Cuverville Island and Almirante Brown

We began landing operations at Cuverville Island at 9:00. It was a very short ride in the Polar Cirkle boats and then suddenly, we were immersed in Gentoo penguin central. Cuverville, is home to one of the largest Gentoo penguin colonies in Antarctica with ~6000 pairs. Nearly every nest had two chicks.

Circling around the adults and small chicks were the ever-present Skuas.  Skuas are large predatory birds that are powerful on the wing and skilled in aerial pursuit. They are intelligent birds and can be quite curious.  Their behaviour reminds one of Crows and Ravens.

We were treated to another absolutely gorgeous day.  Again the temperatures seemed to be unusually warm.  Sunscreen is an absolute necessity.  Without it your screen will fry very quickly due to the hole in the ozone layer.

Half way through the landing a minke Whale showed up quite close to shore.  Occasionally minke whales will take the time to investigate small boats and people.  This was definitely a curious animal.  A few lucky people were able to see it right beside the boat!

Shortly after noon we weighed anchor and headed for our second landing of the day at Almirante Brown, a very small Argentine station in Paradise Bay.  From the ship we could see that the Argentina flag was raised and that there was someone home.  Most often when we visit, the base is unoccupied but this time there were six men there.  

Our good weather held for the afternoon. Most of us hiked to the top of a 90 metre hill behind the small base where we could see the entirety of the bay.   While it was a bit of a struggle to hike up the hill, the conditions were ideal for sliding back down!  Most people chose to slide instead of walking back down.

At 18:00 the last polar Cirkel boat left shore.  Tonight we will overnight at Peterman Island and 15 hearty souls will camp on shore.  Brrrrrr!

Seals, Geology & History

In the morning we landed at Astrolabe Island. This small island, was discovered by the French expedition, 1837-40, under Capt. Jules Dumont d'Urville, and named by him for his chief expedition ship, the Astrolabe. In the summer it is home to over 4000 breeding pairs of Chinstrap penguins but also very convenient haul-out for various seals. Today the Weddell seal took over the place. We counted 14 of those creatures resting on the beach, and few more were spotted in the water. Small number of Antarctic Fur seals were also resting ashore as well as one Leopard seal was watching us from his iceberg.

Afternoon we were inside caldera of an active volcano – Deception Island. We landed in Whalers Bay. The bay was so named by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908-10, under Charcot, because of its use at that time by whalers. Shore-based whaling operations began here in 1910 and ended in 1931. In 1944 Brits built here, as a part of so called “Operation Tabarin”, Base A. After the Second World War ended the base was transferred to British Antarctic Survey.

Volcanic eruption of 1969 destroyed some of whaling era remnants as well as forced BAS base personnel to be evacuated. The main building of the Base – Biscoe House, is still standing, but it was severely damaged by the ash.

More than 40 of us, instead of just roaming around landing place, decided to make extended hike to Baily Head. Not an easy, the three and half hours round trip took us to the biggest Chinstrap penguin rockery in the Antarctic Peninsula area. There are 150,000 breeding pairs of penguins there. Including their chicks it could be over 450,000 individuals!

Hope Springs Eternal in Hope Bay

Our first scheduled stop was at Esperanza in Hope Bay. Esperanza is Spanish for hope.

“Hope” in Hope Bay.  As we approached the Argentine base at 08:00 the sea ice became increasingly dense.   In the distance we could see the base, a sprinkling of orange buildings more than two nautical miles away.  Those two miles might as well have been two hundred miles for all the difference it would make to us.  The ice was too thick for Fram to venture any further.   Truly there was no hope for Hope in Hope Bay. It had been an adventure to weave our way through the ice to arrive at this juncture.  It seemed that not only would we miss out on Esperanza but our second planned landing at Brown Bluff would be out of the question.  Even though Fram has an ice-strengthened hull it would take a ship with a much higher ice rating than ours to make it through to Brown Bluff.  If there was only an ice-breaker in the area. We could follow an ice breaker to...  almost anywhere.  Oh wait!  There’s one!!  

