Sorry it has been a few days.  The mountains of Antarctica block out the satellite internet, so we have been without.

December 5th
We started out with a zodiac tour that went past the 3433 ton Guvermoren which was a whaling ship.  When a fire broke out on the ship in 1911 they ran it aground to save the crew.  It still is there, with Antarctic terns perched on the railings.  We saw mostly scenery and a few seals.  The weather was pristine, the sunshine reflecting off of the icebergs which varied from being snow white, to blue, to crystal clear.  Some of the icebergs had flipped over at sometime as the base underneath became smaller, exposing the smoother riveted bottom (now top) surface.

The weather was so perfect that we had lunch out on the deck.  Then we went to Orne harbor.  It comprises the southwestern part of a double  bay on the tip of the Arctowski Peninsula.  This is our first step on the actual continent of Antarctica!  There was a steep walk towards a saddle when there was a very hardy group of penguins nesting.  The walk that they had to do was very impressive and yet there they were, their tiny bodies making their way up and down this cliffside as we watched from far above.  The walk to the stop of the saddle was exhilarating and I was so stir-crazy from the ship that I did it twice.  I went to go climb it a third time and was met by the guides who made me go back because it was getting late.  It felt so good to work up a sweat and the views were spectacular.  The day was so warm and clear that we were all stripping down to our lighter clothing.  The views form the saddle reaches to the souther Gerlache Strait and Wiencke, Anvers and Brabant islands.

I mused about what actually happens overnight here.  I mean, does it get dark at all?  I am usually asleep by 11 and it is still quite light out. So last night I sought to answer this question.  We saw the sun set over the mountains at about 11:30 or so.  It was lovely, still clear blue skies.  Then we sat in the bar to celebrate Mikowai’s birthday (one of our expedition team) with double-vodka shots (Mikowai is Polish) and gradually watched as twilight slowly set in.  The most we could see is venus and the new moon, no other stars emerged.  We were determined to see the sun rise again, which we figured would be at about 3:30.  In the end, only Charlie, Kyla and myself stayed for the sunrise, but the sun seemed to be behind a tall mountain and we figured it would be a while before it emerged.  I finally went to bed and Charlie took one for the team, gazing until the sun peeked out from behind the mountains.  The pinks that spread over the icebergs and the skies in the morning were well worth the long night.  We could see penguins swimming in the glassy pink-tinged water and we were dying to see whales but were disappointed.  They tell us that this fabulous weather we have been having is unheard of and we should enjoy every last bit of it.

December 6
We explored Danco island.  It is a small island in the southern part of the Errera Channel off the West coast of the Antarctic peninsula.  It was first charted by Gerlache’s Belgian Antarctic expedition (1897-99) and named for the Belgian geophysicist who died on board the Belgica.  The Errera channel is a narrow waterway between Ronge island and the Arctowski Peninsula on the mainland.  Franz, the expedition leader, seems to enjoy getting us some exercise, and this morning was no exception.  We had about a 1/2 mile hike up to the top of the glacier which afforded at 360 view of the island and the channel.  Another pristine early morning in Antarctica, with the usual combination of dark gray mountains, white snow and deep blues of icebergs and ocean.  Impossible to really capture with a photograph.  On the way back in the zodiac we tooled around and looked more closely at some of the icebergs.  Some of them have layers of snow in them which are visible when a chunk of compacted snow/ice breaks off. Each layer represents a year of snowfall, like tree rings.  It’s sort of like the Grand Canyon in reverse, with layers slowly being built up rather than worn down.  There is really very little snow in Antarctica but what snow there is doesn’t melt much so all the mountains are piled high with several feet of snow.  There is evidence of previous avalanches, and where the penguins are you can see little curvy paths “penguin highways” to the ocean.

Cuverville island was a lot like Danco, except no hills to climb. The highlights were towards the end, as we sat on the pebbled beach the penguins would porpoise in, then swim in and get up onto the beach. They would walk up to where we were sitting, very close, then look at us for a long time, as if trying to decide what we were doing there. It was warm; we had taken our parkas off and the penguins were laying on their stomachs in the snow as if they were pretty warm too.

