Wednesday 28 February Triple Crown and Ahead of the Storm

We had a calm sail with gentle rocking up the Bransfield Strait during the night, much more restful than the trip going down south.  However, at breakfast it was announced that the morning’s land excursion to Half Moon Bay would be the last excursion for the trip, as there were storms starting to develop in the Drake Passage.  Other ships in the area had decided to start for the Drake today, to try and outrun the bad weather, and our captain suggested that this would be a very good idea for us also!

For the last time, everyone loaded up into their Michelin Man gear (three layers of thermals, polar fleece and down jacket, covered by the outer layer of waterproof jacket and pants, and accessorised by two pairs of gloves, balaclava, minimum of one hat.  The final struggle into knee-length waterproof boots completed the ensemble.)  Zodiacs were launched, kayaks towed along behind, and do wn the gangway we went.

Half Moon Bay has a colony of Chinstrap penguins, and these ones have attitude!  There were still a few chicks around, although they are quite large now.  Often you will see a male Chinstrap quickly stealing a small stone from a rival’s nest, then waddle across to place it carefully on his own.  This naturally is done to impress the female, hoping she will pick the male with the larger nest.  If the penguin whose nest was rifled has any mettle, he will engage in a highly voluble exchange with the thief, protesting vehemently against the loss of his stone.  An extra excitement for the morning’s excursion was to catch a glimpse of “Kevin”, the lone Macaroni penguin who for many years has found a home among the Chinstraps, where he stands like a solitary soldier against the weather, and possibly Chinstraps stealing his food!  Kevin was sighted only a couple of weeks ago, loo king a bit worse for weather, but sadly there was no sign of him today.

Most people took the chance to stretch their legs by walking from one end of the point to the other on a beach which, unusually, was devoid of snow.  A few Antarctic fur seals were spotted, there were quite a few Gentoo penguins flapping around, and skuas, snowy sheathbills and Wilson’s Storm petrels were sighted in the sky.

There was huge excitement amongst the two kayak guides Ehren and Brendan, as their ten kayak proteges completed a third circumnavigation of an island – this time Half Moon Island. To their knowledge, no-one else has done this, so their achievement has been dubbed the “Triple Crown”.  No doubt this will have now set a standard that will need to be matched in future trips!

A late morning flurry of snowflakes and drop in temperature sent everyone back to the ship, to extricate themselves for the final time out of the Michelin outfit and get ready for another delicious lunch. The prospect of a final foray into the One Ocean Expeditions Gift Shop after lunch (out by Gangway, two doors to the right, rug up) brought in quite a few expeditioners looking for last minute gifts and mementos, while the remaining passengers either rested up, or ventured down into the depths of the ship into the Multi-media room to sort out photos, ready for the final show and tell on the last day.

On every trip to Antarctica, both One Ocean Expeditions and Cheeseman’s Ecology Safaris hold an auction towards the end of the trip, the proceeds of which are distributed amongst a number of worthy scientific and non-profit organisations working towards preserving and understanding Antarctica.  At 6pm in the bar, fuelled by a never-ending supply of fruity sangria, the expedition staff displayed, demonstrated, modelled, cajo led and encouraged us to bid for many eclectic items up for auction. These ranged from whiskey tumblers from the bar, a bottle filled with water melted from pure Antarctic ice, a staff shirt and toque (beanie), to cute knitted penguins and a penguin cocktail shaker, and culminated in the highest bids for an illustrated map of the voyage, and the chance to “Name a Whale”.  It was a fun evening, with bids getting higher and higher as the sangria flowed more freely, and everyone left in a glow of satisfaction knowing that their over-zealous but generous bids made a significant contribution to science (or possibly, the glow of satisfaction was due to the over-imbibing of sangria!) 

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Cierva Cove and Mikkelson Harbour

It was a very different traverse up the Lemaire/Gerlache than going down – a much more restful night was had by all.  We woke to the calm shelter of Cierra Cove and the opportunity for a long zodiac cruise in the morning out of the wind.

Kayakers were excited about the planned extended paddle into Cierra Cove, to see the chinstrap penguins on Isla Penguinos, and then into the extensive areas of brash ice, with very big icebergs just  begging to be explored, or at least paddled around.  Zodiacs also set off to visit the chinstraps, the southern-most colony in Antarctica. They are also the mountaineers of the penguins, as most of them were perched right on top of the ridge of the small rocky island.

Not far from Isla Penguinos, a couple of zodiacs chanced across a big leopard seal in the water feeding on an unlucky penguin.  The seal will catch the penguin in its mouth (full of very long teeth!), and then thrash the carcass around until it literally turns inside out.  The seal feasts on the meat, leaving the penguin skin almost intact.  Scavenging on the surface for left-over penguin tidbits were the little Wilson’s Stormy Petrel, usually too fast to photograph, but today they were dancing on the water, so we were able to grab a few shots.

