Author Archives: travelnomads

Waking up with our expedition leader kicking us to wake us up, it was another surreal day in Antarctica. As the night went on, it started snowing and we actually woke up with our face covered in snow…strange feeling. We packed our sleeping systems, hopped onto a zodiac and back onto the ship just in time for breakfast!

The morning disembarkment was at Almirante Brown, a disused Argentine base. A short hike up a crevassed hilltop, it was the first we saw snow!!! Atop the slippery and narrow rock that was at the hilltop, we snapped a few pictures and were on our way down. Climbing up wasn’t hard, but coming back down was the best as we put our bums to the snow and tobogganed down!!! It took a bit of trial and error but Alan figured out a suave way of sliding down quick, except Jiajia kept stopping and starting a traffic jam with her high-friction bum! A snow fight and a few snow angels later, you realize everyone is just as childish as we were no matter where you’re from and how old they were. We had quite a few other backpackers aboard the ship, and over the dozen or so days in such a special place (a ship with no outside communication!), a somewhat special ‘polar bond’ seemed to have emerged. Strangely enough, after our walk ashore we took a zodiac ride out in search for ice…despite being surrounded by it, you really can’t stop but appreciate how beautiful the icebergs are, and how the different shapes are formed.

The ship sailed through the Lemaire Channel as we saw some amazing icebergs in the aptly named Iceberg Graveyard. The skies were cloudy and snowing quite heavily, so the icebergs weren’t as illuminated and their images less ethereal than they are in real life.

The afternoon was spent playing with penguins in the snow at Port Charcoat… and we just can’t get enough of penguins!

MORE PENGUINS PLEASE!

One added bonus as part of this excursion is that the ship will actually cross through the Antarctic circle of 66^o33’44” instead of sailing only around the Antarctic peninsula that spouts out north towards Argentina where most of the ships actually land, and also where most early explorers actually did. And shortly after breakfast we were all around the lounge, champagne in hand to celebrate with a toast as the captain quietly spoke in his heavily accented English, “We have just crossed the polar circle.”!! And to add to the awesomeness of being in the Antarctic circle, a pair of humpback whales decided to give us a nice twirl and dance atop the surface!

Sailing further south for a couple of hours, we have been extremely lucky with the weather as it is the weather that dictates what we can or cannot do. The ice seemed to have cleared out from shore, and we disembarked onto Detaille Island, home to an abandoned British that was left behind in the 1950s. In fact they left so quickly in 1959 that everything remains the same as it was when they did leave, giving us an eerie glimpse of what life was like living in Antarctica back in the 50s. There were still cans of Nestle Instant Coffee, Heinz ketchup and liquor lying around! Lets just say, we can’t imagine it being a very happy time for the researchers! We, on the other hand, were rather happy as this was a very elusive location, as the crew mentioned stopping here maybe once or twice a season as the weather is usually too too bad here to

The island was really a neat experience, and close to the base there was a Weddell seal and a crabeater seal (they actually don’t eat crabs!) laying side by side, and that rarely happens!! The abandoned camp had a very eerie feeling to it, and being able to step back into time to the ‘heyday’ of Antarctic research, the hardships people had to endure in the name of science (but more likely, for territory) was another reminder how much the world has evolved a mere 60 years ago…. And as we drift around the Antarctic ocean and the world, we slowly lose our original sense of society and even more confident that nobody can be sure what will happen in another 60 years when we both reach the upper limits of current mortality expectations.

In the afternoon, as we were setting sail back north we witnessed a spectacle of the most ferocious predator in the Antarctic. It was hard to describe, but from the deck we could see numerous fins and blows from the Orcas, probably numbering a dozen or so wading in and out of the surface like a penguin. After some insightful explanation by the expedition team, we realized it was a group of Orcas hunting a whale by attacking in groups, forcing the whale below the surface and unable to breathe at the surface. It was extremely well orchestrated, and for the next 30minutes we spent circling the Orcas as they dipped up and down along the horizon in a steady rhythm. We only spotted traces of the whale when a fin stuck out of the water bringing up shots of blood, but was quickly wrestled back down by the Orcas. The alpha male Orca had a MASSIVE dorsal fin, showing everyone that he definitely is the boss around here. Not a usual sighting, and being fortunate enough to witness predation happening in nature is not to be expected often.

We retreat to our cabin, still bewildered about the things we visited and witnessed, and a bit humbled to be as comfortable as we were in a location that should be anything but.

Yesterday evening, as we were preparing for a landing at Deception Island, the Antarctic weather got the best of us with 37knot (~66km) winds channeled through the island and pushing the boat off course and unable to dock inside. We were lucky enough to hit this spot on our way back, and we were EXTREMELY glad that we did…

Today was rather eventful for our landings.

Morning, we disembarked onto Cuverville Island for the always fun walks amongst penguins and icebergs. The landings are almost always cluttered with penguins despite most of them already leaving for the near approaching southern hemisphere winter. Nothing really ‘happens’, as the penguins are just living their life fending off albatross, molting their feathers, walking like clumsy birds, and just doing some crazy penguin things like climbing a glacier for no apparent reason.

The afternoon was probably the best all-out scenery we saw. The weather has been EXTREMELY great for us so far with low winds and SUNNY SKIES! It was not much colder than a mild winter day in Toronto, but the tranquility definitely beats the city. The ship docked inside a quiet harbour and the water was covered with an oily sheen (known as ‘grease ice’). Hiking up a small hill, you get a spectacular view looking back down onto the harbour with the Antarctic waters in front of you, and a gently sloping mountain behind you. The pictures can only give you a minor glimpse into what it would’ve been like, sitting atop that hill and looking onto a sight like that.

