I will probably try to post some additional photos soon.
Ken
ken [dot] ludwa [at] gmail [dot] com
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Seattle
Thanks everyone for following my blog, and for all the emails and comments.
I will probably try to post some additional photos soon.
Ken
ken [dot] ludwa [at] gmail [dot] com
I will probably try to post some additional photos soon.
Ken
ken [dot] ludwa [at] gmail [dot] com
Buenos Aires and Home to Seattle
Friday February 6 – Drake Passage
When I posted my last entry, early on the second day of the Drake crossing, the day looked like it would be a little more bumpy… but by noon the sky turned blue and the wind died and we were on Drake Lake all the way to the Beagle Channel. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, we were enjoying the sun on the bow when we saw Cape Horn in the distance. Completely randomly, half an hour later I was listening to my music player… it was on shuffle, and a song by Great Big Sea came on, with the lyrics: “have you ever been ‘round Cape Horn, where the weather’s never warm, wish to God you’d never been born…”
I guess I missed out on the notorious Drake Passage… I *almost* feel like I missed out on the genuine Antarctic experience… but no regrets there!
Later that evening we had farewell cocktails and then dinner. After dinner, Jamie had put together a slideshow with the best photos submitted by everyone, and then a few of us stayed up late in the bar. Without the seasickness meds in my system, I was able to enjoy the evening.
Saturday February 7 – Ushuaia
After drinking and staying up way too late, the 5:30 wakeup call was rough. When I looked out our porthole window, we were dockside in Ushuaia. It was a sunny morning. We had breakfast and disembarked. Met a few shipmates in town at a coffee shop, and tried in vain to find a place to ship some of my extra stuff home. Eventually headed to the airport for my flight to Buenos Aires.
We arrived in BA on time and I grabbed a taxi to my hostel. It is full-on summer in BA, pushing 90 degrees and fairly humid – kind of a shock to the system. I checked into the hostel and went out for a long walk around town. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city… it is often described as very European, but that’s a comparison I can’t make. It did remind me of Washington, D.C… the architecture, the buildings all the same uniform height, and the broad tree-lined avenues. They even have an obelisk, which is nearly a twin to the Washington Monument.
Sunday February 8
Late in the morning I walked across town to the San Telmo Antique Market. It was an attractive old neighborhood. The market itself was crowded and touristy, mostly stalls with local art and souvenirs. The Lonely Planet said that Jenna Bush had her handbag snatched there several years ago, while surrounded by six secret service agents. I kept close check on my wallet and camera.
In the afternoon I went to a futbol (soccer) game. I went with a guided group, which turned out to be a good idea for a first-timer. Getting into the stadium was kind of a maze; at one point, we were waiting in a long queue, which backed up outside the stadium grounds a half-mile along the shoulder of a freeway. The home team was “River Plate” – one of the two pro teams in BA (River is second fiddle to the Boca Juniors; kind of like the Mets to the Yankees). We were right next to the “general admission” section, which offered a great vantage point of the hardcore fans, packed full of people and banners and flags… just before the start of the game, a drum corps marched into the crowd, leading the crowd in singing and dancing which went literally non-stop for the whole 90-minute match. It was a good match, played to a 2-2 tie; the home team had a 2-0 lead until they let their guard down and gave up two goals in the last 15 minutes, including the tying goal during extra time. One memorable experience was the mass of humanity getting into the bano at halftime. After the game, police in full riot gear were stationed around the stadium (this appeared to be the standard procedure) and the visiting fan section was cleared out first, with a half-hour before they let anyone else leave the stadium. The precautions are no doubt based on past experience, and they obviously worked.
I went back to the hostel, had just enough time to shower, and then I was off to a tango show (tango dancing is a big deal in BA, to put it mildly). It being a Sunday night, there was a small crowd; probably only 20 patrons in an attractive little dinner theater. And yet another small-world experience… the host sat me down at a table with three friendly Brazilians; Eduardo, Lucia, and Thaise. They all spoke some English, and I noticed Thaise spoke it perfectly. Thaise asked me where I was from and when I said Seattle, she laughed incredulously… she’s been living in Seattle for the last 2 years – and had just come to BA from Seattle, via Brazil, a few days prior. I also had some things in common with Lucia, who works for an environmental consulting company.