I went out onto the treadmill afterwards, that made me feel so much better but totally missed out on an orca sighting. Pisser.

In the evening we had one more excursion (nice that it’s daylight 24 hours a day…) This was to Neko harbor, which was one of my favorite spots so far. There is a very beautiful active glacier that supposedly frequently calves. It did not do any spectacular calving but a very large chunk fell off, just didn’t generate a tsunami (supposedly it can be enough to flip a zodiac). The penguins in this area were very active and there was a hike (thanks, Franz) to the top of a hill where a spectacular view awaited. We could walk all the way back, or we could take the short route down, a glissade down a near vertical hill. So of course I had to do it (although for those of you who know me well this is one of my major fears). And I screamed - I wish I had an audio of the scream because it was an honest-to-goodness all-out horror-movie scream. The picture of the hill doesn’t really do it justice but I’ll try to upload it.

Is it really Saturday?  Wow, time flies.  Anyway, today we went to Paradise Harbor at the location of the Argentine based called Almirante Brown.  There is a story that the doctor was stationed there for a very long Antarctic winter.  Come summer, he was under the impression that he would finally get to go home.   But they informed him that he was stuck for another year.  So he went a little nuts and burned the place down.  It has been rebuilt but today (this year) it is unoccupied.  Franz had a nice hill for us to climb again, and a nice little slope to slide down, not nearly as terrifying as the one yesterday.  We also went on a little zodiac tour and saw a very beautiful glacier surrounded by brash ice (where there is a sea of little chunks of ice).  Mikowai was driving the zodiac and he almost seemed to be deliberately hitting the chunks of ice.  And these were huge chunks!  Gradually the ice would move aside and we would slowly make our way through, enjoying the frosty beauty.  Even though I know it is flirting with death if not at least a severe case of hypothermia, I wanted the glacier to calve in front of us.  How cool would that be?

The afternoon was spent in various lectures about ice, seals, fish medicine, and small cetacean medicine.  I remained on the lookout for whales at the window.  The first time I saw them I interrupted the lecture, alerted the whole room and everyone ran out there to see but by then they were gone and I was accused of seeing “mirages.”  The second time I alerted Christina, who verified the sighting and alerted the room - this time everyone got a treat of seeing their tails (every humpback has a unique tail).  Lots of “oohs” and “aahs” and of course, brownie points for Noelani.

Whales!

What an amazing morning! We stayed in the shelter of deception island for a while, then about 4 in the morning the boat started rocking (about the time I fell into a deep sleep) and we arrived at Greenwich Island about 7 am and explored Yankee Harbor. It was named for sealers from the USA that were here in the 1820’s.

My cold is full-blown now, sleeping with the box of tissues. Better living through pharmacology - removed the scopolamine and took some cough meds.

We saw some whales in the distance, and several types of seals (crab eater and elephant). Supposedly there was a leopard seal but I didn’t see it. We landed on the island which was mostly inhabited by Gentoo penguins. They form their nests out of little pebbles and most of them were sitting tight. Others were doing mating calls and some other pairs were gently bowing to each other. Getting acquainted, I guess. Others were walking around which I found to be hilarious as the place was milling with people in brightly colored parkas and here are these penguins milling about among them, seemingly oblivious.

By the way, the smell is supposedly quite bad but there is a decided advantage in being ill. I didn’t last long however and returned to the ship about the time that I couldn’t feel my nose anymore. The wind was pretty nippy. Went to run on the treadmill (amazing view of icebergs from the top deck out of the exercise room, never thought I would be running like that, on a boat - challenging with all the rocking, like the incline is changing without me telling it to) but the conveyor belt acutely destabilized and shredded. NOT MY FAULT.

