Antarctica

The last day aboard the ship before docking back onto Ushuaia tomorrow morning. The Drake was actually not very bad, but we’re also not very good with ships either!!

There were actually quite a lot of activities, and after skipping breakfast/lunch, we both thought we needed to get out, and joined the fun. Exchanging pictures, Antarctica trivia, and chatting it up with everyone for one last time….. it was good times!

For dinner, everyone got around, and better yet, they had a carvery open with this massive piece of steak that was the first thing we’ve eaten since yesterday afternoon…. and was totally delicious! It also helps 100x that we were parked in the Beagle Channel and not bumping around the Drake anymore.

So that’s it…we go to bed, and when we wake up it’ll be allllll over. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but whenever we look back at our stay in the Antarctic, it was a magical memory full of strange landscapes, penguins being awesome, clouds inching above the horizon line draped across glaciers, and being in another world all together.

Graciously invited to the Vernadsky Research Base by the researchers on board, it was our first visit to a functioning research base! Built by the British, but operated now by Ukraine, it was a very interesting glimpse at current living conditions upon the continent. Because the British didn’t need its base anymore, but under the Antarctic Treaty they were required to dismantle everything. So to avoid the hassle, they sold the base at a meager price of £1 pound to Ukraine, and the coin now sits proudly…..in the middle of the bar!

The compound contains a large fuel tank, a mechanical/generator building, a small church, and a large research/living quarters building. The landscape was still similar to what we’ve seen in the Antarctic, with penguins dotting the area alongside the research station. The best part was the station symbol, using the peace symbol as a replacement for the V in Vernadsky, adding a touch of humour and lightheartedness despite living in the most remote and most hostile continent on Earth. Inside the living quarters it reminded Alan of the portables in school, with its narrow hallway and sheet metal construction. Each research had their own ‘thing’ going on in the rooms, and despite not having any women working at the base they actually had a ladies bathroom! Upstairs was more interesting, with a barebones kitchen (they seemed to like Heinz ketchup just as much), a post-office/souvenir shop where they’d send postcards for you (the pickup happens twice a year!), and more importantly, an extremely cozy bar!!!

A few shots of ‘artesanal’ vodka produced locally here in Antarctica with the glacier waters over thousands of years old!! The vodka was smooth and tasty, giving a bit of warmth to the body and a rush to the head. We also visited another abandoned British base, known as the Wordie House, which was a precursor to the base in Vernadsky.

Outside the base, something else was happening. A leopard seal, a vicious predator only matched by Orcas in these waters, managed to catch a penguin swimming otherwise happily along the shores. The worst part was that the seal didn’t seem hungry, but it went into its natural ‘predator’ mode, and played with its prey. Having grown a strong affection towards these cute birds, it was a disturbing sight nonetheless but just another day in nature. The seal would swim into the penguin from below, hold the penguin in its mouth and violently fling the poor bird up into the air, leaving splashes of blood and salt water in its trail. The poor penguin struggled aimlessly as its flippers/wings broke, leaving it swimming furiously in circles as the seal observed the bird for a few seconds of silence before rushing forward and throwing up another toss….. It was a grueling 30mins before the seal got bored, possibly a bit hungry, and FINALLY ate the penguin. From this point on, leopard seals started giving us the creeps… especially when it circles your rubber Zodiac, and it definitely did not help being shown pictures of a deflated Zodiac lying on the shores after a few leopard seals bite into the boat…..

The afternoon, we landed onto Petermann Island, which was another serene and tranquil Antarctic setting with some happy penguins running around. We were much happier this time as the penguins were back in their clumsy, cute nature on the ground and doing their funny penguin stuff. Unfortunately, out on the shores another leopard seal caught another penguin, and this time everybody was there to witness it. It was just a gruesome as this morning, but the seal was probably hungrier and toyed with the helpless bird much less….but a few gross pictures were taken….. It was also crazy as some of the fearless divers actually went in to snorkel along with their fancy cameras to try to capture the whole thing! They were about 7-8m away from the seal demolishing the penguin, but every time the diver got close the seal would swim away with its prey. It wasn’t too keen on sharing….

We did take some very nice landscape shots, too, as the scenery is just utterly breathtaking. Then again, when I look back, the image of a penguin being savagely destroyed by a seal lion still sits atop the top of the things I remember in the Antarctic.

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.

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.