I enjoyed the tango show… even with the small crowd, the musicians and singers and dancers gave us their best. It was all appropriately melodramatic. The show was apparently about the history of tango, but it was all in Spanish.
After stopping by the hostel briefly, I went out again… off to see a milonga at an old café called Confiteria Ideal. Milongas are where the locals go to tango; the Lonely Planet suggested going to a milonga to see a more authentic tango experience. At this point it was 2 a.m. on a Sunday night. There were about 30 people when I got there. It was fun to watch… everyone was there simply to dance, and people mixed and matched regardless of age. One of the best dancers was a man I guessed about 65-ish; a few younger women were dancing with him… it’s considered an honor for younger women and men to dance with experienced older dancers. There was one old couple probably in their 80s, bowed with age but dressed up and dancing slowly along, a young couple in jeans, and others more dressed up. Everyone was obviously experienced. Some danced with more flair than others. It was a beautiful atmosphere… late night in this historic old café… arched ceilings and marble columns, chandeliers casting a sepia light.
I walked back to the hostel… 3 a.m. at this point, I went up to the rooftop bar, had a beer, chatted with a guy from California who is in the wine trade and a few other people I overheard talking about travel experiences in Portland, OR. Eventually they all disappeared and so I sat there enjoying the full moon, my last look at the Southern Cross, and the excellent vantage point of the surrounding old buildings and towers.
Monday February 9
I got up, checked out of my room and stowed my luggage, and proceeded to spend the day walking all over the City… another nice hot day. I started out with a short trip on the underground system, called the “Subte”… in particular I wanted to see the old ornate wood train cars they’ve preserved on the original line.
From there I walked to the main Cemetery, a massive necropolis packed with grand vaults containing the remains of Argentina’s politicos, military elite, writers and artists, presidents, and just generally well-to-do. The biggest attraction was of course the tomb of Eva (Evita) Peron, but I didn’t pause long there… I was mostly fascinated by the art and architecture of the vaults, each like a little building; many adorned with figures of angels or gargoyles.
After the cemetery, I stopped at MALBA, the Museum of Latin American Art. I only made one museum stop, and this one had been highly-recommended – and I could see why. Both the building itself and the art collection were outstanding, and it felt like it would have been right at home in New York or Paris.
Finally I went back to the hostel, had some time to relax and wait for my ride to the airport… watching trashy American television in the lounge (prepping for my re-entry). I ended up sharing a cab on the longish ride to the international airport with a gal from Brussels, and we exchanged travel stories. Got to the airport and checked in, and met another traveler on my flight, a nice retired lady from Texas, and so we talked over dinner at the airport. The flight took off on time, and I was asleep within an hour.
Tuesday February 10
I was surprised to wake up only an hour from our landing in Dallas. I had a tight connection in Dallas, but customs was incredibly easy, and I made my Seattle flight with time to spare for my first good cup of coffee in a month (my usual quad Americano) and some breakfast tacos.
The Dallas-Seattle flight was also uneventful, and when we landed in Seattle, it was, of course, snowing. It never snows in Seattle in February.
All in all, I was amazed at how on-time and smoothly the travels went – connections, luggage, weather – considering as far as I traveled and all the connections in strange places. Valerie picked me up at the airport and we drove straight to my place – good to be home.
When I posted my last entry, early on the second day of the Drake crossing, the day looked like it would be a little more bumpy… but by noon the sky turned blue and the wind died and we were on Drake Lake all the way to the Beagle Channel. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, we were enjoying the sun on the bow when we saw Cape Horn in the distance. Completely randomly, half an hour later I was listening to my music player… it was on shuffle, and a song by Great Big Sea came on, with the lyrics: “have you ever been ‘round Cape Horn, where the weather’s never warm, wish to God you’d never been born…”
I guess I missed out on the notorious Drake Passage… I *almost* feel like I missed out on the genuine Antarctic experience… but no regrets there!