Perched high on the rocks of Cierva Cove are several red huts, which belong to the Argentine scientific base Primavera.  Landing there is prohibited, as the prime objective of the base is the scientific study of the very fragile plants which grow in the area.

All the zodiacs and the kayakers had several up close and personal encounters with leopard seals; one saw a very large jellyfish, and most saw humpback whales very close to the zodiacs or kayaks; some of the whales were even “spy-hopping”. Towards the end of the morning’s cruise, the sun finally broke through, thr owing light on the snow and ice in a way which we had yet to see in our days so far in Antarctica.  It was breathtaking, and a welcome break from the monotone grey!

During lunch we continued our way up the Gerlache Strait to Trinity Island, and Mikkelson Harbour.  This would be the last chance to visit with the Gentoo penguins, as from now on we will see mostly Chinstraps.

It was an easy afternoon, with kayakers enjoying a slow-paced paddle and the expeditioners on land enjoying a chance to sit with the Gentoos and examine their behaviour.  The sun remained out, although there were still plenty of clouds, allowing some spectacular landscape shots of backlit and highlighted snow-covered peaks against the metallic grey of the water.

After dinner the Fireside Chat was a live music fiesta, with a first and quite probably a last time performance by the “OceanNotes” (Perthites Tim and Felicity), who with voices enhanced by head colds, sang and harmonised some old favourites, original parodies, finishing with an epic ballad celebrating Shackleton’s famous ordeal across the Southern Ocean to South Georgia.  Tim then carried on playing song after song for a group singalong, which was greatly enjoyed and appreciated by those who were willing and able to stay up late. 

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Turn Around and Petermann Island

While we had such a glorious time exploring the history on Detaille Island and the ice in Crystal Sound, it did not go unnoticed that the ice was moving around quite a lot, and by the time we were back on board and sitting down to dinner, it had moved far enough south to block the very narrow entrance to Marguerite Bay called “The Gullet”.  Our Antarctica Deep South expedition was going no further south!

The alternative was to do a 400 nautical mile round trip on the outside of Adelaide Island, back into Marguerite Bay, which would be 340 nautical miles longer that just sailing through The Gullet! This was not feasible in the time left to us, and would mean a very long passage in the open ocean back to Ushuaia.  Therefore, we have turned back, crossed the Antarctic Circle again (having spent only nine hours below the Circle), and have headed back north for Petermann Island.  Plan B is to land on several different places in the Antarctic Peninsula, finally reaching the South Shetland Islands, where the hop across the Drake Passage is the shortest distance possible, a fact that has been quietly rejoiced by probably every person on board the Sergey Vavilov!

Petermann Island appeared on the horizon, and the morning’s activities included both landing on the island and zodiac cruising, to view the Gentoo and Adelie penguins who coexist there.   A highlight for those walking on the island were the crazy fledgling Gentoo chicks, staggering about taking no notice whatsoever of the five metre clearance rule for tourists.

With the kayakers getting another opportunity to paddle across the waters, they outdid themselves by completing another circumnavigation, this time around Petermann Island. 

The afternoon activity was a very pleasant shortish zo diac cruise close to Yarlour Island.  Plenty of interesting ice formations were photographed intensively, as well as a couple of leopard seals, and crabeater seals lazing on flat tabular icebergs

We arrived back on ship to find out it was BBQ on the Deck night, with plenty of mulled wine and roast pork, BBQ ribs, corn, potatoes, prawns, grilled fish, and enough salads to sink the ship, followed by a berry crumble and custard. This was eaten outside at picnic tables set up with tablecloths on the aft deck, where the air was cold enough to see our breath, but the seas were calm, icebergs gently rocked by, and it was a lovely feeling to be sitting outside in Antarctica, having a BBQ! 

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Crossing the Antarctic Circle!

Entering the Lemaire Channel and open seas, it was a rough night’s sailing, with big swells and visibility to less than 100 metres.  With the ship rolling from side to side, some discovered they had not yet got their sea legs, so retreated to their cabins.  “One hand for yourself, and one hand for the ship” was the catch-cry for the morning, as we staggered drunkenly into breakfast. It was thankfully a lazy sailing morning.

At around 11am in the morning, we crossed the Antarctic Circle, and gathered on Deck 6 outside the bar for a group photo to celebrate the occasion.

