A wonderful day in Antarctica

Cuverville Island lies beautifully in the Errera Channel, surrounded by glaciers and high mountains.

Today we had many things on the agenda; there were kayaking, boat cruising, island hiking up to the incredible view and of course, not to forget our lovely penguins on the beach posing for us.

The boat cruisers had an absolutely incredible meeting with two Antarctic Minke Whales that were coming right up to their boats, spy-hopping and modelling for the spectators. The kayakers had some fantastic meetings with Weddell and Leopard seals, on the shore we had a busy time photographing the Gentoo penguins and enjoying the view.

After a few hours, we all needed to go back to M/S Fram for lunch and our afternoon adventures. It was with happy faces that we left and we all felt that this place will stay in our thoughts for a long time.

In the afternoon we sailed in to Wilhelmina Bay and what a treat we were up for. We had to sail through wind, snow and bad visibility, but what a reward we got. The weather cleared up and a whole group of Humpback whales were there waiting for us just in front of M/S Fram. Left and right, high and low, here and there, Humpback´s everywhere. Fluking, feeding, indulging on krill and showing of in the best Humpback manner there is. We all stood on deck and the aaahhhhhh´s and the oohhhhhh´s from us were well synchronised with the shutters of our cameras going of like machineguns.

An absolutely fantastic meeting with one of the greatest of our oceans.

Later that night we sat the campers ashore in Neko Harbour for the great Amundsen experience: a night in Antarctica.

Telefon Bay and Deception Island

Wednesday, 21.01.2015 Telefon Bay and Deception Island

Today we learned about the waters of the Antarctic Peninsula through our feet, then our knees, then all the way up to our noses until it was completely over our heads. Immersing ourselves in this place and this landscape meant literally taking a plunge into the sapphire waters, and the brave passengers who went through with it have the honor of saying they swam in the crater of an active volcano in Antarctica.

Arriving at Telefon Bay

The day began with a hike atop a snowy volcanic rim on Telefon Bay, with some real Antarctic flurries and winds. Not to be detoured, the passengers and guides forged ahead, beating a path through volcanic stones and kindly greeting penguin visitors wondering who the gear-laden troops were. It was another spot along the journey characterized by the otherworldliness of this continent. Standing atop slopes of black ash, engulfed in white snow while a penguin looks at you is sort of like being at the edge of a very surreal dream.

Hiking along the volcano

In the afternoon we embarked for Whaler’s Bay on Deception Island, formed by a volcanic caldera that flooded to create a natural harbor. The entrance into the Bay through a small, 200-meter-wide portal (660 feet) called Neptune’s Bellows is a tight squeeze for the Fram and forms a sort of tunnel for the howling winds. Once at the landing, we explored the relics of an early 1900s Norwegian whaling operation and some ventured into the Bay on a one-and-a-half-hour hike through misty hills to an extraordinary view.

A Weddell Seal at Deception Island

One of 35 burial sites left on Deception Island

Down on the beach, whale bones were scattered among the rocks with the metallic fossils of old makeshift homes, whale-oil silos and a cemetery with 35 marked burials. Joining us were a napping Weddell Seal and a young, male Fur Seal, each producing dramatic yawns and belly scratches. Before returning to the boats, passengers were prompted for a dip in the water and those with the spirit ran, jumped, doggy-paddled and waddled through the small waves while two Gentoo Penguins watched from the shore with curiosity, and maybe even solidarity.

Taking a swim in Antarctic waters

Danco Island

Tuesday, 20.01.2015 Danco Island

Our plans for this day were destroyed  by the weather. Originally we had Yankee Harbour and Half Moon Island on our schedule. But the weather forecast was so bad for the South Shetland Islands, that our captain and the expedition leader decided not to go there but to try a landing near the Antarctic Peninsula in Mikkelson Harbour. This small Island in the harbour should be sheltered by the large and high Trinity Island.  Again also here we encountered a quite strange weather situation, which can be found almost only in the Antarctic waters. We had a cloudy sky above the high mountains on land and a blue, sunny sky above the sea. But the wind blew with Beaufort force seven to eight and in gusts to nine causing waves up to four meters. That means: No landing possible at all!

Wind and waves at Mikkelson Harbor

New plans had to be made and we decided to try a landing further south on Danco Island. This small only 1.6 Kilometer long Island lies in the narrow Errera Channel and should be sheltered by the larger and quite high Ronge Island. We need several hours to go there and arrived at 2 pm. Our hopes were fulfilled: Still sunny but nearly no wind. We could start our operation!