Later that evening we had farewell cocktails and then dinner. After dinner, Jamie had put together a slideshow with the best photos submitted by everyone, and then a few of us stayed up late in the bar. Without the seasickness meds in my system, I was able to enjoy the evening.
Saturday February 7 – Ushuaia
After drinking and staying up way too late, the 5:30 wakeup call was rough. When I looked out our porthole window, we were dockside in Ushuaia. It was a sunny morning. We had breakfast and disembarked. Met a few shipmates in town at a coffee shop, and tried in vain to find a place to ship some of my extra stuff home. Eventually headed to the airport for my flight to Buenos Aires.
We arrived in BA on time and I grabbed a taxi to my hostel. It is full-on summer in BA, pushing 90 degrees and fairly humid – kind of a shock to the system. I checked into the hostel and went out for a long walk around town. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city… it is often described as very European, but that’s a comparison I can’t make. It did remind me of Washington, D.C… the architecture, the buildings all the same uniform height, and the broad tree-lined avenues. They even have an obelisk, which is nearly a twin to the Washington Monument.
Sunday February 8
Late in the morning I walked across town to the San Telmo Antique Market. It was an attractive old neighborhood. The market itself was crowded and touristy, mostly stalls with local art and souvenirs. The Lonely Planet said that Jenna Bush had her handbag snatched there several years ago, while surrounded by six secret service agents. I kept close check on my wallet and camera.
In the afternoon I went to a futbol (soccer) game. I went with a guided group, which turned out to be a good idea for a first-timer. Getting into the stadium was kind of a maze; at one point, we were waiting in a long queue, which backed up outside the stadium grounds a half-mile along the shoulder of a freeway. The home team was “River Plate” – one of the two pro teams in BA (River is second fiddle to the Boca Juniors; kind of like the Mets to the Yankees). We were right next to the “general admission” section, which offered a great vantage point of the hardcore fans, packed full of people and banners and flags… just before the start of the game, a drum corps marched into the crowd, leading the crowd in singing and dancing which went literally non-stop for the whole 90-minute match. It was a good match, played to a 2-2 tie; the home team had a 2-0 lead until they let their guard down and gave up two goals in the last 15 minutes, including the tying goal during extra time. One memorable experience was the mass of humanity getting into the bano at halftime. After the game, police in full riot gear were stationed around the stadium (this appeared to be the standard procedure) and the visiting fan section was cleared out first, with a half-hour before they let anyone else leave the stadium. The precautions are no doubt based on past experience, and they obviously worked.
I went back to the hostel, had just enough time to shower, and then I was off to a tango show (tango dancing is a big deal in BA, to put it mildly). It being a Sunday night, there was a small crowd; probably only 20 patrons in an attractive little dinner theater. And yet another small-world experience… the host sat me down at a table with three friendly Brazilians; Eduardo, Lucia, and Thaise. They all spoke some English, and I noticed Thaise spoke it perfectly. Thaise asked me where I was from and when I said Seattle, she laughed incredulously… she’s been living in Seattle for the last 2 years – and had just come to BA from Seattle, via Brazil, a few days prior. I also had some things in common with Lucia, who works for an environmental consulting company.
I enjoyed the tango show… even with the small crowd, the musicians and singers and dancers gave us their best. It was all appropriately melodramatic. The show was apparently about the history of tango, but it was all in Spanish.
After stopping by the hostel briefly, I went out again… off to see a milonga at an old café called Confiteria Ideal. Milongas are where the locals go to tango; the Lonely Planet suggested going to a milonga to see a more authentic tango experience. At this point it was 2 a.m. on a Sunday night. There were about 30 people when I got there. It was fun to watch… everyone was there simply to dance, and people mixed and matched regardless of age. One of the best dancers was a man I guessed about 65-ish; a few younger women were dancing with him… it’s considered an honor for younger women and men to dance with experienced older dancers. There was one old couple probably in their 80s, bowed with age but dressed up and dancing slowly along, a young couple in jeans, and others more dressed up. Everyone was obviously experienced. Some danced with more flair than others. It was a beautiful atmosphere… late night in this historic old café… arched ceilings and marble columns, chandeliers casting a sepia light.
