Danco and Cuverville

10 January 2015

Both Danco and Cuverville are fairly small islands surrounded by tall mountains and roaring glaciers. In the waters around the islands it is like an art exhibition of ice sculptures. Fantastic sculptures of ice in thousand shades of blue.

Both places lucky kayakers could enjoy circumnavigation of the islands. Kayaking in this area is as good as it gets. In the kayak we really get close to nature and move in total silence between the icebergs. It is a magical experience that leaves a big smile on your face and long lasting memories in your heart.

It was also a perfect day for cruising in polarcircel boats and enjoying the good life of summer in Antarctica. The weather we are experiencing this trip is just amazing. The sun is shining almost 24 hours a day and there is no wind in the air. Rare luxury in these waters.

To top of a perfect day 18 campers spent the night outside in the short Antarctic night. They tell tales of hunting Leaopard seal along the shoreline and calving glaciers. When you are camping in Antarctica sleeping is not the first priority.

Deception island

Deception Island is an island like no other. It is ring shaped, with a very narrow opening allowing boats to access its centre. In fact it is a volcano (the ring being the crater), and one of the only two volcanoes in Antarctica where eruptions have been observed, the last one lasting between 1967-1970. Our guests were certainly not deceived, as we had an action packed day full of different activities.

In the morning we landed at Telefon Bay. After a short hike up an ash slope, we found another smaller crater which was possible to go hiking around. One by one our tender boats arrived and our guests were treated to incredible views over the entire Deception Island. Although the temperature was a balmy few degrees Celsius, the wind picked up and we were happy to return to a warm ship for lunch. In the meantime we had another group kayaking – they were able to reach Pendulum Cove, known for its hotsprings.

View from the top of Deception Island. At distance is the narrow entrance (Neptune's Bellows)

In the afternoon we crossed over to the other side of the island, to Whaler’s Bay (named after the whaling operations which took place here in 1906), where we were greeted by steaming black ash sand. Putting your hand into the sand and you could really feel the heat! We visited some of the fascinating historical monuments along the beach, including a Norwegian whaling station and British science base - both destroyed during the last eruption.

Arriving at Whaler's Bay

Some of us decided to join the hike to Bailey Head – a steep hike up the ash slopes and onto snow fields. Once we had ascended the slopes, we had outstanding views beyond the island, and were able to reach a large chinstrap penguin colony. Back down again, and just in time for some Antarctic bathing. You see, some of the waters around the Bay are relatively warm, but judging by the faces of our keen swimmers, it still looked pretty cold! Finally, we had another group who went on a very interesting “geology cruise” with our very own geologist to the southern part of the caldera of the Deception Island. The group saw some interesting features of the glacier of Mount Pond and looked at the hydrothermal activity in Pendulum cove.

Hike to Bailey Head

Chinstrap colony at Bailey Head

What comes up must come down

Antarctic bathing

Overall, another very busy day in a very incredible place!

Yankee Harbour & Half Moon Island

Another perfect day in the “White Paradise”! Again we had good weather: cloudy but sunshine in between, temperature above zero and a gentle breeze. The sunshine and the clouds with their shadows were painting a picture in blue, white and dark in the landscape of mountains, glaciers and the sea.

Glacier at Yankee Harbour

We started our operations at Yankee harbor at nine in the morning. Yankee Harbour is situated at the southern coast of Greenwich Island, an island of the South Shetland Islands west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Yankee Harbour is a natural harbor in a well sheltered bay build up by a long spit of gravel. The bay was discovered by the American Nathaniel Palmer in 1820  and was used by American sealers afterward during the early nineteenth century. A trypot as a relic of this period is to see near the landing site. Trypots were used in the early days to boil oil out of the skins of whales, seals and even penguins. We visited a Gentoo penguin colony of about 4000 breeding pairs scattered around the beach area. Some went to the end of the spit to look for young male elephant seals, hauling out there. But most of our passengers took the opportunity to see and to photograph them during the boat ride back to the ship. At ten a group of kayakers  arrived at the landing site to start their kayak tour around the bay passing by the glacier front on the other side of the bay. The landing ended at 13.30.