This afternoon was even better.  We went to Half Moon Island.  There was a decaying abandoned wooden dory on the shore, leftover from earlier days.  There were Weddell seals hanging out that you could get so close to - of course we are required to stay 15 feet away which is prudent anyway.  Brown skuas are evil birds who like to feast off of baby penguins and eggs, as well as snowy sheathbills who resemble very ugly chickens - these are the scavenging vultures of the rookery.  Antarctic terns are these little guys who seems to hate the kelp gulls (they don’t eat kelp) and are constantly screeching at them.  Antarctic shags seem to keep to themselves but look just like penguins in terms of their coloring.  I think there is an advantage if you are a swimmer in Antarctica to be white on the belly and black on top - like orcas, penguins, and shags.

It was amazing to watch the little chinstrap penguins which are numerous in this area.  They also build their nests out of little pebbles.  The male builds the nest and will sometimes steal pebbles from other nests when the owners aren’t looking.  We watched for a while as a very dedicated male kept adding to his nest, which was already bigger than all the others.  When a mated pair sees each other, they greet each other by warbling, flapping their wings, and moving their heads back and forth.  We also saw a pair mating!  If you looked carefully, you could see that some of the nests have eggs.  Sometimes from the ship or zodiac you will see penguins “porpoising” like dolphins in the water.

The final highlight of the day - humpback whales!!  There were several both up close and in the distance.  No breaching or anything but still impressive nevertheless.  I stole up to the top observation deck (which no one seems to know about) and got a video of them swimming.  Wish I could upload videos!  We saw so many whales that when someone spotted another not everyone rushed to see them.  It is merely a judgement between how cold you want to be and how likely you want to see the whale.  I could stare at them for hours.  

There are so many videos that I would love to post on this blog but alas, I can’t seem to do it with blogger.  Not to mention  the fact that it would take hours with the dismally slow internet and I am paying by the minute.

Antarctica is truly a special place.  I find myself writing and cataloguing all the wildlife however I neglect to mention the sheer and awesome beauty of it all. The landscape is both forbidding and beautiful.  It doesn't really get dark, but the ship has heavy curtains to allow sleep.

"Gosh, there are a lot of funny-looking penguins around today."

One of these penguins does not resemble the others....

This one doesn't really require a caption...

Seals, shags, and a penguin

A weddell seal against an amazing backdrop.

Deception Island

Today we finally arrived in Antarctica! We first are in the south Shetland Islands. So beautiful, although it reminds me a lot of the top of Mauna Kea. The wind is fierce here. I have to bundle up so there is no exposed skin. We landed on Deception Island, which is actually and active volcano caldera that last erupted in 1969/70. Seemed pretty quiet today.

I saw my first penguin! It was a Gentoo penguin. He/she was alone on the beach looking a little lost. Sooo cute! We hiked to the top of a hill where you could get a pretty good view of the water-filled crater. There were also remnants of an old whaling community and research station. 

The Polar Plunge!
Because of the volcano, they said that the water was warmer and that we could go for a swim. Hahaha. I accused them that they only present this as a possibility to see how many stupid Americans would actually get in the water. It’s not like there was steam coming off the water to indicate that it is warmer than the outside air. So of course we had to do it. At the briefing they joked that they would have the defibrillator ready, and I was actually kind of nervous about that.  The worst part was stripping down to the swimsuit, with the wind. Oh my God. Ok that was fng cold. So I am one of the club, having survived my first Antarctic cruise hazing initiation. High five!

Deception Island Caldera with our ship.

Gentoo Penguin

Drake passage

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day. We are experiencing what they refer to as “Drake Lake” where the swells are only 10 feet. Because of this we are making excellent time and should arrive in the South Shetland islands by tonight so we may have time to do a landing! Had a little bit of snow today as well. Despite the fact that the swells are mild, people aren’t feeling too great. We lost several of our group at various moments of the day as they battled nausea. I love the gentle rocking. Yesterday I cut a scopolamine patch in half and am wearing that. This has had the added benefit for drying out any nasal secretions, because of course now I have a cold. So altogether while I am somewhat drowsy, I am not the least bit seasick and I am almost disappointed that I played it safe. On the other hand, after watching more than one person hurl in public, it’s probably wise. Yesterday we learned about birds and whales, ID and some medical stuff, such as how to euthanize a beached whale that is suffering. The birds we saw were some petrols and a smaller albatross called a sooty albatross. Then there is the northern petrol. Coordinates today: S 59 degrees, 22.668’; W 64 deg 7.537 minutes. We did get our parkas which are very large for everyone. Mine is so big on me that I feel like a large blue marshmallow smurf when I wear it. Not so many great pictures, unless you like blue.

