Posted 10:42 AM by MelanieandSteve
ANTARCTICA, 28 Jan to 7 Feb (written 18 Feb)

LOW ON THE GLOBE, HIGH ON OUR PRIORITIES: Steve was once billeted to work in Antarctica with the Navy. He really looked forward to it, but it fell through. Ever since, Antarctica has been a dream destination for both of us.

FUEGO Y HIELO (FIRE AND ICE): We left the Ushuaia of Tierra del Fuego (Land of fire) and boarded ¨The Ushuaia¨ for a 10-night journey to Antarctica (Land of Ice). We had researched several vessels and ¨The Ushuaia¨ was perfect for us: small (278.3 feet, capacity 70 passengers), and a former U.S. research vessel.

BACK TO SCHOOL: Our trip was focused on education. There were lectures and documentaries about ice, geology, flora, fauna, and human history. The most interesting history was the ¨Heroic Period¨ of exploration with death-defying expeditions by Shackelton, Scott, Amundson, Nordensjkold and others.

APPLYING OUR KNOWLEDGE: 10 excursions to land complimented our on-ship studies. We visited whaling stations, grave sites, and ruins of old shelters and research stations. We came in contact with amazing flora and fauna, glacial splendor, and geological wonders.

THE CAST, THE CREW, AND THE STAGE:

--THE CREW: We were blessed with a knowledgeable and caring crew and an ¨Open Bridge Policy¨ where Jorge, the Captain, welcomed questions as he navigated.

--THE CAST: We could not have traveled with a better group. The 45 fellow passengers consisted mostly of well-traveled adventure seeking backpackers. Many were party-seeking as well.

--THE STAGE (The Ship): We had our own two-bunk room and a shared bathroom. Deep in the windowless bowels of the ship, we called our room the ´dungeon´. Down there, we rocked less than in the more expensive luxury suites up top. The mess hall was not messy, except in storms when could hear periodic crashing of plates dropped by the poor struggling staff. The grub was never grubby. There were beautiful three course meals (minus the soup course when the seas were rough.)

THE BEAGLE CHANNEL: The first day of travel we crossed Argentine´s Beagle Channel, named after Charles Darwin´s ship called ´´the Beagle.´´ In his honor, we read parts of Darwin´s´ diary about that area.

TWO LONG DAYS OF SEVERE SWAY: After the Beagle Channel came the open seas of Drake`s Passage. We rocked and rolled for two days. Slamming into walls, wobbling through the halls, and trying not to fall, we still had fun with it all (Mel enjoyed trying to jump or jog in place). Some people got sick of it, and some people just got sick. Sleeping at night was difficult for Melanie who had to brace to avoid falling out of her top bunk. Lt. Commander Steve, however, felt totally at home.

A-SYMMETRIC PLANET: Antarctica is colder than the Arctic (owing in part to its 4000m altitude compared to the sea level Arctic). We didn´t even cross the Antarctic Circle before we found the climate to be much more extreme than Arctic parts of Alaska and Finland we had visited. Antarctica, one of the driest places on earth, barely snows. But the little snow doesn´t melt so it grows to huge glaciers.

BRUSHES WITH NATURE:

--ICE BERGS: unparalleled beauty floating in a glassy sea. Crystal Palaces of bright white and glowing blue. Some were GI-NORMOUS, over a kilometer square, and 30 meters high.

--LAND: We were surprised to find so much ice-free coastal shoreline. Several of our stops were on rock and dirt but always near glacial cliffs and icy mountain scapes.

--FLORA: Mostly moss and lichen, even sometimes on the ice itself, often in interesting colors.

--FAUNA:

-----FOUL:
--------FLYING FOUL: Birds abounded. From the ship we watched the 9 foot wingspan Albatross that can fly without resting for a thousand kilometers. Other bird watching glimpses included Southern Giant Petrels, Wilson Petrels, Snow white Sheathbills, various Skuas, Cormorants, and much more. We laughed when our guide Rodolfo pronounced ¨snowy sheathbill¨ with his latino accent. ¨Shitbill¨ may have been a more accurate descriptive for these eaters of carrion and waste.
--------PENGUINS:
-------------One of the first pleasures of the trip was to get acquainted with penguins. We saw them porpoising alongside our ship at open sea, like playful fish. Then we met them on land. We saw four species and by the end of the trip, we´d seen thousands of Penguins. Each place we saw them, they were different. At one island, we saw them incubating chicks and building rock nests. Rookeries (colonies)at other landings were already caring for adolescent young. Other penguins humorously played on ice bergs and glaciers. The rule was, we couldn´t go closer to the Penguins than 5 meters (15 ft). But no rules governed the Penguins so they often walked right up to us.
-------------Fun fact: Empire Penguins which are only seen in the deepest parts of the Antarctic, where we did not go, can grow to 1.7 meters - that is taller than Steve. (Melanie is 1.71 meters).

