southern Ocean! We have had very calm conditions on our journey so far but winds picked up today and the ship started moving a little (by the way, we are getting close to South Georgia and will arrive tomorrow morning). The Fram is exceptionally good in rough water but still you could feel the difference today! Some of us decided to stay in our cabins but most of us went about our business as usual- lectures, some fresh air outside on deck, more lectures, briefings and of course our meals- more on this below!

Most of the birds flying around the ship are petrels of one sort or another (even albatrosses are a sort of petrel), which rely on the winds to glide over the oceans in a very efficient manner. So with more wind today we had more birds and they clearly seemed to enjoy soaring over the 3-4 meter waves. A real treat was seeing a Snow Petrel- an iconic bird of Antarctica.

Something of great importance we completed today was the vacuuming of our clothing and bags. This is to prevent the introduction of foreign seeds into South Georgia and Antarctica. As more people visit these remote places every year, there is growing concern that foreign species could be introduced. Studies have shown that an effective way to reduce the chances of this happening is to vacuum our gear.

We mentioned our meals earlier in this blog- they are superb, and something that makes them extra-special is the fantastic pastries and deserts. No matter how hard you try to avoid walking by the desert section of our restaurant, resistance is futile! Here is the man responsible for making these treats- Arseñio, our skilled pastry chef, standing behind some of his creations.

Andrea the Fram trainee

My name is Andrea and for more or less one week I have been a trainee here on board MS FRAM. Before starting my work as a trainee of course I had a lot of images in my head, how it would be on board. And now after one week I can actually say, that everything is quite better than I could ever imagine. First of all, all the staff members are so kind to me and show me everything doesn’t matter how often they have to do it and I’m really part of the working process. Every day I learn so many things (which doesn’t really surprise me, because I’m a trainee here!). But above all, the best here are the places I get to see. So far I have only seen the Falkland Islands, but that’s enough to imagine how South Georgia or Antarctica will be. Everybody has seen “live” Penguins in the zoo, but to see them in their natural habitat is something different. It’s amazing to see them, doing whatever they always do, and this happens only 6 meters in front of me. But it’s not only the penguins. Every day when I go out on Deck 7 to get some fresh air, I see all the birds surrounding us or the dolphins which followed us all the way to the Falkland Islands. Such an internship you will never forget and it marks you for the rest of your life. 

Another spectacular day

In the morning we reached Port Stanley, where we spent nearly the whole day. The day started with rain, but it became better in the late morning and in the afternoon the sun was shining out of a clear blue sky again.

All passengers had made their own program for the day. Some went for a nice nature walk to Gypsi Cove. As we had low tide, we could watch a lot of birds like the Two Banded Plover, Upland Geese, Kelp Geese, White-rumped Sandpipers and different kind of ducks. Even two Sea Lions could be seen on a rock next to the coastline.  

  

The heather was flowering and some of us even tried the Scurvy Grass, which was an important plant during the whaling time, because of the high concentration of vitamin C.

Other passengers joined a city tour through Stanley, where they got a lot of information about the city´s history. The Falkland Islands have been very important during the gold rush in California.  As long as the Panama Cannel has not been opened, all ships had to go around Cape Hoorn. In Port Stanley they had the last possibility to repair the boat or to bunker fresh food.  Of course the guide has spoken about the Falkland War too. This time is still present in the mind of all people living on the Falkland Islands.

Many passengers went on a very spectacular trip to Bluff Cove to visit the Gentoo Penguin colony and a very small colony of King Penguins. Alone the drive with the four wheelers has been more than exiting. Coffee, tea and cake made this trip especially sweat.

The evening ended with the very well-known FRAM fashion show.

Welcome to Paradise!

We were there today, paradise that is. And the name of the place is Carcass Island, West Falklands. Not the sort of name that would conjure up thoughts of paradise but believe us, it was just that. First the name of the island: it was named after a surveying ship, the HMS Carcass. HMS Jason, which accompanied Carcass gave its name to the famous Jason Islands in the extreme northwest of West Falkland.

Carcass Island is rat-free, that is to say no rats live there. This means that the wildlife, especially small birds have a much easier time of it. The Falklands-endemic Cobb's Wren lives only on rat-free islands and we were lucky enough to see this bird today.

The island is covered in geese- Kelp, Upland and Ruddy-headed, and is crawling with Tussock Birds, otherwise known as Blackish Cinclodes and Long-tailed Meadowlarks. Also very common were the Johnny Rooks, AKA Striated Caracara. Look up and we saw Turkey Vultures flying overhead or perched lower down on fences and even sand dunes, look down and several beautiful wildflowers peered up at us.

We went on two long hikes on the island, one to Leopard Cove and the other to Northwest Point. Leopard Cove is a spectacular white sand beach backed by sand dunes. Behind the dunes, both Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins nested. Down on the beach penguins were swimming in, drying off, and resting. The other, longer hike went to Northwest Cove to see Elephant Seals hauled out on the beach.

All of us had the privilege of meeting McGills who own Carcass Island. Mrs. McGill and her staff put on a fantastic Falklands Tea for us in their house with all sorts of cakes and biscuits, tea and coffee. A favourite was the scones, jam and cream!

And through all this we had great weather except for a tiny bit of spitting rain in the morning. Well, what a day in paradise!

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!