And before we headed back onto the boat, we and took a quick dip with our bathing suits. Yup…we can now claim that we’ve swam inside Antarctic waters! Standing out of the water with our bathing suits wasn’t bad, but once you get back out of the water you realize the air is actually warm! The water is a breezy -2C due to the high salt content, and the moment you dip your feet in you seriously second-guess your intelligence for doing this. It was SO COLD, but you don’t get instant-hypothermia like we imagined and we lived through.

Instead of heading back to our cabin after dinner, we got dressed for a little walk in the dark. Disembarking at Leith Cove where a leopard seal greeted us in the dark, we walked up to a safer spot and set up camp upon the snow. Yup, we can also now claim that we’ve camped on the Antarctic peninsula! And it wasn’t too cold, so we were camping with bivys and not tents, exposing us to the elements. The ship had all their gear prepared and sleeping with two sleeping pads, two sleeping bags and a bivy. Jiajia was extra-warm because she brought her own sleeping bag and was sleeping with THREE sleeping bags! Surprisingly, it wasn’t that cold?!?!?!

We slept darn well in our sleeping bags, looking up onto the cloudy skies as we ponder about what other strange events this continent has in store for us.

Note: There are a lot of pictures, but NONE of them are photoshop’d…..

Disembarking at Half Moon Bay, so named for the crescent shape of the shoreline. Across the shore was an Argentine research station that was out of operation(?), but adds some life to the otherwise majestically frozen landscape. This time, fur sea were added to the mix, and these guys aren’t the cute friendly ones we saw back in the Galapagos, but they seem quite agitated so we walked far away from them.

Climbing upon a hill, a colony of chinstrap penguins stood around, pooing and gawking and being themselves. In the middle of the whole colony stood a single, macaroni penguin with its yellow hairs standing out. Why is he/she here, nobody knows, but its been here for a long time! A true identity crisis…..

As part of the cruise, other passengers are allowed an option to kayak, and another to scuba dive! Yes, scuba dive in the Antarctic ocean, where the waters aren’t frozen but a frigid -2C because of the salinity!!! And it was also the first day for the kayakers/divers to be able to head out for their excursions. Unfortunately, a tragic accident tainted the day as one of the divers suffered a fatality for reasons unknown…. and it really affected us personally as we had a nice dinner with the person the previous evening and even passed along a few words of encouragement before their group disembarked the boat as we ran into each other again in the hallway….. It was an extremely unfortunate accident and we send our condolences to the family.

This event, along with all the historic stories about explorers giving the ultimate sacrifice at their attempt in conquering the continent, serves as a reminder how inhospitable the white continent, and nature, really is. The world has really evolved to the point where we, just some regular tourists, can get a ticket and travel safely to and from Antarctica with three luxurious meals a day, varying lectures of interesting subjects, different afternoon snacks, and warmth in body and in soul.

WE HAVE OUR FIRST SIGHTING OF THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA. We were at Barrientos Island, and it’s not quite the continent, nor is it close to the South Pole, but we’ve crossed the Antarctic convergence and it’s just good to see something except ocean in the horizon. The lectures really works, and we have learned quite a bit about the continent.

We spent the morning prepping up for landing on Antarctica by learning how to properly get off a Zodiac, what to look out for in terms of danger (slippery poo and over-friendly seals), and most importantly the 5m rule. You are not allowed to approach animals closer than 5m, but if you stand there and the animals come to YOU, then it’s totally okay!

Before we knew it, we were lined up at the gangway, sliding onto a Zodiac and off we went! It’s almost impossible to actually maintain 5m distance from any penguin, since the penguins are scattered ALL over the pathways and are all around. Seeing penguins for the first time, it was a strange feeling. You’re excited to land onto the Antarctic, and at the shore there’s a bunch of penguins standing there looking clueless, and totally indifferent if not curious to your existence. Some, are even curious and come up to you, pecking at your pants, camera straps and wondering if you’re edible. Adorable, fascinating, cute, noisy, smelly and confused is probably the best words we would use to describe these little fellows.

The landscape itself took a backseat to the penguins, and we spent the afternoon frolicking amongst penguins, watching them walk, run, call and generally look silly.

The first day at sea, the Drake Passage was rather nice to us and we barely had any swells rocking the boat back and forth. So lucky, even the Drake was good to us!

We spent the day listening to various talks by the expedition team on all kinds of topics. It was really cool how they had 6 people, and each of them had a different expertise! There was a French bird-ologist (ornithologist?), an Australian geologist, an Irish historian (Antarctic history, of course), a German doctorate in glaciers, and our favorite the super-experienced American field researcher. Each of them has their own specialty, their own set of personality and quirky humours who has worked here for over 25years! Listening to them talk was great because it was like going to class, but actually looking forward to it because your teachers were great, your friends were there, and there was no test at the end of it. Everyone that speaks, seem to have done this for several years and declare themselves to have been bitten by the “polar bug”. The funniest joke we heard was “People work in Antarctica first for the adventure, the second year for the money, and the third year because can no longer fit in normal society.”

The Drake Passage wasn’t that bad, and the on-board doctor gave us a patch which seems to be fending off the sea-sickness rather well, it’s just that the patch is giving us a dry throat and the dilating our pupils, causing us to have near-sightedness! You know when your parents have to see something, but it’s too close and they can’t focus their eyes and have to take off their glasses to see…. WE HAD TO DO THAT!!!! FOR FIVE DAYS!!!

The day went by rather quickly, the meals were absolutely delicious, and we went to bed rather early. Good news was, we caught a bit of tailwind and may be able to do a landing a day earlier at tomorrow afternoon!!!! Excited!