Danco Island and Neko Harbour

Our landing started at Danco Island a trifle earlier this morning at 08:00.  It was warm at 2˚C and we were once again treated with a near windless day.  The skies were overcast but with warm temps and flat calm seas it felt like a summer day.  Uh, well, actually it is the middle of summer.  No wonder it feels like summer.

Danco is a lovely small island situated right smack in the middle of the picturesque Errera Channel and is the home of approximately 2000 pairs of Gentoo Penguins.

One of the great things about Danco is that there is a nice hike up a long slope which terminates on a flat, broad snow and icefield.  It seemed like just everyone made the arduous trek up to the plateau like summit.  From the top of Danco one gets a marvellous 360˚ view. 

Everyone got a full hour and a half on shore which gave them plenty of time to visit the colony and to trek to the top.

In the afternoon at 15:00 we landed Neko Harbour.  The grey skies had begun to break up and rays of sun shine poked through here and there.  Everyone was excited to get in shore because Neko is a continent landing.  It was our first opportunity to set foot on the  continent of Antarctica!  Yahoo!!

We landed on a nice sandy beach where dozens of Gentoo Penguins were preening and just generally hanging about.    It was about a 3 or 4 minute walk from the landing site to the main colony.  And then up hill again!  This time the Expedition Team lead us on a long trek up to another snow-covered icefield only this one had two small crevasses.  One 20cm crevasse paralleled the path for a few metres and then about 30 metres up the hill, the path traversed another crevasse of about the same size. 

In any case, neither of these small cracks posed a problem as the Expedition Team posted staff members at strategic spots and placed plenty of flags to indicate the exact position of the crevasses.

The view from the top was magnificent!  On our right side and behind us were spectacular glaciers and mountain peaks and to the front and left were great views of 
Neko Harbour clear across the glaciers on the other side.  There were great booming and thundering sounds coming from the glaciers on a regular basis.  A few of us were lucky to seem the glacier calving as well as a couple of small avalanches.

Towards the end of the landing two Weddell Seals hauled out close to the landing site.  In fact one of the seals settled down a scant 20 metres away and was totally unconcerned with the Polar Cirkel boats zipping in and out of the bay. 

By 19:00 the last boat left the shore.  Everyone had enjoyed a full three hours on shore today and everyone returned to the ship with a smile on their face.

Now it is 21:00 and we are heading further south.  The wind has picked up remarkably.  From a day when the wind barely nudged past 5 knots to a full 25 to 30 knots.

Ah well.  The forecast for tomorrow looks good.  But as always in Antarctica, believe it when you see it!

PASTA OR NOT PASTA

In the morning we all attended our mandatory IAATO briefing, were they told us what we can and what we cannot do in Antarctica. The morning was foggy and gray; however the seas were very calm, as soon as we crossed the Nelson strait the fog partially cleared up.  Nelson Island is almost fully covered by snow and ice. We saw many penguins jumping out of the water as we moved toward our afternoon landing site. What a beautiful and overwhelming first sight.

Half-moon was the first place that we visited on this trip.

The island contains about 3,500 breeding pairs of Chinstraps, and a few Gentoos that can be seen on the beach. Occasionally we find a lonely Macaroni Penguin, which we called the PASTA and we always play the game PASTA IS - PASTA IS NOT, but the great majority of visits PASTA IS, and this time PASTA IS and not only that, there have been two of them.

At our arrival to Half-moon, some of us went for a hike to the far end of the island passing near the unmanned Argentine station of Camara. 

The second group stayed around the penguin colonies, which contained nestlings of about a month of age.  Surprises never end and most of us had the chance to observe yet another species of penguin, a Rockhopper, which is a rare event here in Antarctica.

On our way to Antarctica.

Wow. How exciting. Who would’ve imagined as a young child that one day you would be on such an adventurous journey? Certainly not me. As a child, Antarctica might as well have been the moon in my mind. It seemed just as distant. Just as remote. It was the cold white area on the bottom of a spinning globe. It was the stuff of documentaries and high school geography. 

But now, here we are steaming south across the most notorious body of water on earth, Drake Passage, on board one of the most modern and comfortable expedition cruise ships on earth, or rather sea, the MS Fram.

