Journey to the white continent
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2009
1
27
36
Trip End
Feb 17, 2010
Where I stayed
MV Professor Molchanov
Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Day 1 - 3rd Dec
After a morning shopping for last minute items in Ushuaia ie a new zoom lense, extra socks and knickers (to minimise the washing on board!!) we boarded at 4pm. Room was small but i figured that hopefully not too much time would be spent there! A meeting was to be held in the bar so we headed up to meet our fellow travellers.....and was pleasantly surprised, there were people under 30 (well only just, they were 29!), and there was even a fellow Gap victim! Our expedition staff were 3 Jans, a Rolf and a Chris. The ship was Russian so all the crew were Russian. An emergency lifeboat drill was enacted, boy I don't ever want to have to use one of those babies, not the most pleasant of places to be but I suppose they'd keep you dry and probably very warm with all the body heat!!!. We cruised up though the Beagle Channel and the weather started to pack up. Our expedition leader Rolf warned us that we would be in for a rough crossing of Drakes Passage which we would hit around 12am.......and he was right. I had taken anti-sea sickness pills and didn't suffer any nausea or sickness. Have to admit I found the motion strangely pleasant at times, like being on a big swinging water bed and managed to stay on the bed despite slipping up and down it all night long!!
Day 2 - 4th Dec
Weather continued to be bad.....hadn't slept a great deal so didn't get up for breakfast when Rolf woke us with what would be the first of his wake up calls, "good morning, good morning, good morning". Didn't feel sick but my head didn't feel too good when I got up for lunch......not many people managed to get to the dining room, either through sickness, or too much of a battle to stay upright!!! Had another little nap and then decided i couldn't spend the whole time in bed......actually once you'd been up for a bit your head didn't feel too bad so headed to the bar where i chatted and played cards with the few others still standing. Again at dinner it wasn't a full house but i managed some beers that night!
Day 3 - 5th Dec
Still in Drakes Passage but the weather had calmed significantly, new faces started appearing in the dining room and the bar was positively buzzing with people. Jan gave a talk on the different penguins we'd see and Chris gave a lecture on sea and glacial ice which was really good.The first icebergs were spotted, cool!! Serious socialising was beginning.
Day 4 - 6th Dec
Landing a.m: Brown Bluff on the actual Antarctic continent. Getting into the gear is fun, not. By the time you've managed to get everything on you're just about ready to pass out from heat stroke. Then you have to make sure you've got your zodiac life vest on, turn your tag to say your off and wash your boots. Then your ready to get into the zodiac. But once you're in its all worthwhile. Saw Gentoo and Adelie penguins......got carried away with taking photos and became slightly concerned that i didn't bring enough memory cards.....
After the landing we headed for the Weddell Sea where we were supposed to spend much of our time. Unfortunately, Antarctic had other plan. We sailed slowly through massive tabular icebergs until the captain decided it was too dangerous to proceed any further. The scenery had been sublime but we had to turn around and head back the way we'd come.
Day 5 - 7th Dec
Landing a.m: King George Island. Snowball fights begin. Walked across the peninsula in snow shoes and saw juvenille elephant seas and a fur seal. Back to the Russian station Bellingshausen where you could have your passport stamped (if you had it with you Leanne!!!) and then to the Chilean station Frei next door. Again you could have your passport stamped, send mail and buy souvenirs if you could be bothered with the disorganisation of the 'shop'!
Landing p.m: Yankee Harbour on Greenwich Island. Absolutely beautiful setting. Gentoo penguins and elephant seals.
Landing p.m: After dinner we had another landing at Half Moon Island the home of Chinstrap penguins -way cute!!
