Antarctica – the coldest and most windswept continent? Not for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was the day of the Gentoo Penguin. We had time enough to visit two different colonies, one in Neko Harbor on the Antarctic mainland and later on one in Cuverville. The weather has been amazing, or was it unbelievable nice, or magnificent, glorious, outstanding or superb? That what we experienced on this day we cannot describe with words. We got different possibilities to enjoy this day. We were hiking, cruising or sitting in front of the penguins to observe the nature - and everything under a clear blue sky, with no wind and a very intense sunshine. Even pictures will give you only a little impression of our experiences of the day – we hope you enjoy them! 

 

 

Some passengers could not get enough nature feeling during the day. They choose their chance for camping in Antarctica. There could not be better conditions for such an unique camping experience.

Fram Symphony

Our cruise has reached the finale of the Fram Symphony, composed by Nature and conducted by our captain. The score has been building to a crescendo for the past two days as we approached Antarctica. Yes, technically we were in Antarctica when we crossed the Antarctic Convergence, sailing southeast to South Georgia, but not until today did we cast our eyes on the beautiful land of Antarctica itself. As we sailed by King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, we could really see what the fuss was all about- mountain peaks covered in marshmallow ice, icebergs of all sorts in the water, with penguins swimming by and seabirds following the ship.

Our goal today was to reach Half Moon Island, a small island nestled between Livingston and Greenwich Islands, in the appropriately named Half Moon Bay.  We did so in the early afternoon and proceeded to have an extremely memorable landing there. Through the afternoon the skies around the island were ominous and grey but for us, a hole in the cloud allowed the sun to shine from beginning to end. The wind blew and it was cold but all this did was remind us where we were. Our own patch of sunlight played on the mountains of Livingston Island, which formed the best backdrop you could imagine to the breeding birds and seals on Half Moon.

The wildlife highlights were of course the Chinstrap Penguins, at this stage still sitting on snow and waiting for the time they have solid rock below their feet and they can commence breeding. We were also lucky enough to see Mr. or Mrs. Macaroni Penguin, which has been coming to Half Moon for several years, but to our knowledge has never found a mate. Lolling on the ice in several places were Weddell Seals.

We had two special activities during the landing- Polarcirkel boat cruising and snowshoeing. Both were very well subscribed. Snow-shoers landed to one side of the Camara Base, an Argentine science station. They then walked along the shoreline and up to the top of a small mountain, from which they had fantastic views of the whole area.

The cruisers were treated to an abundance of icebergs and seals of several different species. A herd of Crabeater Seals swam by the flotilla of small boats. In several places, Weddell Seals slept, seemingly oblivious to their wonderful surroundings. And the icing on the cake was a Leopard Seal at the end of the cruise!

Everyone, including those of us who have visited Half Moon Island many times, will never forget this day.

The finale to our symphony will continue for the next two days as we delve deeper into the icy Antarctic Peninsula and really see what we and the Fram are made of.

Some thoughts from Elin

This is Elin, one of our trainees on board the Fram. We usually ask our trainees to write an edition of the blog and your faithful bloggers are thrilled when they accept (do they have a choice?!!!).

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We have now been onboard Fram for 13 fantastic days and have had landings in the Falkland Islands and in South Georgia. Very soon we are doing our first landings in Antarctica. It is an amazingly long distance from my home in Norway and I feel very privileged to be here.

I am a trainee in the expedition team and this is my first trip with Fram. I have an education in nature conservation and have some experience in kayak guiding. So far the trip has been very educational, with a lot of interesting lectures while having sea days and many knowledgeable people to tell what we see on shore both historical, geographical and wildlife. My main reason to come here was the wildlife. I have seen many documentaries from Antarctica and the islands nearby, and the scenery and wildlife are so beautiful. The fact is that it is even more beautiful in real life. Our days in South Georgia were a little bit foggy, but when leaving we could see these steep mountains dressed with snow.

My first meeting with penguins was very special for me. At New Island in Falklands we visited a colony of rockhopper penguins. It was so nice to sit and watch them just a few meters away, how they were bounding and making nests without noticing all the people watching. They were not disturbed by us at all, as long as we kept some meters distance. One penguin approached me and almost walked on my shoe to get its stone for the nest. And that applies to most wildlife down here, they are not afraid of people and some birds and seals are so curious, like these king penguins at Fortuna Bay.

What I was most amazed was the size of the male elephant seals. I knew they were big, but in real life they are huge! They can have a length up to 4,5 meters and weigh around 4000kg! You do not want to argue with them! When kayaking in Grytviken (South Georgia) we met them in the sea and one came up to look at the other guide Ralf  just a meter away from him. I was a little bit nervous, but he just watched for a while and swam away.

Before I came here, I had heard a lot of what the intense whaling had done to the whale stocks and almost made some species instinct. Introduced species from the whaling period are still doing a lot of damage to the fragile wildlife. Rats in South Georgia made some parts of the islands free from certain birds because they eat the eggs and chicks. In Falkland you have gorse, planted by people living there earlier. It is a beautiful bush with yellow flowers, which smell wonderful. So I can really understand why they wanted to take them with them. Now gorse had spread to large areas and by that excluding the native vegetation. So to avoid taking seeds, bacterial, virus on shore everybody have to clean their equipment properly. That warms the heart of a conservation biologist.

