Sailing in good company

During the last two days we were sailing through a zone with upwelling waters and as we had a little more wind at the same time we were companied by more sea birds, Masked Boobies, Brown Boobies and Frigate Birds. It was so nice to watch them when they were diving for fishing or catching the flying fish. But it was also very interesting to see how the Frigate Birds used the Masked Boobies as their slaves. They developed a special technic to get the fish the Boobies caught before.

It was so hot outside that we could not sit there the whole day. Most of us used the opportunity to listen to another lecture, this time about the marine ecosystem, between. The crew had to listen to another lecture in the second lecture hall. Every morning they are taught in another topic, by the ship’s doctor, the 1.Officer or Safety Officer. So the crew is really busy the whole day with their maintenances and school lessons.

 

The evenings we spent outside on the open decks, enjoying the BBQ and talking to the other passengers. That was also the time when the crew started to relax. It was wonderful to see how much fun they had in the evenings with their Karaoke singing, group games or only sitting in the bar, feeling a little bit like passengers, as they do not have this possibility on other cruises.

A South Atlantic greeting from an Irishman on Saint Patrick’s Day

“Here on the good ship ‘Fram’ everything is relaxed and friendly, with first names being the order of the day amid the total informality of this South Atlantic crossing. As the only Irishman aboard, it was a total coincidence that I was asked to write this on Saint Patrick’s Day. From a long line of Irish writers such as Shaw, Yeats, Behan, Binchy, O’Brien and many more, I regret that I am not one but I am lucky to know Hurtigruten and the wonderful ships in it’s fleet.

My favorite time is at Christmas and I have sailed north from Bergen to Kirkenes many times along the beautiful coast of Norway, and in case you missed something you get a second chance going south! Having experienced ‘Vesterålen’, ‘Nordlys’, and ‘Midnatsol’, the youngest member of the fleet ‘Fram’ has more than fulfilled my expectations. Although the temperature on the outside decks may be different, inside the warm friendly atmosphere is the same whether in Norway or South Atlantic.

I see in contrast that ‘Fram’ displays as an ‘explorer’, from the daily work schedule of the other ships which service the ports on the beautiful coast of Norway. I am delighted to be amongst the lucky passengers to experience the great voyage back to Europe. See you next Christmas!”

Mike O’Neill

We have started to relax!

Time is passing by very fast. After four days at sea we feel like home on our ship MV FRAM. The weather is wonderful. The wind is blowing more or less in a gentle breeze and the temperatures reach around 9am already 27 degree Celsius. Just the right conditions to sit outside in the sun only dreaming or relaxing with a nice book.

But we have a little program on board too. We had a first lecture about seabirds and we met the Navigation Officer Clyde on the bridge. We enjoyed his talk and we are happy that we can come back during the trip to get more information.

In the evenings we had the famous BBQs again. Here already a big thank you to the crew. They are working hard during the day but they have always a big smile for us.

The evenings we spent together with the crew in the bar on deck 7. There was Karaoke singing and on Saturday evening we had a “Disco Night”. It was nice to see how the crew enjoys the free evenings. We ourselves need perhaps a little bit longer tom participate really. But it is already fun to watch only.

As everybody from us is not used to so much fresh air most of us go to bed early. But this is also part of our relaxing program.

A first day at sea

When we woke up in the morning we were sailing already in the South Atlantic. In a distance of 12nm we passed Uruguay. Like a shadow at the horizon we had a last possibility to see land. Only some hours later there was no land to see anymore. Now our real crossing started.

At 11h the captain and his officers welcomed us in the bar on deck 7. It has been more a very informal talk as the officers changed their uniform against private clothes. And that will stay like this until we will reach Las Palmas.

Just after lunch we got our first possibility to visit the bridge. The Captain himself gave us an overview over his bridge equipment. During our crossing we will have more chances to come back. Than we will meet the Navigation Officer Clyde and we will give us more information about the ship. We are looking forward to these special lessons already.

The rest of the day we made ourselves familiar with the ship. And in the evening we enjoyed our first BBQ on the open deck. Today it was still a little bit fresh, but we can be sure that this will change during the next days.

Let’s start the Atlantic crossing!

During the last night we sailed through the Rio de la Plata and reached Buenos Aires around 8:00h. Here we had to change our passengers again. Our last cruise from Ushuaia via the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands came to its end. And here in Buenos Aires the Antarctic season ended too. And we can say we can look backwards over a successful Antarctic season. We had the feeling that our passengers enjoyed all the different trips we offered and we hope that they are still happy with all their impressive experiences they got here on board MV FRAM. Hopefully we will see many of them back on board at any time.

During the late morning our new incoming passengers arrived. They came for a very special voyage – the Atlantic Crossing – a trip from Buenos Aires to Las Palmas. A relaxing trip with 15 full sea days. Our view will go from horizon to horizon, doesn’t matter in which direction we are looking. Amazing. The right trip to calm down and relax. We are only a small group so it will be perhaps a little bit like a family trip.