Day 6 - 8th Dec
Landing a.m: More snowball fights on deck before landing at Deception Island. Deception Island is an active volcanoe, last erupted in the 80s (i think!). You enter thru a narrow entrance called Neptunes Bellows and are then 'inside' the crater. We landed at Telephone Bay and then walked up the around the rim of the crater - 162 m. Doesn't seem overly impressive but the winds were amazingly strong up near the top. But if Kate a 79yo with 2 knee replacements could do it then i certainly wasn't going to be beaten. Once you got to the top the wind died off and it was beautifully calm and the view was spectacular, the walk back down was lovely as there was virtually no wind.
Landing p.m: Mikkelson Harbour on Trinity Island. Mainly Gentoo penguins
Dee a fellow Australian supplied birthday champers at dinner which started the nights partying.....and whats wrong with drinking champagne, beer and wine at the same time???? Stewart wore his kilt for the ocassion, Chris got friendly with a bottle of scotch, Nat danced the night away with Jan the bar manager, many photos were taken, (and not one decent one of me, no i lie Stephanie did manage to get one good one!) and I didn't see bed til 3.30am....not what i had expected in the Antarctic!!!
Day 7 - 9th Dec
Slightly seedy feeling but nothing a good can of coke can't fix!!! No landings today instead we were going to cruise around in zodiacs. The morning cruise was around Melchoir Islands and the weather was fairly atrocious. Heavy snow and really cold, but at least the water was relatively calm. Saw some beautiful icebergs but its quite hard in freezing conditions trying to take photos.....your camera gets covered in snow and your hands freeze cos you have to take you gloves off....but i attempted it, whether there's any decent photos is yet to be know as i haven't gone through them yet.
Second zodiac cruise was around Enterprise Island. The weather had improved considerably so it was a much more pleasant experience. Saw Blue eyed comorants, weddell seals, crab eating seals and antarctic terns and the wreck of the Gouvernor (not sure how to spell it and feeling too lazy to look it up)
On our return to the Professor a BBQ on the aft deck had been organised for dinner - with free drinks - could be a dangerous night!!! food was superb as usual, bbq chicken, steaks, ribs, salmon, prawns....We were anchored in Wilhelmina Bay which was a magical spot, weather was calm and almost balmy so spent most of the night outside listening to the crew's music, drinking beer and the occasional dance in the sunlight??? (well wasn't moonlight or starlight as the nights never got dark...) probably the best dance spot i've ever been in (and i'd thought dancing at an outside disco by the Bosphorous in Instanbul had been pretty good...)
Day 8 - 10th Dec
Landing a.m: Cuverille Island. Gentoo penguins. Have to admit i'm having problems remembering some of landings from others unless i look at photos!
Landing p.m: Orne Harbour to climb Spigot Peak (280m). Unfortunately the weather gods decided it wasn't too be. Chris set a cracking pace and we probably got about 3/4 way up before he saw bad weather heading our way so we had to turn back : (
Landing p.m: After our aborted attempt on Spigot Peak, Rolf surprised us with another landing for the day, this time to Danko Island. We got to climb again but this time only 90m...but hey we'd just eaten dinner so it felt way more than that! and again superb views from the top although we did get told off by Rolf for being too loud.........
Day 9 - 11th Dec
Landing a.m: Neko Harbour. Again Chris hotfooted it up a mountain. Not to the top this time but to a stunning viewpoint. A compulsory snowball fight was had once again, although this one was started by the Doc so we can't be blamed for it!! Sitting in the sun on a beautiful day talk turned to swimming (NB: somewhat contentious issue over who started the talk, I definitely heard Stephanie bring it up with Rolf but Stewart felt he'd mentioned it first, - thats all i'm saying on the matter!!) ......and so with some trepidation i agreed to join in for a swim. Rolf .....radioed back to the ship to send over towels and we hopped into a zodiac to get our bathers......Stewart, Dale, Ernesto and Nick had already braved the water but we girls, myself, Nat, Filipa, Stephanie (and Koen!) required proper swimming attire. Stripping off on the beach was actually quite pleasant, the sun was shining, there was no breeze and it actually felt warm. Hitting the water was another matter, the feet got the worst of it, the pain was incredible....didn't feel it on the rest of my body cos all i could think about was how much my feet hurt!! Needless to say the 'swim' was brief, consisting of jumping into the water and straight back out. Think i know what its like to be famous, the papparazzi were swarming around us!! As 'swimmers' we were given speedy return to the ship where we indulged in a sauna, - from ice to fire.