I walked back to the hostel… 3 a.m. at this point, I went up to the rooftop bar, had a beer, chatted with a guy from California who is in the wine trade and a few other people I overheard talking about travel experiences in Portland, OR. Eventually they all disappeared and so I sat there enjoying the full moon, my last look at the Southern Cross, and the excellent vantage point of the surrounding old buildings and towers.
Monday February 9
I got up, checked out of my room and stowed my luggage, and proceeded to spend the day walking all over the City… another nice hot day. I started out with a short trip on the underground system, called the “Subte”… in particular I wanted to see the old ornate wood train cars they’ve preserved on the original line.
From there I walked to the main Cemetery, a massive necropolis packed with grand vaults containing the remains of Argentina’s politicos, military elite, writers and artists, presidents, and just generally well-to-do. The biggest attraction was of course the tomb of Eva (Evita) Peron, but I didn’t pause long there… I was mostly fascinated by the art and architecture of the vaults, each like a little building; many adorned with figures of angels or gargoyles.
After the cemetery, I stopped at MALBA, the Museum of Latin American Art. I only made one museum stop, and this one had been highly-recommended – and I could see why. Both the building itself and the art collection were outstanding, and it felt like it would have been right at home in New York or Paris.
Finally I went back to the hostel, had some time to relax and wait for my ride to the airport… watching trashy American television in the lounge (prepping for my re-entry). I ended up sharing a cab on the longish ride to the international airport with a gal from Brussels, and we exchanged travel stories. Got to the airport and checked in, and met another traveler on my flight, a nice retired lady from Texas, and so we talked over dinner at the airport. The flight took off on time, and I was asleep within an hour.
Tuesday February 10
I was surprised to wake up only an hour from our landing in Dallas. I had a tight connection in Dallas, but customs was incredibly easy, and I made my Seattle flight with time to spare for my first good cup of coffee in a month (my usual quad Americano) and some breakfast tacos.
The Dallas-Seattle flight was also uneventful, and when we landed in Seattle, it was, of course, snowing. It never snows in Seattle in February.
All in all, I was amazed at how on-time and smoothly the travels went – connections, luggage, weather – considering as far as I traveled and all the connections in strange places. Valerie picked me up at the airport and we drove straight to my place – good to be home.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Antarctica
Saturday January 31
Standing on the bridge in the evening as we sailed through a field oficebergs, I looked through my binocs and saw what appeared to be land… along ridge that spanned most of the horizon. I knew we were still a coupledays away from the Peninsula, so I wondered what I was seeing. I turned toDr. John who was talking with one of the crew and pointing at the horizon,and he said it was an 11-mile-long iceberg. It was hard to grasp the scaleof this thing, drifting along through the ocean. We navigated around it,just a few hundred feet off our port side, and it turned out the berg was asequally wide as it was long. It occurred to me that this berg probablycovered a larger area than the City of Seattle!
Sunday February 1
Most of today was on open water. We stopped briefly at Point Wild onElephant Island, where Shackleton's crew waited four months for him toreturn with rescue. From the ship, we could see the place where the menstayed, but seas were too rough to make a landing.
Monday February 2
Our first landing today was at Half-Moon Island. It was another beautifulday… mostly sunny, with occasional clouds and fog blowing through. CamaraBase, a small Argentine base is located here, and the handful of ArgentineNaval staff walked over right away… they seemed glad to have some outsidecompany. I spent a few minutes checking out the small chinstrap penguincolony, and then we did our first kayaking paddle around the bay. Therewasn't much different to see from the kayak, and it was a little rolly, butit was nice to be on the water. Memie, a petite city gal from Hong Kong,was my paddle partner, and she was new to kayaking, but very enthusiastic(and fearless). We seemed to work pretty well together.
Back out on the Bransfield Strait, we watched our approach to DeceptionIsland. At noon, I looked over toward the other side of the Strait and sawland, mostly obscured by clouds… my first sight of the Antarctic continent.