The HMS Protector was lying at anchor just a few hundred metres away.  Formerly a Norwegian vessel, the Protector was now in the service of the British navy.  On board the Protector there were representative from the International Association of Antarctic Tour operators (IAATO) as well as representatives from the Antarctic Treaty.  They were here to review the landing sites used by IAATO members.  As good fortune would have it, they were planning on going to Brown Bluff too.  They kindly offered us the opportunity to follow in their wake through the ice.  They would then escort us safely out of the dense ice again when our landing operations were complete.

What safer passage than with a British navy ice-breaker.  Whoop-ee!

Our journey through the sea ice to Brown Bluff was unforgettable, however, would there be an opening in the ice for our diminutive Polar Cirkel boats to make it to shore.

At 16:00 the Expedition Team launched a scout boat.  It didn’t look good, but what you couldn’t see from the ship was that the ice cover actually opened up as you approached shore!  Soon passenger laden Polar Cirkel boats were zipping from the ship to shore.

Once on shore we had many options to explore.  Part of the Expedition team were guiding glacier walks on one end of the site while at the opposite end the rest of the team were spread out to facilitate our visit to a Gentoo and an Adelie penguin colony.

The sun was shining.  The scenery was truly magnificent.  Brown Bluffs and blue sky towered above us.  There was barely a breath of wind.  Soon everyone was pealing off layers of clothing. It seemed too hot to be Antarctica but the scenery belied the warm temperatures.  High on the glacier the Expedition Team took advantage of the good weather to build a snow man.

What started out as a hopeless situation in Hope Bay ended as a really unique and great adventure.  It was the first time Fram had ever had the opportunity to venture into such heavy ice.  When would we ever again have such a safe and guaranteed escort?  Probably never.

(Tout nos passagers francais aimeraient passer le bonjour à Christine et toute l’equipe au Bureau à Paris!)

South Shetland

The night was a little bumpy although by the hour wind and swell diminished. After breakfast we had our mandatory briefing – how to behave, what we can and what we can’t do in Antarctica. Some of the rules are obvious but some not, so it was good to learn how to disturb the least as possible the life in Antarctica for future generations to see the amazing beauty of the continent. At about 11 am we spotted the first iceberg, and an hour later land was on sight – Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands. We made it!

The MV Fram was surrounded by a few dozen of Cape Petrels’, few giant Petrels and hundreds of penguins jumping as we moved along as we entered the Nelson Strait.  Before the MV FRAM reached our first landing destination we were also greeted by a breaching Humpback whale.

At 4 pm Fram drop anchor on the lee side of Half Moon Island. Bright sunshine and only a light breeze in some areas made a perfect condition to have a first meeting with penguins.

During the dinner we had plenty to talk about. Few guests, who conquered the 95 m high hill top of Saddleback Ridge, mentioned a strong wind on the other side of the island. Of course everybody has seen Chinstrap penguins since there are almost 3500 breeding pairs of those guys nest there. Some of us have seen a few Gentoo Penguins and the lonely Macaroni Penguin.

At the evening we were briefed that tomorrow we’ll have a chance to see one more species – the Adelie penguin. We are looking forward to it!

The Price of Admission

This summer has been unusually calm on Drake Passage.  Everyone on the Expedition Team has remarked on it, however, today things are back to normal.  Fram had pitched and rolled all through the night. This morning we had winds in excess of 40 knots that were producing seas of 5 - 6 metres. It was decidedly uncomfortable.  Many people were seen carrying plain white paper bags everywhere they went and many people weren’t seen at all.  They were having some “quiet time” in their cabin.  Still, if you weren’t prone to sea sickness, it was a beautiful day.  We had a mixture of sun and cloud.  The rough blue ocean was beautiful.  Giant Wandering Albatross soared around the ship as well as Cape Petrels, Southern Giant Petrels and Black-browed Albatross.  We even had fly-bys from Light-mantled Sooty Albatross and a Grey-headed Albatross.