The destination for today was to get as far south as Detaille Island, in Crystal Sound, with the hope to sail further south to Marguerite tomorrow!  Detaille Island is the site of yet another abandoned British base – this one only lasted three years before they decided th e location was not suitable, and everyone left, leaving the station behind with everything in it as is.  A steep climb up a slippery ice slope was managed by everyone, thanks to strong-handed staff placed at five metre intervals along the track, and a plentiful supply of walking sticks to help haul us up.  A fearsome mother skua carefully stood guard over her two fluffy chicks on a rock near the main hut, flapping wings and squawking loudly at any unwary expeditioner foolish enough to step too closely to the nest.  A small colony of Adelie penguins are found here.  They are not adapting too well to the warming temperatures in the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula and have been forced to keep moving south to survive.

A glorious late afternoon cruise amongst the incredible ice sculptures floating on the water of Crystal Sound was a highlight for those who managed it.  There was even a large iceberg that was a repl ica of the Sydney Opera House!  There were plenty of crabeater seals lazing about on the tabular icebergs to photograph, and a couple of leopard seals were spotted, also stretched out on the ice.  The sun was bravely trying to break through the clouds, and the calmness of the water was almost mirror-like.  It made for a memorable ice cruise, made more so by the knowledge that we were the only vessel to successfully land on Detaille Island this season!

A flurry of humpback whales off both sides of the ship just after dinner had many of us in the Deck 6 bar rushing out without warm clothes to glimpse them, before rushing back in to get warm.  Tonight’s FireSide Chat was Ben’s solo, unsupported bike trek across 200km of Greenland’s tundra, one which he is not too keen on repeating, apparently!

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Saturday 24 February Port Lockroy and the Case of the Curious Leopard Seal

During the night we continued down the Gerlache Strait, and even though the wind was travelling up to 30 knots, the ship seemed to remain stable, and most people slept well.  We woke to the news that we were anchored off Port Lockroy, and there would be a morning visit and/or zodiac cruise, to account for the limited number of people that could visit Port Lockroy at one time.

Port Lockroy is a British outpost on Wiencke Island, established in 1944 with the purpose to maintain a permanent British presence in Antarctica.  The catalyst for this was potential claims on the territory from Argentina and Chile.  Britain has maintained permanent presence in Antarctica since then.

At Port Lockroy, you will find a museum and Post Office, where one can send a postcard to anywhere in the world from Antarctica, for the cost of US$1.  You can also get your passport sta mped, to show proof that you have, indeed, stepped foot onto Antarctican soil.  There is also a gift shop, which is non-profit, with all the proceeds going towards the upkeep of the historic site at Port Lockroy.

As only 50 people at a time can land at Port Lockroy, the ship was split between Port and Starboard dwellers, where one group landed and visited the historic site, and the other group cruised in the zodiacs, after which they swapped.  The overall impression of Port Lockroy appeared to be the overwhelming smell of the penguin poop. The island appears to be overrun by Gentoo penguins and snowy sheathbills with chicks.  Other wildlife spotted included shags, leopard seals, minke whales, other Weddell seals, and some saw an avalanche on the glacier resulting in a calving, with some big waves as a result. Others sailed around Jouglia Point to see the whale bones on the shore.

The highlight for one zodiac was an up close and personal encounter with an inquisitive leopard seal.  It was of course, Hugh Rose’s zodiac! He is the leopard seal whisperer!  They saw the seal first in open water, then it popped up again, about 100m away close to the shore, near a colony of Gentoos on Jouglia Point. Clearly it was hoping for penguin buffet!

The zodiac motors were switched off, and it was slowly moving towards the shore when the leopard seal popped up right at the back of the zodiac and exhaled close to the driver.  Leopard seals have a known tendency to bite zodiac tubes, as they like the feel of the bubbles.  They also like to hang around the propeller for the same reason!  This seal moved to bite the tube but was startled off by a hand slap from Hugh. It swam over to another zodiac close-by and rolled over underneath that zodiac with its mouth open, ready to bite!  Apparently, they also like the feel of the softer rubber in their mouth!  Swimming back to Hugh’s zodiac, the leopard seal (apparently by its size (~600kg), probably a female, which are about one and a third times larger than a male) had another go biting the propeller, before it swam off.

Kayakers also did the split landing to visit Port Lockroy, and cruised around Jouglia Point to their waiting kayaks, a small crew of three tandems and a single today. It was a short paddle at a slow pace through serene, glassy water, where the silence was broken only by the sound of popping ice (oxygenated). Paddling towards the strait in a very protected area, they saw a couple of small carvings off the nearby glacier, and a lazy Weddell seal.

Moving on south towards the Lemaire Channel, the weather took a turn for the worse, with increasing wind, snow and rain.  A short afternoon cruise off Plenier Island was very cold and wet – a few brave souls ventured out in the zodiacs to visit the Iceberg Graveyard, and saw Gentoo penguins, and one each of an Adelie and Chinstrap penguin.  It was even too cold for the penguins!

