Journey to the end of the World

Hola Everyone!

Bet you all thought I fell of the ship or slipped down a glacier!...no...just laptop charger issues and being in South America...well...it appears that Mac only services Santiago and Buenos Aires...then, of course, there were no spare chargers available in Chile...so I had to wait a while to get one and source my photos from my laptop for your and my pleasure. All good now!

This has given me time to contemplate on what to write about.

Antarctica is so big and leaves such an impression and so many at that.

I love the photos that I and others on the ship took that capture some of the moments we experienced. I even ended up resorting to amateur videography because the environment there is so difficult to communicate through pictures or words.

But in the end it is all about an amazing journey to the end of the world!...and that´s what this blog is all about.

Here's the path our Ship took during our Journey:

My trip was a 14 day adventure. Three of those days don’t add anything to the trip but are necessary and shorter trips would have the same issue.
Day 1: is to ensure passenger arrive in Ushuaia,
Day 2: is arranging to have your luggage loaded onto the boat and yourself at 4pm,
Day 14: the last day of the trip you leave the boat at 8am because the boat arrived in port the night before.

This is all necessary to allow for a contingency if the weather is poor and slows the ship down.

My story started in in Ushuaia.

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I couldn´t resist...the people of Ushuaia are particularly Bin Proud...

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ok..I'll aim to stop with the bins...but they are kind of interesting don't you think??

I started the journey in a hotel in Ushuaia with a couple of Aussie women.

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We represented the East Coast. Bernie, from Sydney took many amazing photos but one in particular I've included in this blog. It's of Penguins feeding and you can see the individual Krill passing from one to the other...amazing.

The Ship

Two and a half days were spent getting down to cross the Antarctic Circle.

It was such a peaceful trip in many ways with endless water in every direction. We waited in anticipation for the Antarctic Convergence, knowing things could start to get really rough around there…we undertook all the safety talks and even got to sit in one of the lifeboats.

We were guided for miles out to the continent by various types of birds. The Albatross were fabulous, riding the wind and studying us as we sailed along. It was lovely watching them fly around the ship.

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Knowing, I’m a chucker, I dosed up heavily on Travel Calm…looooveee the stuff…knocked me out though…what a lovely dozy two and a half days. I still managed to listened to some of the many presentations that ran throughout the trip...and I only fell asleep in a few of them…not the presenter´s fault though. The staff were great and very knowledgeable about their field of expertise and this really added to each day.

Then I learned, we had a realllllyy calm crossing. I’d been so apprehensive about it, but it seems, we got what is referred to the Drake Lake in both directions! Woohooo!!

The tour before us had 20 foot waves on their return…arrghh…and yes...this is the thing with Antarctica...it is all weather dependent. We had great weather the whole time…although someone did complain about it being a bit overcast at one point…huh?!? Yes well…

And yes, you could book the trip and get little or no landings if the weather was too dangerous to get of the ship…but that’s the chance you take…and I still think it’s worth it...it's such an adventure.

We started as far South as we could get and ended up reaching the furthest this ship had to date at 67° 01’!!

And this is what I woke up to:

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This day I stepped foot on the 7th Continent, Antarctica. We set foot on Detaille Island.
And the jokes started…some exclaimed, “it’s little”… to which I responded “only a minor detail”…LOL! etc…ok, I won’t continue… you had to be there.

Detaille Island

The following day we sailed into Prospect Point...

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And stood on the mainland for the first time.

Yay!!

Each day we stepped on land and often in the afternoons took a ride in the zodiacs. That’s the amazing thing about getting as south as you can because you see so many Icebergs. The shorter trips tend to stick around the Shetland Islands and usually don’t have a ship that is reinforced to safely get down that far.

When, I say Icebergs,…I mean ICEBERGS!!! Not ‘bergy bits’ or ‘growlers’ as I’ve learned the smaller ones are called…these are monster sized things… Some of the Icebergs we saw were bigger than the ship and that’s only the bit we could see of them!

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Just to add to the excitement…one night as we watched a film there was a bang, followed by a loud scrapping sound….oooooohh...and then the flood lights came on and lit up an Iceberg about 20m away from us! Very exciting. The next morning loads of people talked about it…but when I went up to the bridge and asked the captain, he said, “no…we didn’t hit anything”…uh huh…strange...
Considering a number of the crew had been on the ship that sunk in 2007, I couldn't help but observe a few nervous souls about that evening…and later that night a rather talkative and intoxicated crew member filled me in what really happened in 2007...

I almost called this blog Titanic 2!

The wildlife was amazing to observe. We saw loads of Penguins (Adelies, Gentoos, Chinstraps), Whales (mostly humpback and one Mink that shot passed), Seals (Crabeater, Weddell, Leopard, and Fur), Birds ( Albatross, Skuas, Wanderings, Shags, Antarctic Terns, Snowy Sheathbills and many more.)

Albatross

Skua

Snowy Sheathbills

Weddell Seal

Leopard Seal

And then some rather odd Australian's species...yet to be defined...

