An action-filled day!

We made the very best of our stay in Punta Arenas, Chile. Four different excursions took passengers to various places in the vicinity of Punta Arenas. Another group had already left for Torres del Paine National Park yesterday. They will return later tonight- too late for the blog deadline so we will talk about this tomorrow!

There was so much action today that your faithful bloggers have decided to again let the images tell the story.

Punta Arenas city

Estancia Fitz Roy

Magellanes Hike

Seno Otway Magellanic Penguin colony

At the end of this great day we had a Chilean group come on board to perform a folklore show. It was a special way to end a special day in a special part of the world. 

The world is a water-colour painting!

As we start to write this blog we are in the Chilean Fiords sailing towards Punta Arenas. This is a very wet region of Chile experiencing 3 meters of rain a year in many areas. You might assume then that it is often cloudy and wet- and you would be right! However, today we had one of those very special days when the clouds were broken to reveal blue sky, and the sun was able to light the mountains around us. Every scene looked like a water-colour painting! The light was soft and the blue haze in the air smeared the detail in a very attractive way. Much of the land was covered with temperate rain forest but some areas were virtual bare of vegetation and looked ice-scoured. Many photographs were made by our passengers and bloggers!

After sailing through a portion of the Strait of Magellan, we arrived at Punta Arenas in the late afternoon. “Punta” the capital city of Chile's southernmost region Magallanes and Antartida Chilena. It is a vibrant city of over 120,000 people, with amenities you would not expect is such a remote locale. Remember, we are over 2000 kms south of the Chilean capital of Santiago. As we approached the wharf around supper time, a large pod of Dusky Dolphins greeted us, swimming along side and playing in the bow wave.

Once we had cleared customs into Chile, passengers going to Torres del Paine National Park left the ship for what will be a marvelous time. Others left the ship to explore the city, and the rest keenly anticipated the excursions tomorrow.

Welcome to the far south

This morning the Fram came along side at Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southerly city in the world. Our first cruise of the Antarctic season ended with very happy people heading home or continuing their journeys in South America. Eight hours later the ship was cleaned and readied for our next expedition. Our new passengers arrived to the ship at about 1630h after first having a chance to look around this vibrant city.

Even though Ushuaia (pronounced Ooswhya) is built up, there are lots of opportunities to see wildlife, especially on the shoreline. This is a Dolphin Gull, which is common here in Tierra del Fuego.

After checking-in, jacket fitting and settling into our cabins, we set sail at about 1900h. Our destination is Punta Arenas, Chile, where some passengers will visit Torres del Paine National Park while others will go on various exciting excursions to the region. As is normal, Kelp Gulls said goodbye to us as we left the port of Ushuaia!

After supper, we had a mandatory safety drill followed by a welcome reception with our captain. After spending a few days in Chile we will head down to Antarctica. Stay tuned to this blog to follow our expedition!

We end our trip with images and a few words

Upland Goose family in Carcass Island, Falklands

Leopard Beach, Carcass I., Falklands

Tussock landscape, Falklands

King Penguins, Fortuna Bay, South Georgia 

King Penguin chick

Elephant Seal bull, Grytviken, South Georgia

Grytviken

Scurvy Grass, Falklands

Imperial Cormorant and Rockhopper, New Island, Falklands

Turkey Vulture, Falklands

Sea ice and growlers in the Gerlache

Polarcirkel boat cruising in Andavord Bay

Gentoo Penguin rookery at Videla Station, Paradise Bay

Chinstrap Penguin at Half Moon Island 

Glacier front at Port Lockroy

 Isabelline Gentoo Penguin and mate at Videla Station

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross

Ghost of the sea- the white form of the Southern Giant Petrel

Our constant companion- the Cape Petrel

A second message from our trainee Andrea

Well, my first trip on board MV Fram will be finished soon and I’m really glad that I will be able to visit Antarctica three times more (I will stay on board for four trips, until 4 January 2012). I have not seen enough of Antarctica. My first landing was on Half Moon Island. It’s just a small island, but this island was enough to impress me. With the polarcirkel-boats we arrived at a stoney beach and behind this, a snowy hill full with Gentoo Penguins. Some of them were directly on the beach, relaxing after swimming in the sea or cleaning themselves. To be honest, for me the landscape could have been also somewhere in the Alps: the hills and the snow. The only thing that would be missing were the penguins and the beach. But when the tripcoordinator welcomed the passengers as they landed with “Welcome to Antarctica!”, I realized where I was! I’m really here in the Antarctica. I’m one of the relatively few people in the world who has seen this amazing place in the world. It’s amazing when you are standing between all these penguins and those thoughts are running through your mind. At about 8 o’clock in the evening we were back on Board and the Expedition team asked me how my first landing in Antarctica was. I only said: “Too short!” after which they were all laughing.


