We're all goin' on a summer holiday

Yes we are! It's summer down here in the southern hemisphere, or late spring by some calculations, and we are on holiday! As it happens, as your blogger scribes these words, Cliff Richard's "We're all goin' on a summer holiday" rights out in the background, hence the inspiration for the title.

Our holiday involves sailing on a ship in some of the roughest seas anywhere and visiting some of the most remote places on Earth! Some holiday you might say, but we have so far hugely enjoyed our voyage south from Buenos Aires and our three days in the Falkland Islands!

Today we were in Stanley, capital of the Falklands, and its most populous community being home to about 2,300 "Kelpers". The whole of the Falkland Islands contains only 2,500 people, excluding the military. Quick arithmetic, indicates that there are more passengers on the Fram than there are living in the Falklands outside of Stanley!

Activities today were varied. Some relaxed in town, exploring the shops, having a bite to eat over lunch, and chatting with the very friendly local people. Others decided to take one of three excursions to Bluff Cove, around the bay on a nature walk or on a tour of Stanley. Overlaid on the day was the weather, including rain and 40 knot winds. All in all it is fair to say we experienced the Falklands in all its glory!

We set sail from Stanley late afternoon. As we left dockside the Fram's bow thrusters had to push hard against the gale-force winds, which has decided on their own that we should stay an extra day! However, the Fram was too powerful and we were released into the harbour and then out into the open Scotia Sea on a heading east-south-east to South Georgia.

Spring on the Falkland Islands

It looked like that we paid yesterday for our unbelievable sunny day today. Blue sky, white clouds, green vegetation, a sea in different blue colors, and birds, birds, birds all around, that was our day in Westpoint and Sounders. We cannot describe this all with words. So here are the pictures, they speak for their own. 

 

Land Ahoy!

When we got up we were greeted with dazzling light reflecting off calm waters and the distant rocky Jason Islands. Abundant wildlife could be seen all around - porpoising fur seals and penguins with cormorants in large number along with occasional albatross just for variety! This all raised the excitement levels for our landing after lunch at New Island but first off all we all had to briefed on how to get in and out of the Polarcirkel boats, wear our life jackets as well as what to expect and where to go on the Island.

After lunch we were all ready to go. New Island is a wildlife reserve and we were not disappointed with what we saw especially at the Settlement Rookery with thousands of Rockhopper Penguins, Black-browed Albatross and King Cormorants. Although the weather meant humans and birds were all rather soggy it did not dampen our enthusiasm for this magical place.

On route to and from the colony we could see Upland Geese with their cute fluffy chicks, kelp gulls, oyster catchers, skuas and when it stopped raining those still on land were lucky enough to see a striated caracara. A splash of colour from the bright yellow gorse and the odd snowdrop reminded us we were in the southern hemisphere spring. Shelter was taken in the small informative museum charting the history of the New Island Trust as well as whaling and sealing in the area and the story of Charles H Barnard who was marooned on the Island for over a year in 1813/14.

Back at the ship we dried off and enjoyed hot food and drinks – a brilliant first excursion ashore.

A quiet day at sea

It is with great anticipation that we spend our second full day at sea sailing in the good Norwegian ship Fram south-south-east to the Falkland Islands. This time allows us to conjure-up our own imagined views of what the islands will look like and our lectures give us the information we need to make these "day-dreams" accurate. As of now we have to wait less than 24 hours to reach our goal!

The Norwegian flag flying at the stern of Fram

In the meantime we have been enjoying the ship and getting to know each other- this is an important part of cruising on the Fram. Today conditions remained relatively calm and probably for this reason, the seabirds were a little thin. They need an energetic wind to fly efficiently. However, later in the day the breeze picked up (the sun came out) and this brought the birds back to the ship. 

A great fit!

Today, an important part of our preparation for future destinations entailed being fitted with our "Muck Boots'. These new-age rubber boots will be just what we need to keep our feet warm and dry during our landings. Another important feature is that they can be cleaned and disinfected between landings. This is crucial to eliminating the chance of contamination of sites particularly in South Georgia and Antarctica.

A young Southern Giant Petrel

And to end a great, relaxing day, the skies looked like this!

Let’s dream about….

Our second sea day started spectacular with a lot of sunshine and a moderate sea. Our first view out of the windows showed us that we have been followed by a huge amount of birds: Black-browed Albatrosses, Wandering Albatrosses, Northern and Southern Giant Petrels, Cape Petrels and prions. It was so nice to watch them. Their flight looked unbelievable light; we had the feeling that they did not need too much energy to follow us. Some passengers even wished to be able to fly with the birds; at least a wonderful dream!

During the day we were focused to the lectures again. There was still so much to learn before we will reach our first destination, the Falkland Islands. And why shouldn’t we use our qualified international lecturer team. All members of our expedition team are coming from a different country: Chile, USA, Canada, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain and Switzerland. To make it even more interesting we can let you know, that the lecturer from Switzerland is originally from Mexico. So, we have a lot of knowledge from all over the world available her on board MV FRAM.

In the early afternoon, just before the second lecture series started we heard the announcement: Whales! Everybody tried to run out to the open decks or at least to the Panorama Lounge. Our Captain reduced the speed a little bit and so we could watch them, the giants of the sea - three Fin whales. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to swim with the whales? That’s at least another wonderful dream!