Two Days in the Kingdom of the King

We reached South Georgia during the night so that we could start with our first landing of the day very early in the morning. South Georgia is a small half moon shaped island, 170 km long and only 2 to 40km wide. The Allerdyce- and Salvesen mountain ranges with up to about 3000m in altitude divide the island in a very cold and icy south west coast and a warmer, sunnier and drier north east coast with deep fjord systems and large areas covered with tussoc grass. 

The island lies very isolated in the South Atlantic, at a distance of 550 km to the South Sandwich Islands, 1030km to the South Orkneys, 1450 km to Stanley on the Falkland Islands and 2050km to Cape Horn. Even though the island is so tiny, it is very important for many kinds of wildlife.

South Georgia lies south of the Antarctic Convergence and into the Antarctic Ocean; but the flora and fauna is typical of the sub-Antarctic. Enormous numbers of Elephant seals and Fur seals, millions of penguins and other sea birds are breeding between the green Tussock grass on the long beaches of South Georgia. 

The island in the “middle of nowhere” is one of the most important wildlife refuges on earth. It is an unbelievable and unforgettable feeling to stand next to a huge Elephant seal bull or watch the just born pups with their mothers. Nobody stays without feelings when the King Penguin chicks in their brown and fluffy down mantles come nearer and nearer to figure out what kind of human penguin came for a short visit!

Even though the weather has not been the very best, and we had special problems with a huge swell at our landing side in Fortuna Bay, our expedition team worked very hard to give everybody the chance to go ashore. And it worked!

Our hikers could stretch their legs on different hikes. One group went on the so called Shackleton Hike from Fortuna Bay to Strømness. The next morning another group went from Maiviken to Grytviken. Even though the weather was not the best, everybody enjoyed the nature and scenary.

But South Georgia has also its own history and this is strongly connected with the hunting of Fur seals and Elephant seals and whaling in the southern ocean. We got a very good impression of this terrible time for the fauna in South Georgia as we visited two of the old whaling stations, Grytviken and Strømness. Some Passengers even went on a historical cruise with our Polarcirkel boats to learn more about this time.

As we have seen already several whales during our trip, even a Blue Whale,

we have been all full of hope that the different whale populations will more and more recover in the future. That the Fur seals and Elephant seals have recovered already we could see quite well during all our landings, as they were all over the landing sites, sometimes even a bit too near.

Now we are looking forward to the Antarctic Peninsula. A huge tabular iceberg with a length of app. 30 km at the southern tip of South Georgia gave us a first impression what we will see perhaps when we will reach the Peninsula in two days.

North Scotia Sea

We left the beautiful Falkland Islands two days ago and have been sailing in the featureless Scotia Sea since then. The crossing to South Georgia from the Falklands can be miserable with winds and rough seas. However, our trip has been unusually comfortable- not flat calm but almost so.

With little wind, the petrels (sensu lato, including the albatrosses etc) were not so common but we had Giant Petrels and Cape Petrels with us virtually all the time.

Today we passed the Shag Rocks, a remote set of six closely packed islands in the middle of nowhere. They are covered in breeding shags or cormorants and are also home to Wandering Albatrosses. Just before, our ship photographer, Esther made a presentation on the incredible migration of Arctic Terns from the Arctic to the Antarctica (much like the Fram does every year!). While in China, she explained that she built an Arctic Tern kite under the instruction of a master kite builder. Later in the afternoon she flew the kite on the back deck of Fram.

The waters around the rocks are very productive- the rocks are actually the peaks of submarine mountains joined underwater to the western point of South Georgia. As the ocean currents pass by, the mountain obstructions create mixing and upwelling. This brings nutrients to the surface where the plants of the ocean can grow in the light (the euphotic zone). Approaching the rocks we saw our first Snow Petrels of the trip- a real highlight! These are incredible, all-white birds, which breed on cliffs surrounding Antarctica and even on slopes surrounded by icefields (nunataks). A very common sighting today were many groups of fur seals resting, playing and porpoising around us. 

So you see, even in the middle of the ocean we find many things to keep our interest.

The Capital!

After a wonderful day out on the “camp” we arrived this morning to the comparatively bustling metropolis, and Falklands capital, Stanley. OK, this is an exaggeration but over half the people living in these islands, live in Stanley and reports are that the impending oil industry is creating quite an economic boom.

Stanley "suburbs"

As we approached Stanley, some Commerson’s Dolphins approached the Fram to welcome us!

Commerson's Dolphins

Once docked our activities began with excursions to the town (history focus), a local nature walk, a birding tour, to Bluff Cove, and even a scenic air tour. Almost all on board took advantage of one of these great opportunities. After all, how often do you get to the Falkland Islands?!

This is spring in the southern hemisphere and the many blossoms and singing birds really told the tale of this most wonderful time of year. On the nature walk and birdwatching tour we saw several species of birds. For some we were afforded great, close views.

Speckled Teal

Silvery Grebe

Long-tailed Meadowlark male with food for his chicks

Many wildflowers were in bloom and the Balsam Bog was very green! This plant is very curious. It looks like a soft moss, but is in fact very hard to the touch. It's a member of the carrot family.

Balsam Bog- Bolax gummifera

The town tour focussed on the rich history of this place and included the war memorial, cathedral and museum.

At Bluff Cove, we were welcomed by the rangers who gave us an introductory talk about the site, including details of the local Gentoo and King Penguin colony. After the colony visit we were treated to a very British morning tea!

Teatime at Bluff Cove

King Penguin on the beach

After the morning excursions, most took advantage of the free time to explore Stanley before we sailed at 1600h. We now have two sea-days before we reach South Georgia!