Iceberg in Errera Channel

First the boat cruising began at 2.30. We had low tide and the Errera Channel was filled with stranded Icebergs.Thus we had a scenic cruising among all these Icebergs.  The landing on Danco Island started at about 3 pm. WE had to climbe uphill.  On the top of the hills we found the Gentoo penguin colonies. The chicks were quite big and grown up. At the end we could slide downhill through the snow. The operation ended at 7 pm. 

Landing site at the beach of Danco Island

Ice in the Errera Channel

Gentoo Penguin with chicks Danco Island

Brown Bluff

Monday 19 January 2015

In the morning we entered the wonderful Antarctic Sound. This piece of sea is well known for its magnificent tabular icebergs and we were certainly spoiled with incredible views of these ice towers.  The weather was perfect, and the Captain took us for a little ride around one of these. The iceberg itself was taller than our ship, and it took approximately 22 minutes to navigate around it. Important to remember that most of an iceberg's mass lies beneath the waves. We spent the rest of the morning taking in the beautiful scenery as we gently cruised along to our landing site.

Getting a better look of these ice giants

Shortly after lunch we arrived at our destination: Brown Bluff. This was our first continental landing. Approaching the shoreline by Polar Cirkle boats our senses were heightened: the sublime views and unmistakable smell and sounds from the penguin rookeries !

Arriving at Brown Bluff

At this site many Gentoo and Adelie penguins nest. Their young hatched a few weeks ago and it was great to see the little balls of down. The sun was extremely strong, and we could see many of the Adelie chicks laying flat on the ground - as moving too much would mean overheating. Kelp Gulls were also nesting among the penguins, vigorously defending their territory from wandering penguins.

We walked up a short but steep moraine. From here we were treated to breathtaking views of the surrounding glacier system. It was incredible to think that travelling across these glaciers could eventually lead us to the South Pole !

Hiking up the morraine at Brown Bluff

Gentoo feeding its young

Heading: The Antarctic Peninsula

This time The Drake Passage revealed its true self and made reason for its infamous reputation. We experienced strong gale during the night sailing out from Ushuaia, but it seemed to be short-lived and the weather calmed down to high wind during the following day, which was a relief for all of us.

We spent the following day with info-briefings, trying out our blue Expedition Jackets and getting the right sizes for our much comfortable muck boots, which we are going to use in Antarctica.

To our delight we had Albatrosses accompanying the ship towards Elephant Island. We had the Wandering, the Grey-Headed and the Black-browed, as well as Cape Petrels, aka Pintados, swivelling around M/S Fram showing themselves from their best side.

In early afternoon on the 18 January, we sighted the legendary Elephant Island and we were all eager to get out there to explore. We decided on a cruising around the absolutely stunning Point Lookout.

These rugged metamorphic rocks with a topping of iron-oxide and penguin-droppings was home to an abundant wildlife. There were Weddell, Fur, Elephant and Leopard Seals in the water, Cape Petrels in the air, Chinstrap Penguins on the rocks and to our delight we found the absolutely amazing Macaroni Penguins around the corner. All this in one place and it was all beautifully wrapped in by the surroundings of glaciers coming down the mountains. This is a truly special place and it will linger on for quite some time.

A great start to our adventures here in Antarctica.

Petermann Island and Vernadsky research station

Tuesday 13 January 2015

We have had another spectacular day in the Antarctic.

Early in the morning we picked up our fellow campers who had been camping overnight at Petermann Island. A wonderful experience, and certainly not one many people can say they have done! The sound of Gentoo penguins could be heard all night, as icebergs slowly drifted by. Within the colony an elephant seal could be seen.

Later all our guests also had the opportunity to make a landing. Petermann island, found on the west side of the Penola Straight, was discovered in 1873 by a German whaler Eduard Dallmann and was named after a famous German geographer August Petermann. Our landing started at Port Circumcision which was used by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot who overwintered there at the beginning of the 20^th Century with his ship the Pourquoi Pas.

From our rocky landing site we could observe the Antarctic continent on the other side, with towering mountains reaching between 800-1300 metres high. On one side of the island our guests could observe an “iceberg graveyard”, where many iceberg become stranded due to shallow water. On the other side of the island, we found a rocky beach with steep cliffs: home to large colony of blue eyed shags (many with quite grown chicks, still with their grey plumage), Gentoo penguins and Adelie penguins.