It has been a grey cloudy day.  The seas range between 4 and 5 metres.  It makes everyone look like they have a rather bad drinking habit as they stagger around the ship, trying to walk a straight line and pretend they didn’t just bump into the wall.  Well, if you do have a drinking problem, a day on the Drake is a good way to disguise the fact.  You look just like everyone else.

We had many lectures scheduled throughout the day to prepare everyone for the Antarctic Adventure.  We also had vacuum stations set up in the afternoon where everyone thoroughly cleaned their outdoor gear to avoid introducing alien species into Antarctica.

In the afternoon we set up boot shops on decks 2 and 3 where it seemed like just about everyone tried on a pair of our Muck Boots ® which are available to rent for the entire voyage.

In the early evening we scheduled a photo work shop with the ship’s photographer and later on the excellent BBC documentary Frozen Planet was shown in both English and German in our two lecture halls.

It is now 21:00 and a heavy fog has enveloped Fram.  The seas and wind have dropped noticeably. Tonight we will be rocked to sleep by the Drake, dreaming of what lies in store for us in Antarctica.  Penguins. Seals. Whales. Ice.

A BRAND BLUE DAY

We reached Ushuaia under lead grey skies, and after various excursions around Ushuaia we finally arrived at MV Fram. 

We lined up to check in, get our ship cards, visit the doctor, and then we were finally inducted into the Hurtigruten Expedition Family when we received our brand new blue jacket!! 

Proudly wearing our brand new blue jackets we headed outside for the mandatory safety drill and as the drill completed we cast the lines and headed down the Beagle Channel. 

A line of blue jackets was seen heading towards the restaurant for a fine meal after a longs day travel, where we were met with the sun breaking through the clouds and with Ushuaia disappearing over the horizon.

During the Captains welcome our minds drifted to the next days of the Drake Passage, how much different to the Beagle Channel could it be? Read tomorrows blog if you would like to find out. It might be a brand new blue day.

Drake Passage

During night, the wind and the waves had calmed down quite a bit and we enjoyed the smooth sailing on the Drake Passage again.

The day was busy with bridge visits and lectures, and in the afternoon, freshly baked hot waffles were served and we had a charity auction in which we auctioned two items, the ships flag and the ships master chart of this voyage. The money raised is donated to several nature conservation organizations that work in the South Polar realm.

At the Captain´s Cocktail, Captain Arild Hårvik thanked his crew and all the passengers for the great spirit on board and wished everybody a safe voyage back home. On our way up the Beagle Channel, a large group of Dusky dolphins joined the Fram for several hours, leaping out of the water and playing in the bow wave.

Another Bouncy Day on the Drake

A full load of passengers on board Fram is about 230 people. Right now we have 145 guests and Fram is quiet.  Peaceful.     When you add a rough ride on the Drake, there are even fewer people up and about.  If you have your sea legs it is a very relaxing time. 

It can be mesmerizing to watch the breaking seas and giant Wandering Albatross soaring about.  On the other hand, if you forgot to take your motion sickness meds and you’re prone to sea sickness, then weather like we are having today is not such a tranquil experience.  “Hoo-ray and up she rises, hoo-ray and up she rises...”  can have different connotations.

The truth is that Fram is a very stable ship and while we had seas of four to five metres all day long, it is not a big deal on Fram.  Still, the gym sat empty, the Jacuzzis were drained, waffles were postponed until tomorrow, the seated dinner became a buffet, bridge visits were postponed from morning until afternoon, the elevators decommissioned and access to the outdoors was limited to deck seven.

Nevertheless, as always on sea days,  the lecture series continued at full throttle with talks scheduled on: Shackleton, The Geology of Antarctica, Albatross and Petrels, and The History of Whaling.

At 17:00 everyone was invited to join the Expedition Team in the Observation Lounge for a recap of the voyage.  The whole team lined up across the dance floor and responded to questions ranging from global warming, to landing procedures, to the stability of Fram in high seas! 

As we cruise steadily northwards the winds and the seas have noticeable decreased.  Now the seas are a comfortable three to four metres.  The forecast for tomorrow?  More of the same!

Whalers Bay and Telephone Bay

After a partly shaky night we entered into the caldera of the volcanic Deception Island early in the morning. A spectacularly narrow passage that is further complicated by an underwater rock called Raven Rock right in the middle of the entrance.

