The Seasons Change

I’m Canadian and as everyone knows, Canada is a land of four seasons.  In Canada it’s easy to tell the spring from the summer, the summer from the fall, the fall from the winter. However Antarctica seems more like a land of two seasons. Summer or winter. For the past three weeks you can see and feel the change of the season. Summer is over and old man winter is knockin’ at the door.

We are experiencing at least 8 hours of darkness every day now. It’s colder. You can feel the tenacious grip of winter in the air.  A day of warm sunshine is now a welcome respite from the more constant days of damp grey. Everywhere you look you see the foreshadowing of winter. For the most part, the chicks of all the sea birds in Antarctica have lost their down and are now fully feathered. The chicks from Gulls, Terns and Skuas are either flying or about to take their first flights. The Antarctic Shags are the same except their young are also taking their first plunges in the ocean. The Adelie penguins have already returned to the sea and the Chinstrap and Gentoos are soon to follow.

In Canada we see a change from summer to fall in the autumn leaves. On the Antarctic Peninsula the autumn colour might be represented by the pink and green snow algae. Certainly at the end of February the algae is at it’s greatest extent showing up in places like Peterman Island in big swaths of bright pink and green on top of the snow.

We landed on Petermann at about 09:30. The Expedition Team took a pool as to how many Adelies would be left on the island.  By the end of the landing we had counted seven. Drat! I was off by three. Still, there were lots of Gentoos roaming around. The Gentoo chicks at this stage are loads of fun to watch often approaching to within a metre or less. It is my guess that it is hunger driving their curiosity.

By 10:00 snow was falling steadily and the wind began to pick up.  At times there was a mixture of snowflakes and ice pellets but after a while large heavy flakes floated down. Soon the bright areas of pink and green snow algae were covered by a light blanket of snow. And just like that, Old Man Winter splashed a bucket of white over the bright colours of autumn. Everyone got a full hour on shore which was enough time to see the Blue-eyed Shags on the south end of the island and to wander over for a look at Iceberg Alley towards the north end.

By 13:00 we wrapped up the landing and headed into the Lemaire Channel, quite probably the most famous Channel in all of Antarctica. We couldn’t see the tops of the mountains with the low cloud cover, but it was still really great to cruise through the scenic channel.

Around 17:00 we encountered several groups of Humpback whales in the Gerlache Strait. We had time on our schedule to stop to do a little whale watching, and what incredible whale watching it was! We had feeding Humpbacks quite close to the ship yet once again!  We focused o na small group of three whales. It was our guess that it was a female with a large calf and an escort.  Time after time the whales lunged to the surface with their mouths agape. At times we could look down their throats!  We could see their plates of balleen and their ventral pouches fully expanded. The whales were feeding on krill which was evidenced by a large red cloud left behind when one of the Humpbacks defecated!! We stayed and watched the whales for about thirty minutes but then it was time for us to move on.

Tomorrow would be our last landing in Antarctica and then it will be time for us to begin our northward migration to South Georgia, the Falklands and Buenos Aires.

Summer is over.

Antarctica in the sun

During the night we were heading southward to our next destination, Neko Harbor, in Andvord Bay, the southern end of the wonderful and very impressive Errera Channel. This should be our continental landing during our trip and we all were looking forward to it. During the night our lovely Lady MV FRAM had to struggle with a lot of ice and strong winds so that we reached Neko Harbor with a delay of two hours. But the morning started than directly with a beautiful sunrise and just before we reached Neko Harbor we could watch many Mink and Humpback whales. So there was no reason to be unlucky about the delay.

The morning in Neko harbor was brilliant. The sun was shining so strong that even 8 passengers went for swimming before they went back on board. A Weddell sea that was lying directly next to the landing site has been the first photo object. 

She was very lazy and stayed on the beach until the last passenger had taken his picture.  Neko harbor is famous for its Gentoo penguin colony and we had the Gentoos all over the place. It is the end of the season and so the chicks are running around in the colony, hoping to find the parents to get more food. Plenty adults started already their own malting, feathers were flying all over the place.

Most passengers climbed up a little ridge behind the penguin colony. The spectacular view we got from the hill over Andvord Bay will be unforgettable.

Back on board we sailed through the Neumayer Channel to our next destination – Port Lockroy, a former British Station. Today it is a museum and souvenir shop run by the British Antarctic Heritage Trust. As the museum is a post office also we used the possibility to send postcards to our friends and family at home.

In the later afternoon the sun said good bye to us. The wind was picking up a bit and after the landing all passengers have been happy to be back onboard to enjoy the evening in the panorama lounge with a nice drink and an interesting talk with new friends. 

But we had 14 guests that had other plans for the evening and even the night. 14 campers left the ship after dinner to arrange their camping side in Damoy Point, just next to Port Lockroy. They built up their tents with the help of the expedition team and then they could feel free, perhaps a bit like the really great explorers. This special night, we named it “Amundsen Night”, will be an experience nobody will forget, that´s for sure

A fleet ship

When some ships are on their way to Antarctica they take two full days to cross the Drake whilst other fleet ships like Fram tear across the Drake in a day and a half and manage their first landing on the afternoon of the second day. It is a big deal. An extra half day in Antarctica? A half day less on the Drake?  Put them together and what do you have?  Wh-o-o-o - H-o-o-o!  That’s what!