-----SEALS: Basking on passing icebergs or sun bathing on the beaches, there were smelly Elephant Seals, fuzzy Fur seals and wide-bodied Weddel seals.

-----WHALES: Some glided gracefully alongside the ship, others breached the surface and waved their huge flukes in the air.

SEVEN - ELEVEN:
---WE WERE IN SEVENTH HEAVEN: For us, this was our seventh continent to visit on Earth. We celebrated with other Seventh Continent travelers by taking a fun group picture with a big pink sign reading, ´´7´´.
---ELEVEN STOPS, MINUS ONE: We were scheduled to take eleven excursions onto Antarctic land. One was cancelled due to sea ice conditions. Each was different. Like snowflakes, no two ice bergs, glaciers, or Antarctic Islands are alike.

ANTARCTIC LANDINGS (Peninsula and Islands):

1) 30 Jan, South Shetland Islands, King George Island, Admiralty Bay Old Hennequin Point Former Whaling station:
--Ice Free Landing.
--First Penguin Encounter:
They wobbled right up to us as we sat still on rocks.
--Hundreds of gigantic whale bones with fins and skulls
bigger than our entire bodies.

2) 31 Jan, Jubany Station:
--Scientific research station
for 50 over-summer and 18 over-winter scientists.
--Scientists sleep in metal orbs
like something from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.
--We hiked to the top of a gray dirty glacier
carefully avoiding crevasses.
--We watched a bright blue glacier calve (break into the ocean.)
-----It roared and echoed thunderously as it cracked and fell.
-----The falling ice caused large waves
that traveled, psunami style, across the channel.
--Sipped tea or coffee at the main hut
with its own mini-post office.
-----Got Antarctic Stamps in our passports.
-----Tried to send Dad Antarctic birthday card,
but they sold out of stamps.

3) 31 Jan, Aitcho Islands:
--Penguins built nests and incubated young. Seals slept on shore.

4) 1 Feb, Paulette Island:
--With ruins of a stone house built by stranded victims
of shipwreck (Nordensjkold´s expedition).
-----They had come to rescue another expedition
and got stranded themselves.
-----They lived on penguins and seals
through the unplanned frigid winter.
-----They had only the stone walls of the house
with a tarp and skins over it for protection.
-----Everyone survived except one.

5) 1 Feb, We Lost Hope for Hope Bay (Esparanza Bay):
Another Post Office.
--For five hours, the captain attempted to navigate
through dense ice bergs.
-----Sometimes the ship came to a complete stop
because Bergs were everywhere.
-----The numbers of ice bergs became so great
that the captain had to give up and turn back.
-----No landing
And once again, no Antarctic Birthday card for Dad.)
--No loss. The scenery was stunning:
-----We viewed the bergs from the bow
as we slowly passed among them.
--------thunderous crunches and grinds resonated
through ship when we hit smaller unavoidable ones:
-----Sometimes we chose to view the bergs from inside
the warmer ship´s bridge:
--------The officers were focused and intense
through the rough spots.
--------The Captain always listened to classical music
when he navigated. This gave drama to the scenery.
--Unfoiled by foiled landings,
the evening turned into a huge party on board.

6) 2 Feb: Hannah Point, Livingston Island:
--Happy Groundhog Day, but in the south,
the Penguins are predicting Winter.
--Saw our first Macaroni Penguin
with yellow tassels on the forehead.
--Saw fossils of ferns from tropical days of Gondwanaland,
when southern continents were all one.
--More whale Bones.

7) 02 Feb: Deception Island: Whaler´s Bay:
--The remains of old Norwegian Whaling Station,
´´Hektor´´ (1911-1931).
--Also a former British station (1943-1969)
destroyed by volcanic mud slides.
--An active volcano is still causing intense heat
just below surface of the sand.
-----The crew dug a hole into the hot Earth.
It heated water and formed a Hot Tub.
-----We stripped to ´´swimming costumes´´
in the chilling arctic air.
-----We took a fast but painful plunge
into the cold Antarctic Ocean Waters.
-----Then we ran desperately into the simmering Thermal Bath.
--------The novelty will never wear off
(but the warmth eventually did.)
--Later, back on the ship, huge waves rocked us into the night.
-----Some waves splashed high enough to cover the entire ship.
-----A Swiss Couple outside on the highest deck
above the Bridge drenched their last dry set of clothing.