We made our second landing at Whaler's Bay at Deception Island. The islandis an old volcano, with the bay inside the caldera; it's like a doughnutwith a bite missing. The approach into the harbor is made through a narrowbreak in the side of the caldera, with colorful rocky walls and spiresrising up on each side of the entrance. The ship anchored in the calmwaters inside the harbor, and from here, we kayaked again, back out throughthe opening and on the open sea swells, among the cliffs on the outside ofthe island. At one point we looked up and saw several of our shipmates afew hundred feet above us in a low point on the cliff, called Neptune'sWindow. It was fun and a little challenging paddling in the swell againstthe rocks. We then paddled back to the beach and had enough time to hike upto Neptune's Window, which offers a great view of the Antarctic Peninsula onthe rare clear days like this one. I then walked down the beach among theremnants of the whaling operations from decades ago. Toward the end of thebeach, the sand is steaming and the water is warm, from the geothermalactivity underneath.
Tuesday February 3
Today was the most action-packed day of the trip. Our first landing was atEnterprise Island, where we kayaked among icebergs and bergy bits (that isthe actual technical term for pieces that break off icebergs). There werealso some striking ice features in the channel… some arches and interestingshapes. We saw a whale and tried to follow at a distance… although we got acouple closer looks at the whale, it wasn't too interested in hangingaround. We would see it surface nearby, and in a seeming matter of seconds,it was a mile away.
Our next landing was Danco Island. More kayaking… this time it was a looparound the island. The island is mostly covered by a massive glacier, whichrises several hundred feet sheer up from the water. The island issurrounded by glacier-covered mountains. At this point, it was starting tosnow, and it was just about dead calm. Halfway through the paddle, Dansuggested that we stop for a few minutes of silence on the water… when westopped moving, the only sounds were the brash ice tinkling, an occasionalrumble from one of the glaciers, and penguins porpoising through the water. Snow was falling gently. Another one of the best moments I'll rememberabout this trip. We detoured in the kayaks to see a few Weddell Seals hauled out anothersmall island. Following Dan's example, Memie and I also played a little,attempting to run our kayak up on top of the flatter growlers (floating icechunks smaller than bergy bits). I was happily surprised at Memie'senthusiasm for the kayak horseplay.
Back to the ship again, sailing down a channel to our next stop, we sawseveral whales. The captain stopped the ship so we could watch a couplehumpback whales that were surfacing and rolling. At one point, the whalesswam right under the bow of the ship, and I was perched in the perfect spotto look straight down to see them just a few feet under the surface.
Our third landing for the day was Neko Harbor. We went ashore in Zodiacs,and I took my first steps on the Antarctic Continent (that's number 5 forme). The snowfall was starting to pick up again. Wayne and I quickly setup our tent – on a snowy slope above the beach, surrounded by noisy gentoopenguins. Then Cathy and I headed back to the landing beach for a lateevening kayak paddle; it was after 10 p.m. by this time. The light and theice were surreal… the new snow on the drifting ice chunks made them standout in the twilight. I was resigned that this would just be a nice paddlealong the edge of the glacier to see some interesting ice features in thewater, until we heard a spout. We turned and saw the humpback not too faraway and carefully paddled in that direction. This whale did a pretty goodbreach before swimming away. At this point we heard and saw a minke whale,which headed toward Jamie sitting in the Zodiac following us (he had theengine off at this point). Then we heard more spouting further away… abouta mile away we could see another humpback, so we started paddling in thatdirection. This humpback was apparently running into some good food,because it was rolling and circling repeatedly, and didn't seem to takenotice of our approach. We got closer and closer, and the whale put on agood show… rolling and breaching, giving us repeated views of its tailfluke, dorsal fins, and pectoral fins. We crept closer, and eventually wesituated ourselves at about the safest allowable distance. We had a perfectvantage point to watch the whale as it passed by in front of us… I wascompletely enthralled. Until the whale suddenly decided to circle back –straight at our kayak. It went under for a couple seconds, but I could seethe wave on the surface heading directly toward us, and then it surfaced. Holy sh*t! A massive hump rose out of the water, pushing a wave ahead ofit, coming right at us broadside. At this point Cathy and I were paddlinglike mad, except she was paddling forward and I was paddling backward. Inthe split second all of this was occurring, I'm thinking "does the whaleknow we're here, does it care, or is it *aiming* for us?" In alllikelihood, it just didn't care... it was probably focused on getting a bigmouthful from the swarm of krill in the water around us. Certainly if itwanted to flip us, it could have; I learned that whales are surprisinglyfast and nimble. In any case, I joined Kathy in paddling forward – as hardas I could – and somehow we got out of the way. I turned to look behind usjust in time to see the whale plow through the spot we had just beensitting. I was shaking from the adrenaline overdose for the next hour.