Pictures

Tierra del Fuego

Yesterday, we explored the area around Ushuaia.  We went to Tierra del Fuego national park, which is a nice place overall with some good scenery.  There were some bird watchers among us.  Mike for example, had a camera lens so big that he looked like he might fall over.  We saw a great grebe, which everyone got extremely excited over because I suppose that is quite rare.  We also saw an Ibis, which I got very excited over because their beaks are just so cool.  They are like curved daggers about 12” long.  I imagine the female turning her head to talk to her mate and accidentally stabbing him if he happened to be too close.  Oops, didn’t realize you were there, dear.
The highlight was a red fox which meant that the whole bus leaned to the right as everyone moved to that side to grab a photo. click click click.

There is supposedly this route 3 that ends in Tierra del Fuego and goes all the way down South America.  We encountered a group on their motorcycles, some of which had driven all they way down from Alaska!  That was almost better than seeing a great grebe.  One guy had stickers all over his beamer with different flags from several different countries.  At first I assumed they were places he had ridden through on this trip but then I noted Germany and Finland and said out loud, “Oh he just is putting the flags on, can’t have driven through those countries.”  And then this huge guy in motorcycle clothes comes up and looms over me.  He tells us that he is from Vancouver, has driven down from Bogota on this particular trip - but he ships his bike around the world and he actually had been to all those countries.  Of course he does this very politely because that is how Canadians are.  I stand corrected anyway.

Also there is a post office at the end of the world (fin de mundo) where for 10 pesos (about $2) they will stamp your passport (see picture below).  The man there kindly put a sticker on a page and then put a huge stamp that filled the whole page.  He then did a date stamp.  I didn’t even know that was allowed, to put a stamp there that wasn’t a country stamp.  We looked at the sticker and it’s a picture of himself!  Hilarious.  His name was either Lorenzo or Carlos, depending on who you ask. I suppose if I was Lorenzo/Carlos, I would change my name regularly, just for kicks, to confuse all the tourists.
(does this mean that I can put other fun stickers in my passport?)

Ushuaia

When we flew into Ushuaia the beauty was astounding. I started to cry with all these mixed emotions - the sheer beauty, the fact that I was actually here, in Antarctica! Wow! I can’t believe I am actually doing this! Morbidly I imagined ways I might not have to go home, and the only way I thought is if I die here. Maybe I can have a dramatic death, getting eaten by a leopard seal or maybe I can die of hypothermia or get stranded in one of the research stations. The dominant species that will replace the human race will find my naked body (because people who die of hypothermia take their clothes off, or so I heard) 10,000,000 years from now and try to extrapolate, like Otzi, what happened to me.  They will extrapolate that the human race lived mostly off of cafe con leche.

But I suppose the preferable alternative is to stay alive but still not go home.  I would miss my cats though.

Ushuaia is at the base of the Andes mountains.  The mountains seem to go right up to the sea, with not much foothills.  The town is set on the hill heading straight up to the mountain.  Everything here is at the "fin de mundo" Even next to the elevator in the hotel there is a plaque that says something like "ascenseurs de fin de mundo."

My morning run was mostly along the shoreline.  It was very picturesque in the morning sunlight, although by that time the sun had already been up for a few hours.  Despite a brief adrenaline-laced interlude of getting chased by wild dogs (that does seem to be the most ironic way to die) it was a very beautiful run.

For those "training hill" aficionados - try this one on for size.

The bay with Andes in the background.