The destination for our morning landing was Whalers Bay, where we visited the remains of the old whaling station Hector and the British Base B that was set up by the Falkland Island Dependencies Service. The weather was not exactly perfect – drizzling rain and a bit of wind – but it was still impressive to take a stroll between the abandoned station buildings and the dismantled blubber cookers. Hard to imagine that at this lonesome beach, thousands of whales were processed. Reports of whalers tell that at some time, several hundred flensed carcasses were floating in the caldera. The smell must have been tremendous!

As the weather situation outside the sheltered caldera of Deception Island further deteriorated, we decided to re-schedule our afternoon landing. Instead of continuing towards Walker Bay at King George Island, we stayed a little longer at Deception Island and accomplished a landing at Telephone Bay at the far end of the caldera. We undertook a scenic walk around some crater lakes filled with turquoise water and up a hill, from where we had a view of the entire inner part of Deception Island.

In the late afternoon, provisioned with sea-sickness pills, we sailed out of Deception Island and headed into the Drake Passage.

Port Lockroy and Neko Harbour

Rain was falling as we boarded the Polar Cirkle boats to go to Port Lockroy this morning at 09:30.  But what’s a little rain to adventurous Antarctic explorers such as ourselves?  This drizzle would not dampen our spirits, it would not stop us from seeing the most visited site in all of Antarctica and it would most definitely not prevent us from shopping at the most well supplied gift shop in all of Antarctica.

 Port Lockroy is the site of a former British Base and has been restored as a small  but excellent museum. The income from the well-supplied gift shop goes to the British Antarctic Heritage Trust and amongst other things helps to maintain the museum.

The Expedition Team helped us up a wet slippery slope where we were greeted by a large number of penguins.  Gentoo Penguins nest all around the museum, gift shop and living quarters of the few people that inhabit Port Lockroy in the summer.   Needless to say, they are very used to people wandering around.  Gentoos seemed to be everywhere.  They nest within a metre of the entrance to the museum and penguins constantly wander about.  According to IAATO regulations we must not approach penguins closer than 5 metres.  However the Lockroy penguins brazenly broke this rule at every opportunity.  How wonderful!

After lunch, we once again landed on the actual continent of Antarctica at Neko Harbour.  Neko is the site of another Gentoo colony and there were many penguins preening themselves on the beach.  A short walk took us up from the beach and to the base of the colony.  We had the option of hiking up a snow and ice field to a lofty lookout point where we had excellent views of Neko Harbour and the the glacier front.

One of the fun things when hiking in Antarctica is that sometimes there is an option to slide down the hill that you hiked up.  It seemed that most people chose the sliding option!  The Expedition Team selected an appropriate area for sliding and soon people were zipping down the hill.  Ski-bunda!

By 19:30 the last Polar Cirkel boat had left shore and we were once again heading further north.  As we were exiting Andvord Bay we sighted three Humpback Whales and were able to observe them near the ship for over forty minutes!

At 22:00 we joined our Philipino crew in the Observation lounge where they entertained us with singing and dancing.  It was a delightful way to end our day.

Prospect Point

At Prospect Point, the Falkland Islands Dependencies Service operated its Base J in the years 1957-1959. In this base, mostly topographic and geological research was carried out. Since, the station building has decayed and its remnants were finally removed in 2004 by the British Antarctic Survey. So today, only the fundaments remain. After a visit to this historic site, we went on a glacier walk. In rope teams lead by one guide, we ascended the glacier to a crevasse that was safe to approach. The crevasse was glooming blue and its walls were nicely decorated with icicles.

In the early afternoon, the Fram was sailing past the Argentine Islands, and several humpback whales greeted us along the way, waving with their tails.

As a special treat in the lecturing programme on board, one of our guests, the famous Brazilian Antarctic explorer Amyr  Klink, gave a report of his endeavors, among them rowing across the Atlantic Ocean and sailing around Antarctica. Fascinating to listen to a man with such exciting experiences!