The sun was shining when we set sail under a clear blue sky. Let’s see what the next days will bring to us.

The end of a wonderful journey

This was the last day of our wonderful trip to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. We were looking forward to this trip for such a long time and now it came to its end already. Tomorrow we will reach Buenos Aires. We can feel the warm temperatures already. In the evening after the Captain’s farewell we will have a BBQ outside on the open decks. We changed our thicker sweaters against t-shirts and summer trousers and had our afternoon tea under a sunny sky.

In the following report you can read how our youngest expedition team member Julien experienced this trip.

My name is Julien Wiese. I was lucky enough to come on this trip together with my dad who works on MV Fram as a lecturer. He is a Marine biologist. I am eleven years old and I was included in the expedition team. It was one of my dreams to come to Antarctica like my brothers before me. I have now seen many animals like Gentoo, Chinstrap, Adelie, Macaroni, Magellanic, Rockhopper and King Penguins. My favorite penguin was by far the King penguin. I also saw many Albatrosses like Black browed and Wandering Albatrosses. By myself I spotted a Royal Albatross.

I saw many seals and whales too. I even saw a group of Humpback whales eating which was really cool. Elephant seals are enormous.  We had a lot of sun shine but we also had big snow blizzards. On the Drake Passage which I crossed three times we had all kinds of weather. But on the third time it was a “Drake lake.”  For me the “Drake Lake” was boring. I liked the big storms like the sea birds. My teacher gave me homework for the trip on Shackleton.  Which was rather easy because I nearly did what he did except for getting stuck in the ice and staying there a winter and all that. But I did the last part of the Shackleton walk. It was really an AMAZING trip!!!!!!!

On the picture you see me and my best friend Anja the expedition leader.

There was an Ocean, and we were on it

No matter how much time you spent at sea, the power and mysticism of the ocean never seizes to enthrall you. Like Jacques Cousteau said ‘The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever’.  And so many of us spent countless hours outside in the sun or in the observation lounge gazing out into this vast expanse of ocean. This seemingly uniform wilderness was nevertheless dotted above the surface with the occasional whale and seabirds catching the tiny upwinds created by the waves, accompanying us, for a little while, on our journey north and on their quest for food.

For us of us willing to tear ourselves away, we had the chance to listen to several lectures by the expedition team, and to enjoy the wonderful waffles on deck 7. Our cozy day was capped by an intellectual challenge:  THE QUIZZ!!! Twenty questions across all topics we learned about on this trip had been prepared and a high court was convened to decide the winners. Boat groups competed ferociously against each other straining to remember lecture content from the past two weeks.  But a winner was declared and all members of the group enjoyed a drink as their reward.

The Last Landing

The high winds of yesterday blew right past us during the night. We awoke to blue skies and a light breeze blowing from the west. We had ideal conditions for our final landing of what has been a truly epic voyage.

Before 07:00 the Expedition Team was on shore and ready to receive the first eager passengers from the ship. Our last landing was a dry landing on a really nice slipway. The ambiance is hard to describe. Imagine Falklands/tropical: turquoise and azure waters and the odd very palm-looking tree scattered around the edges of green gorse bushes. Add in blue skies, 10˚C and a generally green landscape and voila, Falklands/tropical.

And anyone that thinks that penguins don’t belong to tropical landscapes doesn’t know anything about penguins. Just 30 metres from the slipway was a group of moulting Magellanic penguins. Almost every species indigenous or endemic to Carcass island was represented right at the landing site! Amazing!

The screeching, strident calls of no less than 20 young Striated Caracaras filled the air at the landing site. The young raptors seemed to be everywhere and were definitely attracted by the arrival of so many people.

Fearless Little dun-coloured Tussac Birds hopped right up to people on their ceaseless search for food. Cobbs Wrens flitted in and out of the gorse.  Upland Geese grazed higher up the track on the way to the settlement while Kelp Geese explored the intertidal zone. Fat Falkland Islands Flightless Steamer Ducks whistled and clucked at the waters edge. And throughout the morning, as unbelievable as it may seem, we had visitations from Commerson’s Dolphins right at the dock! They came singly, in pairs and even a group of six dolphins came right up to the slipway. They were at times a mere metre away! If that’s not a cool wildlife experience, I don’t know what is.

Lots of people chose to hike right on past the settlement where they gained a high vantage point looking out towards West Point Island. Sooner or later everyone paused for refreshments in the home of the McGill’s for a cup of tea and to sample some baked goods from an extraordinary spread of delectables laid out in the dining room. The scones were to die for!

Carcass was a bittersweet experience. On a long voyage like this it is always the same. Everyone is reluctant to leave. Everyone ekes out everything they can from the last landing. The Falkland Islands are extraordinary and everyone now has indelible cherished memories of Port Stanley and Carcass Island.

