The Splendor is Overwhelming

My apologies for the gap in posting. Simply put, the beauty and splendor of Antarctica was overwhelming and exhausting. Awakening early so as to not miss a moment of the magnificence, not going to bed until after sunset (which was between 11PM to midnight), it quite wore me out. But it was so worth it!

First, a few pictures from the morning of the last post. The colors of the sunrise against the bergs:

First Light:


Morning brightens:

Amazing sky:
But then the weather and ice close in - so much ice:


The wind whips up:


The mist and the ice:


A visit to Esperanza Station will have to wait for another time, as the ice and wind simply would not let us through.

We then proceeded to Arctowski Station, a Polish Research Center in a beautiful sound:

Some of the scientists come out to speak to us (and enjoy some fresh food and company onboard for a bit of time):

This base is a year-round operation, though not all the researchers stay through winter. Right now, there are 3 women who have come for the summer, but who will depart before winter closes in. 5 of the men stay year round, monitoring the large Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies nearby, and conducting other research as well.

While the men were onboard, a helicopter from the Chilean Research Base arrives. While the visit was routine (Arctowski Station is the central repair center for the area), it didn't take much imagination to picture the Chileans arriving while the men were onboard our ship in order to take over the Polish base and capture the women.

Chile invades Poland!:


After the scientists departed, we headed out of the sound and proceed out to our next destination the next morning - Gerlache Strait and Neumeyer Channel. Throughout the evening, as we ate dinner on our way, the mountains and water were cast in a bright, clear light. I now understand what people truly mean by "ice blue" - it's the clearest, coldest blue imaginable in the sky with the mountains of snow and ice beneath. Photos aren't nearly enough to describe the feeling the play of light and color evoked.

The next day arrived clear and beautiful again as we sailed along the Gerlache Strait toward Neumeyer Channel. On one side was a huge island, the other was the Antarctic Peninsula, so close that you felt as if you could touch it. Figuratively, I did reach out so my finger seemed to reach it, and while we never made a technical landing, I feel I was truly in Antarctica.

The weather we're having is some of the best our naturalist, Dr. Bernard Stonehouse, has seen in Antarctica. Not just a day, but a string of days of calm, clear weather blessed us.

This day we will go to the farthest point south on our cruise - just shy of 65 degrees south (the Antarctic Circle is at 70 degrees south).

Morning in Gerlache Channel:


Magnificent vistas and scenes were everywhere:

The seas were so calm (officially "smooth with wavelets") the only wves were caused by our wake:


We were entertained not just by the beauty of the day and the scenery, but also visited by Minke, Humpback and Orca whales (we'd seen Minkes and Humbpacks previously, but this was our only visit by Orcas) and of course our favorite penguins cavorted on the ice for our amusement.

Gentoo Penguins on a "Penguin Berg":


As we approached Neumeyer Channel, the ice increased. Our Ice Pilot (also known as the Ice Captain) was magnificent, charting our course through the ice safely. He guided the ship expertly through, maneuvering with fine adjustments so we were always safe. His skill was impressive and we all felt safe in his hands.

These are examples of the ice as we reached the southern end of Gerlache Strait:

Then we turned north to sail back through Neumeyer Channel and the amazing vistas of these mountains:


We weren't alone here - the small expedition ship Corinthian II joined us:


All afternoon and evening we sailed north along the Antarctic Peninsula, finally leaving the tip at about 11:00PM, still light as sunset wasn't until after midnight (and it truly never got dark overnight), and sailed toward Deception Island.

Dawn this morning crept in, masked by fog and low clouds as we approached Deception Island, an island cloaked not just by glaciers, but also in the ash from its active volcano. The island in truth is
one huge caldera with a lagoon in the center. If you have visited Santorini, just picture that island transported to Antarctica, covered in ice and ash, and you have Deception Island.

The islad is home to an enormous colony (upwards of 100,000) of Chinstrap Penguins. Once again, my morning was spent enjoying "breakfast" with my new friends, Pen and Penny Guin (sorry, couldn't resist). As they came to and fro from the colony, they thrilled us with their antics around the ship. You could see dozens jumping all around.

At one point, a group of the penguins seemed to make a game of keeping up with the ship. Dr. Stonehouse (who provided running commentary whenever we were viewing new places to increase our understanding of what we were seeing) informed us we were moving along at 5.5 knots, and the penguins had no trouble keeping up. Was just pure fun to watch these fast "Chinnies"!


Two other ships joined us - Le Diamant and Polish sailing ship Europa.


While the weather today was not as stunningly beautiful as what we'd experienced the previous two days, it in no way diminished the amazement of all we saw.

This is the entrance to the caldera. Smaller expedition ships can go through the entrance, but because of a shipwreck, large ships like the Star Princess cannot. If you've ever seen pictures of visitors to Antarctica cavorting in the water, this is where they do it. There are places in the caldera where the water is warmed by the volcano underneath, making it possible to go "swimming" in Antarctica.


We finally left Deception Island around noon, heading north across the Drake Channel toward Cape Horn. At first the seas were flat calm and foggy - we had Drake "Lake"! As evening progressed, the seas got a bit more rolling, but never classified as more than "moderate." After so many long days of adventure, spending hours upon hours outside in awe, the gentle rolling all night (and no early
events to worry about) made for a very nice night's sleep.