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Wednesday February 21 and the Active Volcano

An easy sail down the Bransfield Strait during the night made for a comfortable night’s sleep for mostly everyone, and we woke to steely grey but calm seas. Pre-breakfast smoothies went down well for those of us who managed to wake up early and nab one – they go fast!   Early morning sightings from the bridge included our first look at humpback whales, and then a rare sighting of a Southern Right whale, identified by its big round body and no dorsal fin.  It is very rare to see one this far south.  Birds identified from the bridge include a black-browed albatross, southern giant petrels, and numerous pintados.

The morning was largely taken up with mandatory zodiac management and IATO protocol lectures, and the ever-popular “vacuum party”.  This is bio-security management.  All items of outerwear, boots and dry-bags must be inspected and vacuumed to ensure no foreign material will be transported (in Velcro straps for example), and boot soles are washed in a decontamination solution before and after zodiac landings.  The last thing anyone wants is for the pristine environment of Antarctica to be contaminated by introduced species of anything.

An informative demonstration from Steve Bailey, one of the two resident ornithologists on the ship, on the correct use of binoculars had passengers outside seeing close-ups in a way they never had before. Who knew that most people look first into the binoculars before they lift them to find their subject, and then wonder why they couldn’t find it? Tip of the day, that one!

After lunch we sailed through Neptune’s Bellows, the very narrow and often dangerous entrance to Deception Island, which is the caldera of an active volcano.  Fortunately, volcanic activity has only destroyed bases twice in the last 6 0 years!!

Some people hiked the 5km round trip up to “The Nipple”, where views to the large chinstrap penguin colony living in the adjacent bay can be seen, others did a less strenuous one hour hike up the hill, and still others did a historical walk around the old whaling stations.  Unfortunately, the weather was unsuitable for kayaking, so those wanting to do so would have to wait at least another day before their first paddle.

The final activity for the day was the “Polar Plunge” into the steamy hot waters on the shore of Whaler’s Bay.  The waters were indeed steamy, but the temperature was around 3°C (~38°F)!  Those brave (or foolish) enough to test their mettle in the frigid waters were in and out in under 10 seconds!  A mighty feat indeed!

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Whale Extravaganza - Friday Feb 23

After another easy passage down the Gerlache Strait overnight, we woke to a call from the bridge that more humpbacks were bubble-net feeding off the port bow. We had arrived in Fournier Bay, and there were whales everywhere!

The post-breakfast zodiac cruise saw most boats heading for lunge-feeding humpback whales – it was clear that food was close to the surface, as the spots were pin-pointed for us by circling Antarctic terns, hoping for a share.  The sea was calm, the wind was cold, and fog was rolling in across the bay.  The whales kept happily feeding for at least an hour, by which time the zodiacs moved off to discover other amazing Antarctican wildlife.

The fog kept rolling in, the sleet started to fall, the temperature kept dropping, but the intrepid explorers stayed on the seas, and were rewarded with sightings of numerous birdlife – kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, fulmars, and Wilson’s stormy petrels, to name just a few!

The kayakers got out again today – towed by the zodiacs towards a big iceberg close to the shoreline, where they started paddling along the coast, looking for whales.  They were lucky, spotting three humpback whales, including a mother and calf, and another three active humpbacks were sighted on the way back paddling towards the Vavilov.

The whale fun continued with a fin-slapping humpback providing at least half an hour’s entertainment from the bar on Deck 6 as the ship passed it by.  With a four-hour sail to Neko Harbour, the afternoon was filled with a lecture from Derek on Cetaceans (whales), followed by a workshop from Curtis on “Cold Finger” photography, or photo techniques in cold weather.

Then it was time for the first landing on the continent of Antar ctica!  For many, this represented landing on all seven continents!

The late afternoon transfer to shore found us all wandering amongst a colony of Gentoo penguins and their chicks, in the shadow of the nearby active glacier.  Several ominous rumbles were heard over the course of the afternoon, but fortunately no calving activity happened.  This would have resulted in a wave which would have covered the exposed beach upon which we were all walking!  Several expeditioners hiked up the icy hill behind the stony beach to obtain better views of the tranquil sea in the shelter of Neko Harbour.  Others were happy to sit on a comfortable rock to observe the penguins, and the lone Antarctican fur seal which was flopping about on the beach.

In the early evening, a few zodiac cruises amongst the calm sea of floating ice and bergs followed a lone humpback whale, lazily moving through the water.  Others saw crabeater and leopard seals, and a few lucky people saw a humpback breaching. Back to the warmth of the ship and dinner, a fireside lecture on Citizen Science by Ted Cheeseman was well-attended, considering the late hour. Everyone loves their “Ted Talks”!

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