8) 03 Feb: Cuverville Island:
--Discovered in 1897 and 1899 by a Belgian Expedition.
--One of the most beautiful beaches
-----Surrounded by Ice and contrasting black cliffs
with green moss.
-----Across a narrow channel were walls of glacial ice.
----------Patriotic Ice Wall
had red ice (from algae), white snow, and blue glaciers.
--Time to Play:
Started a big snowball fight in the glistening glacial ice.
-----For some Aussies on board, this was their first snow
and first snowball fight.
-----Now it was the Penguins who thought
We were the funny creatures.

9) 03 Feb: Port Lockroy, Goudier Island: and Post Office.
--Was established in WWII (1943 to 1944)
to watch for German ships (which never came.)
--Still used by British researchers.
-----Runs ecological studies of Penguins and educates public.
-----Has small post office.
--------Finally we could send Dad´s birthday card via slow post
and a very indirect route.
---------------Letters are first delivered by ship
to the Falkland Islands, then go by air to the UK,
---------------Finally, they make it into the English post system.
--To our great astonishment, an extreme sportsman paraglided
among the highest peaks and over our ship.
-----We passengers formed a great big ´´Hi´´
on the deck with our bodies.

10) 04 Feb: Paradise Bay:
--Named by early 20th century whalers
for its beauty and peaceful waters.
--Our 9th touch down on land,
But our first on actual Mainland Antarctica.
--From our zodiac (a small blow up boat),
a Menki whale surfaced only a few meters away.
--Not far from our landing site
was more thunderous calving of glaciers.
--Snow Play: We ran up a steep snowy hill,
plastic bags in hand, for snow sledding.
-----Bob-sled-like runs carved by previous sliders
were smooth, twisty and slippery.
--Cruising on the Zodiacs was magical.
-----We motored quietly by rocky cliffsides
with blue-green copper inclusions and colorful mosses.
-----We floated next to curious cormorants
that swam right up to the boat.
-----In a cove, white slushy ice fragments and bergs
completely blanketed the water surface.
-----Our Zodiac cruise was complimented
by quietly falling large snowflakes.
-----Yet another graceful surfacing Menki whale
topped off the cruise.

11) 04 Feb: Neko Harbor, Anvord Bay,
West Coast of Antarctic Peninsula: --Last Stop.
--Discovered by a Belgian expedition in 1897.
-----Our stay was shortened due to reports of a coming storm.
-----Sad to go: We all felt emotional as we left this land.
One girl even cried.
--As the ship pulled away, whales jumped and splashed off the bow.

THE BIG WAVE GOODBYE: Maybe this was the single most memorable moment of the trip. Just as the ship started back toward Argentina, a single whale surfaced and swam. Then it unexpectedly stopped, with its fluke in the air, and literally waived its grand tale fin at us, slowly up into the air and down again, six dramatic and beautiful times. We couldn´t believe it. One crew member described it right as a big wave goodbye.

WHAT IS A WAVE ANYWAY? One traveler pointed out she can´t figure out the Spanish word for wave (as in hello or goodbye). Melanie noticed the fun fact that in English we ¨wave¨ hello, and in Spanish the words for ¨hello¨ and ´´wave´´ are phonetically the same. Hola (hello) and Olja (wave, as in the ocean.) But we still don´t know the word for the ¨wave¨ of the hand.

ROUGH RIDERS: Two days of 6 meter (18 foot) waves and 45 knot winds pounded us through the Drake Passage. The ship rocked as much as 40 degrees to each side. There were some pretty impressive accidental acrobatics on board.

ALL MODERN GREEK GIRLS ARE BLONDS: At night, unable to do much else in the tossing seas, we all sat around wrapped in blankets playing games. A fun one was Chinese Whispers (¨Telephone¨, to an American). Different accents and colloquialisms, made simple sentences so hard. Adam`s ¨All Kitchen Windows have Blinds¨ turned into ¨All Modern Greek Girls are Blonds.¨ It was a great night, breaking from the party scene for some snuggly slumber-party-style fun.

LEAVING THE USHUAIA, BACK TO USHUAIA TOWN: We disembarked and strolled through Ushuaia, treasuring a relaxing pace and one of our sunniest of days. That evening, some of us sat on our ocean view hostel deck sipping teas or wines and watched our special ship pull out again. Only 8 hours after we left, nostalgia already set in.

ROCKABYE BABY: All our friends seemed to have the same experience in our first sleep on land. We all felt like we were rocking as if still on the ship. When we got up, the earth rocked below our feet. Steve almost stumbled.

FINAL FAMILY-LIKE REUNION: We could not say good bye. Almost everyone met for a final dinner and pub night out. It was a perfect final good bye for a group of 45 newly bonded people who had really shared something special together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Julie G., Mick J., Sally H., Eric S., Quin, Kristen T., Stanley M.