The next day we went ice cruising and it was an incredible morning, because the part with the polarcirkel-boats, which bring us to the different landings is one of my favorite parts of this trip :D I saw icebergs, which were so deep in the water, that the reflection in the water was crystal-blue. Nobody can imagine this, without having seen it. In the afternoon we landed at a Chilean research station with the name Gabriel Gonzalez Videla. It was amazing! there were a few houses standing in the middle of nowhere and between them, lived the Gentoo Penguins. When the first passengers landed, we recognized that we put the red flags, which show the passengers where to go and where not, in the middle of a penguin-highway. As a result of this my duty from there on was to stop the “human traffic” when penguins wanted to pass to the other side of the colony. I felt like a traffic policewoman: “Green for the penguins, red for the humans!” Great! In the late evening we loaded goods into the polarcirkel boats and because of this I felt all the muscles in my body for the whole next day. It’s hard work here =)


In the morning we landed finally in Port Lockroy and there 5 people living for one season next to the penguin at the base. It’s so unbelievable… There was a Museum and a gift-shop; can you imagine something like this? I mean a giftshop in Antarctica where roughly nobody lives, the only guests are the passengers, who come with ships down there. The stay there was also much to short, but I know that I will return. At the moment we are in the Drake-Passage going straight to Ushuaia. We have already seen a few Orcas here, which was so amazing. The time passed so fast, but although I’m a little bit sad that it’s over I’m looking forward for the next three trips with the great Expedition team. I’m really glad to be a part of the team on board MV Fram. Here we all are!

Our last day in Antarctica :(

During the night the weather changed and we had stronger winds and a little bit of rough sea. However, we spent the night at anchor in Port Lockroy so the ship was stable and we had a quiet night In the early morning the lucky campers, who had gone out the night before to Dorian Bay, returned from their camp site. They had a wonderful night under the Antarctic sky with a beautiful sunset and sunrise, like two pieces of bread in nocturnal sandwich! We suspect the excitement of it all prevented any amount of sleep, but who cares about sleep when you are experiencing a once in a lifetime event such as this! Even the short but very wet Polarcircel boat ride back to the ship did not dampen their high spirits.

At 09.00am we started our landing in Port Lockroy. We visited the museum in the buildings of the former British Antarctic Station Base A. The museum shows exactly what is was like to live in an early Antarctic station. Today you can find a fantastic gift shop inside the main building as well as Her Majesty’s Post Office. The girls in the shop did a brisk trade as most of us bought remembraces of Antarctica or mailed letters and postcards. The area surrounding Base A is home to breeding Gentoo Penguins. The snow from last winter had already melted in many places allowing many to build their nests and lay their eggs.

Around lunchtime everybody was back on board and we sailed north again, through the Neumeyer Channel and Brabant Strait to the Drake Passage. And make no mistake, this was a real Drake Passage, with very strong winds and big waves! This is all part of the Antarctic Experience!

Mainland Antarctica

Through the night we sailed across the Bransfield Strait towards the Antarctic Peninsula. It was a quiet night on the ship which told us there was little wind outside- a rare thing for Antarctica! In the morning we found ourselves in the Gerlache Straight with the Antarctic mainland to our port side. The scenery and light were spectacular with mountains on all sides of us seemingly covered in white meringue!


Around 0700 we encountered some sea ice in the Gerlache. Even though our ship- the Fram- has an ice strengthened hull, our Captain does not want to hit any ice if he can avoid it. The result is we go dead slow through ice and navigate around it if at all possible.

Our planned landing at Neko Harbour was not possible due to heavy pack-ice in area. “Plan B” was to launch our Polarcirkel boats and cruise around the ice and icebergs near the ship. This was fantastic fun! Being in one of the small boats, near the water’s surface really gives a sense being in a world of ice- the icy tingle on your face, the fresh, cool smell, the south of ice cracking and bits hitting each other and popping like corn. On one small iceberg, a Crabeater Seal had hauled out and seemed to be enjoying the day as much as we were!

We returned to the ship after our boat cruises for lunch, as the Fram sailed to our next destination of Paradise Bay. Our landing there was to be at Almirante Brown, on the mainland of Antarctica, but the pack-ice was pushed against the landing site and stopped us in our tracks. Again, our expedition leader Karin had an ace up her sleeve and we headed for the nearby Chilean station of Gonzalez Videla. We were in luck and the landing site was clear of ice so we went ashore! 

The station was not yet manned for the season, but the penguins and fantastic scenery entertained and enchanted us.

Taken together, we all would agree that this day was fantastic, not what we had originally planned, but fantastic nevertheless!