There are always those people who arrive on Fram who say, “Oh, I hope we have a storm.  I’ve heard about Drake Passage and I would really like to experience a storm.”  I wince every time I hear those words.  A real storm just isn’t a whole lot of fun.  In fact, if you get caught in really serious weather, it can be downright frightening.  I’m sure that today’s bouncy weather would have satisfied the storm wishers.

At 18:15 we spotted the distant blows of whales.  In fact there seemed to be quite a few; however none of them were on our course or lose to the ship.  The consensus was that they were Humpbacks but it was difficult to make a positive identification.

Sea days on Fram are lecture days and we had plenty of them on the schedule.  In fact because we have an international crowd we had a total of nine lectures scheduled in three different languages; French, German and English.

By late afternoon, early evening, you could notice that the seas and winds were beginning to drop.  With Fram’s excellent stabilizers, the ride was now quite comfortable.  Just a little bit of bump and roll with a pitch.  If the price of admission to Antarctica is to cross the inhospitable Drake, then this seemed to be a fair price.

Ushuaia – “where the World ends”

After almost four hours flight from Buenos Aires and the plane touched down in Ushuaia Airport. The buses were waiting for us outside of the terminal and took us on a excursion to Lapataia National Park, located just few kilometers away from the town.

Early afternoon we were back in town and shortly before 4 pm we drove to the harbor and boarding formalities started. Each of us got the MV Fram ID card which is also the cabin key card and the onboard “credit” card. Then we had a chat with the vessel doctor and received our expedition blue jacket. Some of us explored the ship’s interior as well as the outside decks. Our “exploration” was suddenly interrupted by the mandatory safety drill after which Fram set sail into the depths of the Beagle Channel.

During the very enjoyable dinner we were able to admire the magnificent view of Tierra del Fuego in one side while in the other was Navarino Island illuminated by the gloomy light of the sunset. The last point of today’s excitement was Captain’s welcome cocktail party in the Panorama Lounge, where he introduced most of his officers and then followed by the introduction of the expedition staff.

Drake Passage

Two days ago we left Antarctica and started our long journey back to Ushuaia. Neptune is very kind to us. Yesterday was so calm that even Cape petrels, due to lack of wind, had hard time following the Fram. During the evening we entered a foggy area – indicating that we were close to Antarctic Convergence. We crossed that Antarctic biological border at 8 pm, keeping the course for Cape Horn.

Today, shortly before noon the wind picked up a bit but still, the Drake Passage looks more as a lake than as a most famous stormy stretch of sea on Earth. Many guests appreciated that weather conditions. They, without any difficulties, could attended our education program and learned more about Antarctica, living conditions on the Antarctic Research Stations and about Antarctic wildlife.

More wind means also more sea birds flying around the ship. We were followed by all sorts of albatrosses: black browed, grey headed, light sooty mantled and even wanderers were close by.

Late in the afternoon the Captain invited us to join him for a Farewell Cocktail, followed by an auction of the MV Fram master navigation chart and Hurtigruten company flag. All received moneys received were donated to Save the Albatrosses Charity and Bird Life International.

At 7 pm we approached the Cape Horn – the most southerly located island of South America.
In few hours we’ll enter the Beagle Channel heading west for Ushuaia. It is time to pack the luggage, and for one more time muse over the beauty of Antarctica and maybe think of coming back to MV Fram to see another beautiful corner of the Earth.

Fun in the sun

Today our polar circle boats had a good time spending most of this sunny day in the water. And have a guess - we were more than happy with it.
Have a look yourself.

Cruising in Lemaire Channe

Landing on Peterman Island

Cruising between Pleneau Island and Booth Island

 French Passage, heading North