We sat for a few minutes recovering and watching the whale continue tobreach and circle around, then decided to load the kayaks into the Zodiacand ride back with Jamie. As we paddled over to Jamie, two more whales wereblowing and breaching a little further away. It was probably 11:30 p.m. bythis point. We went back to the ship, I took a quick hot shower and changedinto dry clothes and then we got in Zodiac to head back to our snow camp onthe shore. I sat up for awhile in the twilight watching the gentoos aroundour tent, then eventually headed to the tent.
We had been warned not to go on the beach because the massive glacier nearbyoften calves large chunks which create a "mini-tsunami." The lines fromthese waves were clearly visible at the edge of the snowline on the beach. As I went to bed, I realized the wave line represented the more frequent"routine" calving events, but it occurred to me that the glacier lookedcapable of producing a larger icefall that could generate a wave to reach mytent. This paranoia is what kept me awake… every time I heard a rumble orcrack from the glacier, I reached for the door zipper on the tent. Eventually I was able to relax and fell asleep. Thanks to the good gear, Istayed warm enough all night.
Wednesday February 4
I was dead asleep when Jamie roused us from our tents at 5 a.m. It wasstill snowing, and the wind had picked up overnight. The worst part wasputting on my cold boots. We quickly broke camp, loaded everything into theZodiacs, and headed back to the ship.
Before loading into the Zodiac, I paused to honor my mom's brother Glenn,who died unexpectedly last year, just a few months after my grandma passedaway. My mom was surprised to learn from Glenn's wife just before my tripthat Glenn had a great interest in Antarctica, had an extensive collectionof books on Antarctica, and dreamed of visiting. I imagined Glenn seeingthe place as I was seeing it and inscribed Glenn's initials in the sandamong the gentoo penguin tracks.
Our next goal was to move down the Gerlache Strait to Useful Island, wherewe were supposed to make our last landing to see chinstrap and gentoopenguins. It was still windy, cold, and snowy. As we approached thelanding site, I got geared up, but just as I went upstairs to line up forthe Zodiac, Shane made an announcement that the landing would be scrubbeddue to the wind and waves. I was sorely disappointed to miss our lastlanding, but was still very thankful and happy that we had such greatweather over the course of the whole trip, especially when it mattered –this last landing was the only one we would miss.
I sat and enjoyed the scenery from the bridge as we sailed on down thechannel, then we had breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast, I went up to thebridge a little more, and then decided to go take a nap. When I woke up 45minutes later, I went back up to the bridge and couldn't believe my eyes. The skies were bluer than I had seen on the whole trip and the wind hadsubsided. The blue skies made the scenery along the channel even morestunning. After awhile, we went to lunch. Just as I was climbing thestairs back to the bridge after lunch, Shane came on and announced that wewould make a landing! And not just any landing… this one would includePalmer Station and an adelie penguin colony! Shane was just finishing thisannouncement as I walked onto the bridge, and everyone broke into applause.
I appreciated Shane's efforts to get us another landing. We'd only missedtwo landings on the whole trip. Shane didn't have to find alternatelandings on these occasions, but both times he went out of his way toarrange replacement stops… not only that, but these alternate sites turnedout to be better than the originally-planned stops.
Before reaching Palmer, we sailed a little way into the Lemarie Channel. Wehad a big crowd on the front deck to enjoy the sunshine and the mountainsand glaciers.
