Can there be something nicer than ice?

Let’s say it just at the beginning, our last day has been incredible, incredible wonderful. The day started early at 8:00h with a landing in Cuverville, in a huge Gentoo Penguin colony and it ended after an amazing cruise through the Neumayer Channel in the evening light. 

It would be nearly not possible to explain with words what we experienced this day. Please, look at the pictures, perhaps they say more than words can do.

And now perhaps you will understand our answer to the question: “can there be something nicer than ice?”. Yes, yes and a third time yes. Penguins on the ice, camping on the ice, kayaking between the ice and a PolarCircelBoat cruise in front of this impressive glacier landscape, which is all so much better than ice!

The journey continues!

This is now our third day in Antarctica and we have found lots to do in the South Shetland Islands. This chain of volcanic islands is moving away from the Antarctic Peninsula a few centimetres a year as a result of seafloor spreading. The active volcano called Deception Island is a result of this continued tectonic activity.

After spending a bumpy night in the northern-western part of the Bransfield Strait, we sailed into the flooded caldera of Deception Island in the early morning. The wind was howling outside but once we were inside the caldera, it calmed down. Pack ice from last winter had piled up in Whaler’s Bay but a portion of the beach was open enough for us to land. You really have to pinch yourself when you land at this place- remember it’s a ACTIVE volcano that erupts at regular intervals. It is time for another one based on how long it has been since the last. Evidence of the volcanic activity was in the form of steam rising from the beach, a sulfur smell in the air and hot water just below the surface of the black volcanic sand. As usual there were some Gentoo Penguins on the beach and at the end of the landing, a few were able to watch a Leopard Seal lying on an ice floe. Deception is famous for its Antarctic swimming opportunities and a few brave souls ventured in to the frigid waters. Behind the beach, we explored the outside of an abandoned British base and the oldest whaling station in Antarctica, dating from the early 1900s.

Pack ice in Whaler's Bay

Leopard Seal

Leopard Seal

Marsel van Oosten

Coming back out of Deception through Neptune’s Bellows is as impressive as going in with the high volcanic cliffs and the sea stack on one side, and colourful rock and snow on the other. Once out, we headed for our second landing of the day at Walker Bay on nearby Livingston Island. By the time we reached the bay the winds had dropped and all we had to contend with was a moderate swell. However, the Expedition Team was able to find a safe place to land on the beach. This landing was like none we had done before on this trip with the beach dotted with Elephant Seals and Southern Giant Petrels nesting and roosting behind the beach. Most walked up to see the fossil collection made from the area and on display. The Elephant Seals were mainly younger males but there were a couple of huge bulls with their big “blow-up” noses, and a young “weaner” lay on the beach on its own. It’s incredible how these young seals can become independent of their parents at such a young age and without any help learn to be an Elephant Seal.

Young Elephant Seal - 'weaner'

Elephant Seals - FriedaPhoto

Some went on a Polarcirkel boat cruise around the bay and got excellent views from the water of the rich Antarctica oasis of Hannah Point with its green vegetation and breeding penguins and giant petrels.

So overall our day was fantastic with a good mixture of beautiful scenery, geology and wildlife. Stay tuned for more to come!

Against great odds – we made the day successful!

The day started with lots of sunshine and blue sky, but sometimes this is not sufficient. The wind was blowing very strongly and our planned landing site on the “Aitcho” Islands was so exposed that a landing under safe conditions was not possible. Also a second try on a landing site very nearby was impossible. But there was no reason to give up hope for a landing of the day!

In the later afternoon we had planned a stopover in the Chinese Antarctic station “Great Wall”. Especially as we have a Chinese charter at the moment our guests were really looking forward to this event. China established three Antarctic stations and “Great Wall” – built in 1985 – is the biggest. The station can accommodate 80 persons during the summertime and up to 40 in winter. The other two stations are “Zhongshan” – built in 1989 – and the summer station “Kunlun” – opened in 2009.