Landing p.m: After a zodiac cruise around Paradise Bay - stunning icebergs and glacials, unfortunately a bit cloudy but our zodiac driver was determined to make the most of it, racing the other boats, doing doughnuts and breaking off an icicle from an iceberg for us (is that allowed??) we landed back on the continent at the Argentinian base of Brown. Not the friendliest of people, their flag was up but they pretended to not be at home. We climbed up to the top of the hill for views and then got to slid back down....yipeee
Back on the ship we cruised thru the Lemaire Channel which was stunning drinking hot chocolates laced with rum....Another late night watching the sunset and sunrise around 3.30am.
Day 10 - 12th Dec
Our last landing was at Port Lockroy on Wiencke Island a British base which is now a museum under the Antarctic Heritage Trust. There are 3 women based there for the summer, which is a first to have all women. They run a very well stocked and organised gift shop and post office, study the penguins and the effects of humans - which there is none reported, breeding has not dropped off and the place gets lots of visitors. The highlight was seeing penguin chicks for the first time - I'm a contented woman!!! We then zodiaced to Goudy Island where there are whaling remains....and that was it, our trip was basically over and we would be heading back....
We cruised thru the Neumayer Channel after leaving Port Lockroy which is supposed to be very spectacular, unfortunately the weather was turning bad, the clouds had descended the ship was beginning to sway and you couldn't really see anything.
Entered Drakes Passage that afternoon and the weather got worse, people started dropping like flies at dinner.....although some people just couldn't handle the whole fish served for dinner........
Day 11 - 13th Dec
Overnight Drakes Passage had certainly returned to form and bed was a bit of a rollercoaster although not as bad as heading over. Quite a few people didn't surface all day and those of us that did spent it listening to lectures or viewing/swapping photos in the bar.
Day 12 - 14th Dec
The passage had calmed off completely and we did a side trip to Cape Horn - well within 3/5? miles as we had left from an Argentinian port so the Chileans won't let you any closer.......before heading to the Beagle Channel to anchor for the night before the pilot came aboard. The sun was shining but things were tinged with sadness with the knowledge that it was all over, we'd all be going our separate ways and it'd all be over.........so what else to do but drink?, unfortunately a bit too much...........
Day 13 - 15th Dec
Disembarkation day. As the ship has a quick turn around, ie the next lot of passengers would be on that afternoon and they'd be sailing so we had to be off the ship after brekkie. Was a weird morning, apart from being hungover, or was that still drunk??- people just disappeared so didn't get to say goodbye to everyone i'd known. The 'crew' organised to meet for lunch before people flew out so another round of goodbyes took place as Koen, Stephanie and Luciana departed leaving me, Filipa, Nat and Stewart to organise another get together that evening before there would be only me and Nat left the next day, and then there was only me.....sniff, sniff
Memorable moments (well those that popped into my head at the moment, sure there's more to come!):
"good morning, good morning, good morning" - every morning except once when rolf only said it twice.
open bar policy
peppermints
swimming at Neko Harbour
rolf's eye movements
penguin chicks
tabular icebergs
snowball fights
sunset/sunrise at the same time
dancing on deck under the antarctic 'night'
hot chocolates after landings
soups at lunch
Vladimir (cute first officer or whatever!! NB: apparantly third mate, i've been corrected!)
Koen's dance
Stewart's kilt dance
Wilhelmina bay
penguin poo shot!
View from Neko Harbour
first penguins on Brown Bluff
'Jesus' birds
humpback whales