And that’s just what we did this time and that’s pretty much what we do every time. Less time on the Drake also means we have a little less time to prepare everyone for their Antarctic adventure. We have less time but we still have enough time. It means that we keep everyone hopping on the 2nd sea day because the 2nd sea day is also the 1st day of landings. In order to prepare everyone we held mandatory IAATO and Polar Cirkel boat briefings in the morning.  By the end of the morning everyone knew exactly how operations were going to go in order to conduct our ship based Antarctic tourism in a safe and responsible fashion.  Safe for us and safe and responsible for the environment.

We were due to enter Nelson Strait at approx. 12:00. Nelson Strait is one of the gateways to the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. It is also a well known place for whales to gather in the summer. We had been enveloped in a heavy shroud of fog all morning long. Everyone wondered how it would affect the landing and would we be able to spot any whales in the dense fog?

Earlier this summer we had encountered heavy fog several times before in this same area.  On several of those occasions the fog dissipated as we approached the South Shetlands.  And just like several times before, as we approached Nelson Strait and the South Shetland Islands, the fog parted revealing the magnificent coastlines of Nelson and Robert Islands.  And, sure enough, we spotted two massive Fin Whales as we were approaching the Strait.

By 14:45 we were at anchor just off of Half Moon Island under glorious blue skies and with very little wind.  It couldn’t have been any better. Lots of people signed up for the hike we had on offer at Half Moon - so in order to expedite that, we sent all of the hikers on shore first.  Approximately 120 people went on the hike.  It took the hikers just over an hour to get to a lofty view point where they could see all the way around tiny Half Moon.  I am told by several very enthusiastic hikers that the best part was “bum sliding” in the snow all the way back down a very long slope.

Meanwhile at the main landing site, everyone got a chance to see raucous Chinstrap Penguins.  Most of the chicks have completely moulted out of their down, boasting their first real feathers.  It was plain to see that very soon all of the penguins would be heading out to sea.

It is now 20:00 and we are making our way across the Bransfield Strait.  It is the last large body of water we have to cross before arriving to the Antarctic Peninsula.  We have a rather golden sunset to mark our first day in Antarctica.

It needs time to be prepared

After a good sleep during our first night on board FRAM we awoke in a Drake Lake. There was absolutely no wind. The sea was flat like a mirror. And those, that have been up early could enjoy an incredible nice sunrise.

This day was made for our Antarctica preparation.  Our lecturers were working hard to give us all the information about Antarctica. We had even a photo work shop where we were trained by our board photographer to do good photos later on. We felt a little bit like students in a university. Learning, learning, learning. Is this really a holiday day? Yes – we had so much fun and our expectations became even bigger as more as we heard about Antarctica.

Between the lecturers we had to vacuum our outdoor clothes and bag backs to be sure that we do not introduce any seeds or other biological material into Antarctica. After lunch we had the famous “Rubber boot rental”. The Muck boots we got look very warm and comfortable.

Antarctica – we are ready to go. We are looking forward to our first landing tomorrow.  Until now we were dreaming about penguins and ice. Tomorrow it will become reality.

Welcome to South America, welcome to Ushuaia, welcome aboard MV FRAM!

It is a change-over day again. In the early morning the guests from our last cruise were leaving the ship. There was still time for nice excursions in the surrounding of Ushuaia. The weather was beautiful, perhaps even a little bit too nice as it became very hard to let this wonderful part of the world behind and fly home. But there is always a possibility to come back. 

The sunshine was of course perfect for the new incoming guests. Even though we had a little bit of rain in the late afternoon, there was no wind and the temperature was mild. It is still high summer in the southern part of the world and Ushuaia showed itself from its best side. The town was very colorful as everything was still flowering. Some guests had a first chance for bird watching (Dolphin Gull and Caracara) directly next to the beach. We enjoyed it all, but we are looking forward to the icy continent, looking forward to Antarctica.

Around 7pm we set sail. We left Ushuaia behind and sailed through the Beagle Channel in the direction of the Drake Passage. Just before we left we had the mandatory safety briefing and then of course a first dinner on board. At 9pm our Captain Rune Andreassen introduced us to his officers and our Expedition leader Anja Erdmann. She introduced us to the lecture staff on board.

As it was our first evening after our long travel from all over the world most passengers went to bed early – perhaps dreaming of the first penguins, seals, whales and the first ice.

Unpredictably Deceptive

We spent our last day of landings in a sunken crater! Deception Island is the outside wall of a volcano whose caldera collapsed, creating a 200m wide opening and flooding its interior. The view inside this natural harbor is spectacular, especially today as the fresh snow provided an incredible contrast to the black volcanic rock.

Our first landing was at Whalers Bay, home to a whale processing plant between 1912 and 1931. While most visited what is left of this past era and took in the rather surreal sights, fifty-four of us braved a 3km hike over the edge of the caldera to Baily Head, home to about 120,000 chinstrap penguins. And unlike past attempts, the weather cooperated wonderfully, providing sights of Livingston Island in the distance and given a good perspective of the size of the crater as the FRAM anchored within. The landing was concluded by fifty-three passengers braving the frigid waters and going for a short swim in the -1oC water.

The afternoon offered a nice walking opportunity for all as we pulled into Telefon Bay. The walk around the rim of this fantastic side crater provided some stunning views of the caldera as well as of the Argentinian and Spanish research stations located within.  

As we concluded our last day in Antarctica and turned the ship towards the Drake Passage, we were treated to a stunning sunset and moonrise.  After a sunny and active day, there could not have been a better ending.