Now, once again we are at sea. It will be three days until we reach our final port of Buenos Aires.

In the afternoon we had a full program of lectures and documentary films. In the evening it was a real treat to be entertained by the crew in the Observation Lounge. After more than two weeks on Fram, everyone knows one another very well. It was like being entertained by your friends. Needless to say the Observation lounge was packed for a very fun show!

The winner is: The NATURE

It should have been a wonderful day with the Black- browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins, but the weather forced us into plan B and then to plan C and then we had to accept, that the nature is stronger than all our plans. The nature is always the winner, especially so far down in the South as we are.

The wind picked up already during the night and it was still blowing with a Beaufort 9 to 11 and it stayed like this during the whole day. Of course the Captain and our Expedition leader tried to find a landing place in more sheltered areas, but sometimes you have to accept, that there is no chance.

But we did not have the feeling that we lost a day. The wind, the clouds, the color of the sea and the waves changed very fast and we enjoyed this nature spectacle. As we had nearly only nice weather before we liked to see how fast the weather can change. Now we are able to tell our family and friends at home that we experienced a strong storm too, but of course we hope for better weather again tomorrow

During the day we had lectures, we watched the birds that loved the stormy weather and we were visited several times by smaller groups of dolphins. It was really not a boring day.

The day ended with a crew singing in the bar. It is always nice to see with how much enthusiasm the crew likes to entertain us. A big thank you to all of them.

Port Stanley

Fram cut through the narrows leading into Port Stanley at 07:30. We had had a bumpy ride during the night so it was no surprise that it was overcast and windy in the morning. As we pulled alongside the pier just on the edge of town there was a light rain falling. As always we have to wait for the vessel to be cleared by the customs agents, however this morning we experienced one of the fastest clearances issued ever!

There was a choice of three optional excursions available to enable people to explore Port Stanley and region in a fashion that best suited them. Indeed there was lots of time to do an excursion and then tour Stanley on your own as “all aboard” was not until 17:30.

When Fram stops at Port Stanley we always go to the same pier which is about a thirty minute walk from the centre of town. In order to facilitate the comings and goings from the ship, a free shuttle bus service was arranged which was available every thirty minutes.

Ah. The Falkland Islands. Breathe deep. There is a scent of spicy gorse and burning peat in the air. After a season of ice and snow it is a special feeling to arrive in a place where there is greenery, where there are birds singing and flowers blooming. True, it is the end of summer here, nevertheless it is much warmer than from whence we came on the Antarctic Peninsula and it is so good to walk on grass.

At 18:00 Fram departed the pier. As we cleared the narrows once again and entered more open water we immediately felt the effects of the continual high winds. The seas were between four and five metres and winds gusted over 40 knots. Hmmm. We all went to bed wondering what the morrow would bring.

Enjoying a calm sea

We need 2 days to reach Port Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. During the first day everybody was still talking about South Georgia, about all the wonderful landings we all had. But today on our second day at sea we are more and more looking forward to our next destination – the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. What kind of experiences will wait there for us?

The lecture team helped us with their lecture collection to sort our expectations. Later on all English speaking passengers had the possibility to visit the bridge. It was very interesting to see the very modern equipment on the bridge.

In the afternoon it was time to send some greetings to our family and friends at home via our blog. It is so wonderful what we can do with the help of the modern technic. Could you imagine how unbelievable it would have been if Amundsen could have sent a picture into the world directly after he reached the South Pole?

Most passengers went to bed early as everybody wanted to be fit during our first day on the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas.

En Route to the Falkland Islands

It’s pretty much as good as we could’ve hoped for. We have a calm crossing from South Georgia to the Falkland Islands. We have one more day at sea before getting to Port Stanley but the weather is likely to hold over the next couple of days. True, the skies are grey but who cares when the seas are calm?

Everyone is still on cloud nine after our two days in the paradise of South Georgia. It is not the first time when we see people overwhelmed by South. It really can be hard to absorb. It really is an in-your-face nature experience. We all need these two sea days to regroup for the Falkland Islands.

Today we had a plethora of activities to help ready people for the Falklands experience. We started with bridge tours in the morning and had lecture scheduled throughout the day. Our photographer Simon met with people at “the fireplace” at noon which was followed by a photo-identification session with the expedition team. The purpose of the session was for people to get “mystery wildlife photos” identified. Not sure what that bird, or seal, or whatever, is in your photos? Just ask the Expedition Team.

At 16:30 we all enjoyed a talk in the Observation Lounge by our special guest lecturer, Dr. Martin Collins the director of South Georgia Fisheries.

In the evening at 21:45 once again we rendezvoused in the Observation Lounge this time for a recap and question and answer period on South Georgia with the Expedition Team.

One more day to relax at sea and then it’s the magic of the Falkland Islands!