Our expedition leader Anja asked the station if we could arrive earlier for our “visit” to the “Antarctic China”, and it worked out. Around 13:00h the expedition team went ashore to find a good landing place. It was not possible to reach the station directly with our PolarCircleBboats. We had low tide and between our ship and the station “Great Wall” we found a “small wall” in form of a little underwater gravel ridge that made the sea very shallow, so much so that our boats could not sail over. But again, we are on an expedition cruise, we could handle the situation, we landed on a snow covered beach and – we walked over to the station. “Great Wall” here we come!  It was even nice to stretch our legs on this 40min. hike. Walking on white snow in sunshine under blue sky with small white clouds, what could have been nicer?

During our visit we got a good impression about the “Chinese way of life” down here in Antarctica. Many souvenirs, made in China, have been bought by our Chinese guests at the station.  At the end of our cruise the Chinese passengers will take the souvenirs back to China. You see, even Antarctica is part of the worldwide economic cycle.

The evening ended with MV FRAM’s very well-known fashion show. Officers and expedition-staff gave their best to be at least the best models, not of the world, but of Antarctica!

Sea then land

We have had an exceptional crossing of the Drake Passage on our way to Antarctica. Winds remained light almost the whole trip and we were all very thankful of this. The alternative- high winds and high seas- was only in our nightmares! In actual fact the Drake has an undeserved reputation as a very rough stretch of water. It can often be light to moderate, as we experienced. With light winds comes fog on the Drake and we did not see much for the first day. The second day produced a lot of seabirds and some great opportunities to photograph them.

Antarctic Petrel - a true bird of the ice

After two days at sea we arrived near land at the South Shetland Islands in the early afternoon, and then sailed down to our first landing at Half Moon Island. We had great light but moderate winds for the landing so it was cold onshore. We were greeted by lots of snow and lots of Chinstrap Penguins on the small island, and also a nice  Weddell Seal. The backdrop of Livingston Island was spectacular!

Weddell Seal - FriedaPhoto

Weddell Seal - FriedaPhoto

The amazing Livingston Island

A few penguins had laid their eggs but most were still waiting for the “white stuff” to melt. These days it is often a long wait as more snow is falling on the Antarctic Peninsula in the winter because of climate change. Although they were waiting, the Chinstraps always looked busy walking to and fro, often with a new, prized stone in their beak for their nest.

Now that the penguins are laying eggs, the skuas are actively hunting over the colony. However, in the few hours we were on the island we didn’t see a one grab an penguin egg. When most people are introduced to skuas and their feeding habits, there is an automatic dislike because of our affection for penguins. However, we have to remember that skuas have to eat too and that a skua eating a penguin egg is no different to a penguin eating a krill. It's just that we have less feeling for krill than for penguins!

Brown Skua looking for penguin eggs

So, we had a great first day in Antarctica and now look forward to more great weather, great experiences, and great photo opportunities as we sail deeper into the last continent.

An end can be a new beginning!

In the early morning the passengers from our last cruise left the ship and started their long journeys home- Ushuaia is a long way from everywhere! But just a few hours later our new passengers arrived and in the evening we started our new trip to the Antarctic Peninsula.

It is always a hard day for the crew to prepare the cabins and the whole ship for the new incoming guests. After everything was shining again on the ship, cabins, floors, restaurant and lounges, the luggage arrived and had to be distributed to each of our cabins. 

Shortly after the passengers arrived the check in started.This cruise will be a very special cruise – an almost full Chinese charter. 156 Chinese people people boarded in the early afternoon. After the check in they started to explore the ship. All over the vessel you could hear them laughing, and nearly always smiling even though they were  tired after the long flight from China. Everyone looked like they were on holiday, which they were!

As the weather in Ushuaia had been so wonderful nearly everybody spent time outside on deck when we left Ushuaia. The Beagle Channel was flat like a mirror. The sky was deep blue and the high mountains, the very end of the Andes, showed up clearly against the sky. The highest tips are very sharp, indicating that they were not covered in ice during the last glacial period. Then they would have been surrounded by ice and called “Nunataks” (a term from the Inuit Language). 