Settling into ship life

A beautiful calm night and some much needed rest for all on board MV Fram prepared us for a beautiful morning. Out on deck in short sleeves with fantastic clear skies we were treated to numerous bird sightings – Manx and Greater Shearwaters, Black-browed and Yellow-nosed Albatross, Magellanic Penguins, White-chinned Petrel as well as some stowaways – Eared Doves, Couch’s Kingbird, Grassland yellow-Finch and 
inside a dragon fly.

The lecture programme started in earnest with John introducing the natural history of the Falklands and South Georgia, Nacho did a fascinating talk about Evita, Friederike and Bob continued preparations for our visits to the Falkland Islands with talks on the Geography, Geology and the Geopolitics.

We are making good steady progress, only 2 more days until we reach the Falklands, with slightly more motion can be felt in the ship as a result of freshening winds. 

New Year's Day

The Fram's year is split into two parts- the northern summer season in Europe and the Arctic, and the southern summer season in Antarctica. Today we started our Antarctica season and it feels a bit like the start of the new year!

Our New Year started in the harbour of Buenos Aires, capital of the Republic of Argentina. This huge, bustling, vibrant city lies on the southern shore of the Rio de la Plata or River Plate and this superlative river is our way out to the open ocean of the South Atlantic and on to the Falkland Islands and parts farther east and south.

We all had a busy day on board. Passengers left their hotel nearby and arrived at the ship in the morning. Their luggage was already being sorted and sent to their cabins. Expedition staff, crew officers were busy prepping the ship for their arrival.

We packed a lot in to the day with embarkation and settling in to our new home for the next 19 days, the mandatory safety briefing, the Captain's welcome reception and lectures in the afternoon. Oh yes we squeezed in a couple of very nice meals in there too!

For the next three days we will be at sea before we arrive at the amazing Falkland Islands. In the meantime, please come back to our blog and follow our travels in this amazing part of the world.

The end of a great crossing

During the last days we could easily recognize that we came nearer to South America’s coastline as we got the first land birds, mosquitoes and moths, like the “Sphingidae Hawkmoth” on board. App. 12:30am we could see the first land, the lights of any town in Uruguay. From now on we will not have the view from horizon to horizon anymore; after 17 sea days a very special feeling.

Yesterday all refurbishment we had on board during the crossing has been finished. The workers on board had done a good job. Especially our Hotel Manager was “very amused” that the reconstruction of our board shop could be finished in time. It is so much bigger and nicer than before. In the morning of the 31. of October all passengers have been invited to a “Grand Opening”. As everybody got as a surprise 25% off, passengers and crew started directly with a first shopping.

Today we reached Buenos Aires in the early morning. Birds were singing their morning songs when we went alongside the pier around 7am. Now it was time to say good bye. We hope that we can welcome many of our passengers at any time for any cruise back on board. 

From a passengers viewpoint

A unique Experience

Today is our last day on the open sea which is almost unbelievable as it means that we are meanwhile sixteen days on the way since we left Las Palmas. When we entered the ship on October 14^th everything seemed to be so far away and now we will reach Buenos Aires within less than 36 hours. Everybody of the passengers had a certain purpose to go onto this journey; ones wanted to have this infinite view from one side of the horizon to the other, others to relax from all the stress in the daily life. Some wanted to make the special experience of a long trip across the sea and some simply wanted a comfortable way to get to South America. As different as our expectations was the way to get used to life onboard. But finally nobody was able to evade the rhythm of the ship with its gentle moving up and down in the waves. We got to know each other very fast and easy and in only a few days our group of Couples and alone riding became more and more a temporary family. As we are in total only 27 passengers we were able to do things that cannot be done on a normal cruise. We had a sightseeing tour through the ship and after that we know now that the Fram with her mixture of Greenlandic and Scandinavian art is a sculpture in a whole! We also have seen the “heart and brain” of the ship which in the Chief machinist’s eyes is the same anyway – the engine room. The officers during our visits at the bridge had a different view – but only a little bit. Between our lectures, cooking lessons and sport competitions we were happy to recover for some time when taking a bath in the sun or nap in the shades (unfortunately sometimes also the other way around) to be fit again for the evening when we had so much fun together with the crew. Everybody found his favorite place on board either inside or outside and slowly but surely the days went on. Suddenly we had to realize that is really day 16 on board. Tomorrow we will reach the Rio de la Plata and we will see the first piece of land since we left the Canary Islands. Who will be the first to discover the coast? What will be the first thing to be seen – maybe a tree?

Some things may have developed a little different than initial expected but we all have made a unique experience and we are still curious what the last day will bring us. Probably the crew welfare committee is already preparing one or the other surprise for the last evening. For all these efforts we say “Tusen takk”, “Thank You” and “Salamat at Paalam” to the whole crew of MV Fram! Maybe one day we will meet again for a “crossing” when we need some time to relax or a comfortable way to get to Europe or with no special purpose at all.

Martin 

Here you can see Martin sitting in his chair on deck 5. The picture is painted by Dorothy Deringer. She painted her own diary with all these unbelievable nice pictures. And the best of all: She gave us a nice exhibition of her art the day before. Thank you Dorothy, you are wonderful and thank you Martin for writing the blog today; of course you are wonderful too!