We passed 60 degrees south around midnight, signaling our official departure from Antarctica.

Arrival at Cape Horn should be around 5PM tonight. Hopefully the skies will lift enough so we will be able to see the famous albatross sculpture which is dedicated to the souls of the sailors lost in these treacherous waters, in honor of their wandering souls, just like the albatross.

Have to say I've been extremely impressed with the videographers on this sailing. Typically, I view the cruise video as an "I was there" video, filled primarily with waving faces of the passengers so they can show their friends back home they were actually on the ship, and then complimented with a few port pictures, often with stock footage. Not so on this sailing. The two videographers have
wonderfully captured the beauty we've seen in port so far in the Falkland Islands, but also as we've sailed along. There is footage of the whales, penguins, and stunning lengths of the scenery we've
seen, magnificently capturing the light and essence of our adventure. Further kudos go to them for the innovative step of allowing the finalized DVD to be seen in its entirety, including the waving faces of the passengers intermixed with the scenery, or to view the scenes themselves, separated, without the passengers. Marvelous! That fills the preferences of everyone! I've ordered three - one for me, one as a gift, and one which will be available for those of you who might want to see it as
you contemplate a future visit to Antarctica.

Tomorrow we touch land again for the first time in a week, sailing into and docking in Ushuaia, Argentina. It promises to be another day of wonderful critters as I plan to sail around Beagle Channel on a catamaran, then enjoy king crab (a local specialty) for lunch, followed by their signature hot chocolate. I may not be able to post tomorrow, or the following day when we're in Punta Arenas, Chile, but will try to do at least a quick post without pictures, and bring you all the highlights with pictures no later than the 22nd. Keep watching!

By the way, I've been having difficulty with my email. If you've written me, about anything, and have not received an answer, please write again. It appears some of my mail has been eaten by the
ions. You might also want to cc me at amber@amberwavestravel.com (that's the address for my dive travel division) in addition to my amber@cruiseresource.com address. That seems to be getting through better.

Thank you all for reading!

It's Really Antarctica!

After a night of slow-speed sailing south, crossing the Drake Channel
(the first of two crossings this sailing) with large roller waves and
additional rocking caused by the wind, but overall pretty calm,
morning broke to us not just in the Antarctic Treaty Zone, but in
Antarctica itself! Of course, this far south morning comes early
this time of year, with sunrise around 4:20AM.

We were approaching Elephant Island, known by whalers for the
Elephant Seals it has harbored in the past. Perhaps more famously,
it is the island where Earnest Shackleton's men wintered over while
he went for help after his expedition was stranded.

As we get closer, we see mountains emerging from the mist, then the
first tabular icebergs, then "bergy bits" floating near the ship, and
finally Valentine Cove on Elephant Island and large icebergs near the ship!

Tabular icebergs are named for the table-tops they resemble. Broken
off not from glaciers but from the ice pack farther south as it
breaks up and brought north by the prevailing currents:

(For some reason I cannot upload these tonight - I'll try to get them up tomorrow - but tomorrow is supposed to be packed with other icebergs and may just post new ones instead.)

Bergy bits (I know that sounds funny, but it's their actual,
technical name) are the small pieces of ice which are constantly
eroding from the various ice bergs.



Ice bergs such as this are broken off of the face of tidal glaciers
which reach to the ocean.


A couple views of Elephant Island and Valentine Cove:

The ice bergs are constantly eroding, by wind and waves, even
creating caves such as in this one:
Does this all look barren? Did I forget to mention...
PENGUINS?! Shame on me! Yes, right from the ship we were able to
observe Chinstrap Penguins, both resting on the surface, but also
jumping, either being chased by seals (which could not be seen at
this height) or just fishing:
From the time the sun rose, we were surrounded by birds, including
several varieties of albatross, but also by flocks of Antarctic Petrels and many others. You'll have to forgive me as I'm not much of a birder (unless their wings are actually flippers), but bird lovers will be in paradise here.

Running commentary from the bridge was given by the naturalist,
historian and ice captain, pointing out whales seen spouting near and
far, interesting features of various ice bergs, the island or other
bits we might want to observe. We sailed extremely slowly for good
views, spending about 3 hours around Elephant Island
itself. Temperatures are just below freezing, and as we left
Elephant Island, the mists rolled back in and we had a bit of a snow
storm. I was out starting at about 6:30AM and didn't come in until
about 10. Not too cold, but when you have your fingers out of your
mittens to take pictures, and are gripping a metal camera, having
chemical hand warmers in the mitten fingers makes it much more
comfortable (I use glove/mittens which have half-fingered gloves
inside a mitten top, and the top can be folded back so I can use the
fingers individually for photography.)

Good ear muffs are a bonus, as is some sort of hood. Mine is fleece
with a scarf attached, and kept my head nice and warm. A coat with
wind breaking properties is perfect, and all I had on my feet were
fleece-lined Crocs.

We're on our way now to Esperanza Station and the Antarctic Straits
on our way to the Antarctic Peninsula, and should have more pictures
tomorrow if I have time to post. This area is known as "Iceberg Alley". I'll continue to keep you
updated! While we are not permitted to make landings from a ship of
this side, the scenery here is amazing, and it's a wonderful way to
see this incredible region.