Gentoo Penguin feeding (Yankee Harbour)

Young Elephant seal at Yankee Harbour

During Dinner we sailed over to the nearby Half Moon Island. The small Island got its name after its shape as it forms an open circle. The diameter is only 2 km long. The Island lies in a bay in the northern part of Livingston Island. Since 1953 there is an Argentine research station on the island. The island is famous for its small (around 3000 breeding pairs) but very nice chinstrap colony, distributed over rocky hills on the western side of the Island. We started our landing at 15.30. Most of us preferred to visit the chinstrap colony. There were still breeding pairs with eggs. But most of the pairs had chicks ranging in age from tiny only a few days to bigger chicks about 3 weeks old. Some went down to the gravel beach to see Weddell Seals. A group of passengers started a 2 hours boat cruising around the Island passing by the impressive glacier front of Livingston Island. Later also a group of kayakers made a similar tour around the island. Our landing ended at 19.30.

Chinstrap penguin with chicks (Half Moon Island)

Weddell seal at Half Moon Island

Mainland Antarctica and Argentinian soil

Brown Bluff is beautifully situated on the coast of the Antarctic Sound at the end of the Tabarin Peninsula.

Here we had Adélie penguins, Gentoo penguins, kelp gulls and Cape petrels, all breeding under the ominous 745 metre-high cliff. The Adélies and their chicks were showing their best behaviour and made reason for maybe being nature’s best comedians…….absolutely gorgeous little creatures.

The bay and beach were filled with ice blocks, burgy bits and smaller icebergs, which the Gentoo´s and the Adélie´s used as resting places, as well as dive platforms for shooting of in to the water, and in the sky we could enjoy the Antarctic Skuas, kelp gulls and Cape petrels.

To get an even more stunning view, we hiked about 80-100 high meters up to a rocky outcrop on the cliff, where we got our reward……..breath-taking doesn´t really say it.

The Argentine Base Esperanza was established at Hope Bay in 1951 and has been a focal point for the Argentine sovereignty claim to the Antarctic Peninsula area ever since.

In the late 70´s they began bringing women and children to live here year around and the first Antarctic birth was recorded here in 1978.

We got a guided tour around the base, which holds as many as 50 persons incl. children in the high season. It was very interesting to listen to the “locals” telling about life in such a remote and isolated place. Here they have a chapel, a school for children, a museum and a “casino”, which is really not what it seems like, more just a meeting place for everybody to come together in the evenings.

The Argentinian army mans the base, but with regards to the Antarctic Treaty, they are not allowed to carry any weapons what so ever

When afternoon became evening it was time to head back to M/S Fram, which was waiting for us with another spacious dinner buffet. After enjoying all this great food we all met in the lounge on deck 7 for the famous Crew Fashion Show.

Another great day here on M/S Fram have come to an end and new adventures are waiting for us tomorrow.

Here we go!

Elephant island

Out of the mist we saw it from far away. Tall mountains straight out of the endless ocean. As we approached the legendary elephant island we were accompanied by jumping chinstrap penguins and cruising whales on all sides of the ship. Just the sight of this island is enough to take your breath away. To get a closer look we spent the day cruising in our Polarcircel boats. The highlight for many was a close look at Point Wild and the statue of Luis Pardo. For others the first meeting with the penguins was enough to put a smile on for days. On our way further south we even saw an enormous tabular iceberg. This voyage is starting out with a bang!

Drake Passage

Having sailed all night, we woke up to calm conditions along the Drake Passage. We are now truly alone, somewhere between the Pacific Ocean and Scotia Sea.

Today is a full sea day, and we have set our course on Elephant Island which is still another few hundred kilometers away.

A sea day gives our guests time to familiarise themselves with the ship and learn about the rules regarding visiting Antarctica. More importantly it's a perfect time to unwind and disconnect from civilisation and technology. Even getting this blogpost uploaded is quite tricky for us !

 

During the day, we organised our guests into different groups, and gave out our famous blue jackets.

 

On our way down South !

Our first trip of the year has begun, and we are now heading towards the white continent !

At the Puerto Ushuaia we were docked alongside some other ships. One by one we set off, with MV Fram leading the way through the Beagle Channel.

Our nurse Cecilia and doctor Zaida going through the important medical forms.

Hopefully we will not need these...

Captain Arild and his crew welcoming our guests on board.

Goodbye Ushuaia !