The southern beech (Nothogagus) forest that covered the mountain sides down to the will  the last really green vegetation we will see over the next 10 days. We said “good bye” to the beautiful and colorful spring time in South America, and look forward to the more or less icy spring time at the Antarctic Peninsula.

We’re on our way home

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with this amazing, incredible experience we have had together over the last 18 days in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica. After our last landing at sunny and calm Neko Harbour, on the continent of Antarctica, we headed more or less north, up the Antarctic Peninsula and then cut between some islands and eventually headed into the Drake Passage.

The “Drake” has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character; sometimes she is soft and sometimes she is angry. Your own assessment of this depends a lot on how are your sea legs. For those used to sailing in the open sea, our Drake was pretty good, although we did experience 10 metre swells on the first day. Luckily, they were coming from the stern of Fram so their effect was not so great.

Sailing out of sight of land provides the opportunity to reflect on what we have experienced- to slow down and “smell the coffee” as they say. We have had so many unique experiences over the last almost 3 weeks that this can be overwhelming but it is a necessary part of the dénouement of any life experience. In between, we continued to learn from our expedition team on a variety of polar topics, including climate change. At other times the seabirds that call the Drake their home provided unending entertainment to those of us who felt the need for fresh air on decks. In the evening of the last day at sea our captain hosted a farewell reception on deck 7 followed by the usual and traditional Captain’s Dinner.

After two days on the Drake Passage we reached the sheltered waters of the Beagle Channel and sailed west, with Chile on the port side and Argentina on the starboard, arriving at Ushuaia in the early morning today. We enjoyed a beautiful, warm day in this most southerly city in the world, either relaxing or taking an optional tour, before boarding flights for home, or staying to experience more of the “Southern Cone” of South America.

All of us had to say our goodbyes today, which is not easy but a necessary part of going home.

It’s so nice in the ice!!!!!!!!!!

Our last day in Antarctica has been an icy day. Even the temperature has been around 0 degree Celsius; just the right temperature for snow. Millions and billions of ice crystals were falling out of huge grey clouds; clumping together to a bigger construction which we call snowflakes. The ship was covered with a nice white blanket of snow and we could hear, here and there the question: “should we build a snowman?” But we had no time, we had to keep track of the landscape covered with amazing glaciers, watch the sea, covered with icebergs and the rest of the sea ice from the last winter. 

It is unbelievable that each glacier, each floating ice sheet started its “life” out of little tiny ice crystals. You get crazy when you start to think about all these structures. And did you know at home that there are not two ice crystals on earth which look the same on earth? Even though all ice crystals have a hexagonal structure; they are so different like our fingerprints are not the same.

As there was so much ice in at the sea we were not able to land at the Argentinian station Base Brown. However, our expedition leader Anja changed the program directly and we started a wonderful and impressive PolarCircel boat cruise for everybody. It is unbelievable how different the icy landscape looks with the view from our little boats. To see everything just from the sea level gives us such a different imagination of this icy landscape.

FriedaPhoto

FriedaPhoto

In the afternoon we reached Neko Harbour. Here we got the possibility to step our feet on the Antarctic mainland. Hundreds of Gentoo Penguins greeted us. It is still the mating time. As everything is more or less still covered with snow the penguins had no possibility to build their nest made out of little pebbles until now. We started our landing in the snow, but later on the sun came through and everything glittered so nicely as if the scenery would be covered with millions of diamonds.

FriedaPhoto

Some passengers made the decision to go kayaking in front of these amazing glaciers. They got a marvelous impression and nature feeling they will never ever forget. 

Other passengers took the opportunity to go on a 90 minute PolarCircelBoat cruise. One of the highlights on the cruise was being able to watch a huge Leopard Seal, resting on an ice sheet.

FriedaPhoto

FriedaPhoto

FriedaPhoto

On what was our last day in this wonderful part of our earth, Antarctica could not say “Good Bye” in a better way.