As a further highlight of the day, some of the guests went out for a long ice cruise, both to the iceberg alley at Pléneau Island, and further through the Lemaire Channel. In the shallow waters around Pléneau, a lot of icebergs get stranded and stay. Their shapes and colors are just amazing. The wind picked up as the Polar Cirkle boats entered the Lemaire Channel, and the boat ride became a rather bumpy and very wet enterprise. Nevertheless it was an exciting and real Antarctic experience, and we got rewarded by three humpback whales that came really close. Seeing them from a small boat directly at the level of the water surface gives an even better impression of the huge body size of this majestic animals!

The Antarctic Circle

This morning at about 07:30 we crossed the Antarctic Circle.  How exotic and romantic does that sound? The Antarctic Circle!  Crossing the Antarctic Circle is the stuff of which documentaries and dreams are made.  It’s not something that one does one’s self is it?  You read about other people doing it but today we joined an elite group of explorers and adventurers.  We are now proud members of an exclusive club and we even have a certificate to prove it!!

At about 10:00 we started our landing at Detaille Island which was a British Base called Base W and was in operation from February 21st 1956 until March 31st 1959.  Recently the British Antarctic Heritage Trust has been doing some renovations to the interior and exterior of the main building.

We were fortunate to have blue skies once again this morning which presented ideal conditions for an Antarctic plunge.  49 people took the opportunity to go for a quick dip south of the circle.  After all, when will you ever again in your life have the chance to go for a swim... ahem, dip, so far south?  Probably never.

We wrapped up our landing at Detaille at 13:30 and headed further south in the hopes of being able to reach the Gullet.  At 15:00 it became apparent that the ice was too thick for us to make any more southerly progress.  It was decided that we should have a group photo on deck five to commemorate our crossing of the circle and our furthest point south.  It was only when we we were out on deck that we realized that we had a special visitor.  It was none other than HRH King Neptune.

 King Neptune was collecting payment for us crossing the Antarctic Circle.  Anyone willing to pay the sacrifice had icy water poured down the back of their neck.  The consolation was a shot of rum right after!  Surprisingly there was a lineup of eager (crazy!) people anxious to have ice water dumped on them.  Or was it the Rum they were after?  The last person to be baptized was Rochel from the crew.  Actually she wasn’t in line.  She got dragged over!

We then turned to the north in search of a suitable location to go for a cruise in the Polar Cirkel boats.  There was a magnificent ice berg very close to Detaille Island.  Truly this iceberg was a marvel.  It was worth launching the Polar Cirkel boats so that everyone could get a closer look.

Now it is 20:00 and we are making our way north once again.  Tomorrow’s plan is to attempt a landing at the Fish Islands.

Here we are again...

Travelling to remote places also means that sometimes we are out of touch with the outside world...It is only the ship, the activities, the scenery that take over life on board... We did not had the world best`s internet connection lately as we want to show you pictures as well but hope that we are able to update you now again! Sorry for the wait- and thanks for the patience! And now... enjoy

Lemaire Channel, Petermann Island and Vernadsky Station

There was hardly any time for breakfast this morning. Waking up in the scenic Neumeyer Channel we continued through the even narrower Lemaire Channel. A lot of ice floes lined our way, and the blue sky, steep mountains and glaciers were mirrored in the cold steel blue water.

We were headed for our morning landing at Petermann Island. The Gentoo penguin chicks there are already almost as big as their parents, and their fat bellies clearly demonstrated that they have been doing very well this year. The cliff at the northern edge of the colony is the place where the blue-eyed shags breed and their chicks are also notoriously hungry. Their parents were industrious going back and forth to the sea and on every return, greedy quarreling broke out between the three to four siblings in each nest.

A view point at the far end of Petermann Island further offered a splendid view of the surroundings, with the FRAM in front of snow-covered mountains on one side and a bay filled with icebergs of all shapes and shades of blue on the other side.

Humpback whales accompanied us on our way to our afternoon landing site, the Ukrainian research base Vernadsky. Still miraculously under blue skies we cruised through the narrow channels in between the Argentine Islands up to the base, where we were shown around the building by the resident researchers. The landing was rounded off by a visit to historic Wordie House, the old and abandoned British station building on the neighboring Winter Island. The hill behind Wordie House offered a fantastic 360° panoramic view of the ice-filled Argentine Islands archipelago, and even some breaching humpback whales!