Antarctica!!!!

How to describe Antarctica? You can’t really, it is just somewhere you should go. You really, really should go. It is a landscape unlike anything I have ever seen, and on a scale I couldn’t imagine. You are permanently surrounded by massive, sheer mountains with vast glaciers flowing down to the ocean. The icebergs also must be seen to be believed. We passed many that dwarfed our little ship, towering above the 5th floor observation lounge, and only 10% of their total mass is visible above the water!

We had a reasonable passage over, a bit rolly with a decent swell directly on our beam. Nicole was a bit ill for the first day of the crossing, but was a bit better on the second even though the wind had picked up a bit. Our first landing was on the morning of our third day on the South Shetland Islands and then a second landing of Deception Island. We didn’t step onto the Antarctic continent proper until the following day, which was a spectacular landing with blue skies and the sun reflecting off the snow capped peaks and glaciers surrounding the ship.

From there we headed south through the famous Lemaire Channel and crossed the Antarctic Circle the following morning. The crew put on an entertaining ceremony to appease Neptune, forcing all punters to kiss a long dead fish carted around by the very eccentric kayak guide before handing out early morning tots of rum to all.

Our most southerly point was Stonington Island, at just over 68 degrees south. Returning north again we navigated some very, very narrow channels between the islands, which had all the crew very excited as apparently most captains refuse to take their vessels through due to a lack of chart data and little room to maneuver around the many icebergs that block the way. As it turned out we got the most amazing (and only) sunset of the trip during our transit of one of these narrow channels. By midnight the sun was still above the horizon and we gave in to exhaustion and headed for bed.

We visited several Antarctic research bases, some active, some historic. We landed among penguin colonies who have no fear of humans and happily walk around you like you aren’t even there. They are pretty cute little critters, but a few thousand camped up together don’t smell so good. We also did quite a few cruises in the zodiacs, looking for whales, seals and checking out the icebergs. Our last zodiac cruise was just amazing. The ocean was oily glass with just a gentle snow falling and we followed a group of humpback whales for an hour or more, often with them only meters from the side of the zodiac. They look kind of big when you get that close.

The other highlight of the trip was the food. I have never eaten so much. Ever. Being the good boy scout I am, I like to be prepared. In this case I was concerned what might happen should we be forced to abandon ship in the icy conditions. Looking for inspiration as to how I might best survive I decided to emulate the key survival mechanism used by all Antarctic mammals – Blubber. Fortunately with a cooked breakfast, vast lunch buffet and 4 course table service dinner I was able to rapidly grow my Antarctic Survival Suit. Whilst some may think it was gluttony, I prefer to think of it as insurance. I even got the opportunity to put my new insulation to the test with a bit of Polar Snorkeling in the 0.8 degree water. It actually didn’t feel cold, in fact I couldn’t feel anything at all, including for half an hour after I got out. I take the fact that I survived as proof that my buffet blubber was indeed effective.

Our trip home from Antarctica across the Drake Passage was good fun (for those of us not susceptible to sea sickness anyway). The first day wasn’t so bad, but the second day the wind and swell kicked up to give us a good show. I spent several hours on the bridge loving it, with one eye on the wind speed meter as the gusts hit 72 kts (that is 130km/hr for all you land lubbers) and the larger swells must have been nudging 10m. We were even taking the odd bit of green water over the bow of the ship on some of the steeper swells. Very cool!

Well, we are now back in Ushuaia awaiting our flight out tomorrow morning and are well and truly on the way home. It is only just starting to sink in that our great adventure is all but over and in less than a week we will be walking out of Darwin airport and heading home to be knocked over by the dogs whilst enjoying my new insulation in the wet season heat.