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By this stage we had established that Australian's outnumbered the other nationalities, although Canadians came a close second. And for the record, we even a couple of token Scottsmen on board...this must be established because to my amusement and their disgust, most people thought they were Irish...

Much to my surprise I even met people from the transport industry in Australia! Amusingly one was a customer from my key project in Port Hedland. Such a small world!

I soon took to taking videos instead of photos, simply because it seemed the only way I could capture the atmosphere of the place...(and my inability to get the action shots...those illusive animals that don't perform!)

One night we had about 12 humpback whales surround the ship much to everyones delight.

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We had a few close encounters with Seals too!

Weddell Seals on Icebergs - Zodiac Cruise

Ship passing by Weddell Seals

As we progressed north they Penguins changed from Adelies, to Gentoos, and then on to Chinstrap type. Each type with its individual personality.

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Adelie

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Gentoos

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Chinstraps

Gentoos were my favourite, especially considering they are so curious and can’t help but follow you about or approach you for a cuddle.

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Some Gentoos just went a bit crazy...especially when learning to swim!

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Peterman Island

The Gentoo penguin behaviour is also hilarious to watch because the mother usually has two babies and they chase her about the place demanding food. This can go on for 20 minutes or so and all you see are penguins zooming passed!

Port Lockroy

Although it was late in the season and couple of Penguins couldn't help but builds nest for themselves.

Neko Harbour

Apparently at the start of the season they're all doing it and keep stealing rocks from each others nest. Must be quite the sight to see.

Oh and the smell of Penguins Guano never really leaves your nostrils…phewie! I also learned that Penguins projectile poo too! Now that’s something to beware of when getting up close...

Also, you really need to watch where you walk because there are Penguins lying around everywhere and I swear they look like rocks.

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About half way through the trip we landed at Port Lockroy, where we got to go to the most southern Post office in the world.

The next ship to pick up the post arrives in November this year…so I sent a note to “future Naomi”…wishing her well on her journey!..oh..and a Merry Christmas too!

There's a museum there, where you can appreciate the conditions under which some of the staff lived or what they did in the past.

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Danco Island was a bit of a highlight for me. Although it is really hard to pick a best place or experience with so much going on and everything as good as but different.

The Penguins were active and racing along their highways doing whatever they needed to do...facinating.

Penguin Highway

Peak Hour

At Deception Island the landscape started to change more significantly for the first time.

It is quiet a harsh, dramatic and barren environment…which makes sense considering it’s volcanic. Almost every bit of rock you see from this point north is basalt. Deception Island is a live Volcano that exploded about 50 years ago and its no doubt due to explode again soon. At any rate, before you get off the ship you're given the, "you leave this boat at your own risk talk"...not sure how much that helps considering the ship is in the mouth of the volcano....but there you go.

Our first stop here was to an old whaling station

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The circumference of Deception Island is also made up of numerous mini volcanos...each of which seem to have a diameter of at least a kilometer.

We walked up to one of these smaller volcanoes...the Island is huge…

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Spot the witch?? although one of the scottmen was convinced it was a lion...I mean really!...

At Deception Island we encountered teenage fur seals for the first time and they were ready to take anyone on for a fight…much to my amusement, I watched one screaming tourist race off with a seal in tow…tut tut... if only she’d listened to the “don’t block the seals exit to the water, because the can get aggressive" talk... A few people had these experiences throughout the trip…there's always one, eh?...

This is the Island where you can take a dip…a little less cold than the open ocean with the top couple of cm’s being quite hot….then you can lie in the hot steaming sand and go for another dip if you choose. Good fun.

To prove I did it!

Of course a few souls decided to jumped off the back of the boat when we crossed the Antarctic Circle…brrrrr...and no... I didn’t bother. Too snug inside.

Half moon Island allowed a quiet farewell to Antarctica. We enjoyed colonies of chinstrap penguins doing there thing. Some people even saw an elephant seal.

It was simply nice to sit and contemplate what a great trip it has been so far...

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From here our trip back to the South American Continent began…somehow the mood on the boat changed whilst we all registered what a great experience it had been. Understandably, the trip it takes some time to digest.

Throughout the trip we were able to watch documentaries and films. The history of the continent is truly fascinating and it simply amazes me how some of the first explorers managed to get there and research the continent, using wooden sailing ships.

Getting up early to see Cape Horn as we passed by was a nice close to the sailing.

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Enjoying the Beagle Channel throughout the day

And although we could have left the boat the last night...many simply didn’t want to come back to reality and we partied the night away right there in the docks.

In total we completed 1889 Nautical Miles.

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I guess one thing that has really stayed with me, is that the trip was worth every penny and I would recommend it to anyone. If you decide to make this journey then do it properly and spend a bit more time to cross the Antarctic Circle…the landscape changes and is so majestic further south and you’re already in the region, after all.

Although Antarctica has a “once in a lifetime” stigma about it, I would easily go again. Many people on my trip felt the same way…all realising that is something to come back to. The place is forever changing, depending on the time of year, the weather, and where you go.

Interestingly, you can even apply to work on the boats or at some of the stations that are based there…perhaps making the whole trip more accessible to you…just a thought to leave you with.

Farewell!
Naomixx