Adelie at Petermann Island

Amazing glacier ice formations

In the afternoon we headed towards our southernmost point of our journey: the Vernadsky research station. Until 1986, the station was controlled by British Antarctic Survey but was sold for the symbolic fee of 1 Pound to the Ukraine. Our guests were given a guided tour around the facilities. As the departure time approached, nobody wanted to leave as this would be the last Antarctic landing of our trip. To thank our Ukrainian friends for their hospitality, we delivered some fresh vegetables, as they only get one supply of food every year!

Vernadsky Station

The famous bar at Vernadsky

Home brewed vodka

Our Captain on a kayak tour

So far from everything, yet we felt very at home at the Ukranian base

We set sail at 6pm and now have 2 days of Drake Passage ahead of us. Let’s hope for some quiet seas to end what has been an exceptional journey.

Port Lockroy and Lemaire Channel

This Monday morning started as usual the last days: air temperature about  zero, cloudy to overcast and nearly no wind. But after some time the weather changed into a typical Antarctic one: completely overcast with deep clouds hiding the surrounding mountains and it started a slight snowfall which lasted during the whole day. We started our landing at Port Lockroy at about 8. 30.

Port Lockroy is a former British research station which was turned into an Antarctic  Historical Monument. First it was established as Base B during the British operation Taberin  at the end of World War II in 1944. It was changed into a research station in 1952 and was abandoned in 1962. In 1996 it was restored and is now the most visited historical site in the Antarctic. It lies on the tiny Goudier Island and the surrounding of the buildings is occupied by Gentoo Penguins and turned into a small rookery.

Port Lockroy Museum (Bransfield House)

Only a small group of persons is allowed to be on the Island and just 35 persons can be at one time in the museum. There we could admire the old research instruments and got an inside in the living conditions in this old research station. But the most interesting room in the museum was the museum shop and most of us used the short time for “power shopping” or writing post cards. The waiting time could be used for taking photos of the Gentoo penguins and their chicks.

Shopping at the museum shop in Port Lockroy

Port Lockroy writing postcards

After lunch we sailed through the scenic Lemaire channel. It  was an extraordinary experience to sail through it under this typical Antarctic condition and not in  the often seen pictures in brilliant sunshine.

At the southern end we had a short but very impressive boat cruising for everybody. We curved around lots of stranded big icebergs in white and blue colours. We fought through crashed Glacier ice and relics of the winter sea ice. All this took place in the fairy and mysterious  scenery produced by the overcast sky and the continuous snowfall. But the most impressive experience were the sighting of two  leopard seals lying separated on  small ice flows. Sometimes the opened their mouth and showed us their powerful  jaws.

At 21.30 the campers set out to Petermann Island to have an overnight in tents.

Cruising in the ice (Southern Entrance of Lemaire Channel)

Leopard Seal (Southern Entrance of Lemaire Channel)

Humpback Galore

Sunday 11 January 2015 

The Argentine base of Almirante Brown is located on the Antarctic Peninsula mainland near Skontrop Cove in Paradise Harbour. It´s named for William Brown, an Irish immigrant who became a national hero in Argentina and is known as the father of the Argentine Navy. 



Station Brown


In 1984, the station´s doctor went slightly mad and burned the base down, but no one was injured and the American research vessel Polar Duke saved everybody.

Beautiful sights surrounding the base

Snowy sheathbills

We landed among the Gentoo penguins and made our way up the steep slope and we were rewarded with a stunning view over Paradise Bay. We had Imperial Cormorants flying below us, beautiful ice burgs in the distance, and a picture perfect view over the glaciers. We slid down the slop on our behinds, all to the cheering of the spectators. On the way back to M/S Fram we went by the blue eyed shags and had a look at the chicks.

On the way towards Wilhelmina Bay we saw two Humpback whales, that we approached, but they showed no interest so we kept on sailing. That showed to be a very good decision, because little later we found another Humpback whale and this one was feeding. This amazing animal showed to be very comfortable with us and kept on feeding around the ship. We all stood on the outer decks and witnessed this fantastic show, watching the whale bubble-feeding. Bubble feeding is when the whale is swimming in an upward spiral, corralling and concentrating krill swarms inside a curtain of bubbles before gulfing them in an explosive open-mouthed rise, breaking free from the surface. Everyone on the ship was running back and forth around the decks, trying to get the best view and picture of this colossal. Everytime it fluked (showing its tailfin) a big aaahhhhhh went through the audience, followed by maybe hundreds of click, click, click.

An absolutely amazing and rare meeting, which will linger on for a long time.

Bubble net feeding in action