We anchored at Palmer Station and went to shore in Zodiacs. I'm not usuallystirred by patriotism, but I felt proud as we approached the station and sawthe American flag flying … here were fellow Americans in Antarctica for thesole purpose of advancing the cause of science and knowledge. We broke upinto a few small groups and got tours from the station staff. We were leadaround the station by an IT guy named Paul, from San Diego. Most of theresearch happens in the field, so there wasn't a whole lot to see at thestation… there are two main buildings with living quarters, a few labs, therecreation space and gym. The most interesting part was listening to Pauldescribe life at the station. About 45 people are there in the summer, and16 in the winter. There are lots of measures taken to keep everyone safeand sane. I went away thinking I would enjoy a year or two there.
After the tour, we took the Zodiacs across the cove to land at an adeliepenguin colony… a few thousand here. The chicks were mostly molted, butmany of them had funny little tufts on top of their heads, like littleafros. The penguins were not very curious or interactive. I think myfavorite penguins of the trip were the rockhoppers, which we only saw on theFalklands. Among the 5 penguin species we saw on the trip (rockhoppers,gentoos, kings, macaronis, and adelies), the rockhoppers were the mostinteractive and inquisitive with us human visitors.
Done with our landings, we went back to the ship for our last Antarcticactivity… a polar plunge. I dove off the gangway into the water (just acouple degrees above freezing), and then swam straight back to the gangwayand ran up to a dry towel and a congratulatory shot of vodka administered byDr. John. 15 of us did the plunge; again I was happily surprised at some ofmy shipmates who decided to jump in.
At this point we weighed anchor and headed into the Drake Passage on the wayhome. There was a colorful sunset, which lit up the mountains… our lastview of Antarctica.
Thursday February 5, and Friday February 6
Open water days. The Drake Passage is notorious as some of the roughest seain the world. This is known as the Drake Shake. Having been seasickearlier in the trip, I was prepared for the worst. However, all dayThursday, we were lucky to experience a much less common phenomenon known asDrake Lake… relatively calm seas. Seriously, the weather was amazinglycooperative on the whole trip. As the trip progressed, Shane keptcommenting on our good fortune with the weather – at several landings, hesaid he'd never seen it this good. Someone on this ship has some goodkarma.
Today, Friday, the Drake is slightly more rolly, but nothing compared to thedescriptions I've heard from those who have experienced its true fury.
We'll reach the Beagle Channel tonight (ahead of schedule thanks to the calmseas), and disembark in Ushuaia tomorrow morning; from there it's straightto the airport and off to Buenos Aires.
Standing on the bridge in the evening as we sailed through a field oficebergs, I looked through my binocs and saw what appeared to be land… along ridge that spanned most of the horizon. I knew we were still a coupledays away from the Peninsula, so I wondered what I was seeing. I turned toDr. John who was talking with one of the crew and pointing at the horizon,and he said it was an 11-mile-long iceberg. It was hard to grasp the scaleof this thing, drifting along through the ocean. We navigated around it,just a few hundred feet off our port side, and it turned out the berg was asequally wide as it was long. It occurred to me that this berg probablycovered a larger area than the City of Seattle!
Sunday February 1
Most of today was on open water. We stopped briefly at Point Wild onElephant Island, where Shackleton's crew waited four months for him toreturn with rescue. From the ship, we could see the place where the menstayed, but seas were too rough to make a landing.
Monday February 2
Our first landing today was at Half-Moon Island. It was another beautifulday… mostly sunny, with occasional clouds and fog blowing through. CamaraBase, a small Argentine base is located here, and the handful of ArgentineNaval staff walked over right away… they seemed glad to have some outsidecompany. I spent a few minutes checking out the small chinstrap penguincolony, and then we did our first kayaking paddle around the bay. Therewasn't much different to see from the kayak, and it was a little rolly, butit was nice to be on the water. Memie, a petite city gal from Hong Kong,was my paddle partner, and she was new to kayaking, but very enthusiastic(and fearless). We seemed to work pretty well together.
Back out on the Bransfield Strait, we watched our approach to DeceptionIsland. At noon, I looked over toward the other side of the Strait and sawland, mostly obscured by clouds… my first sight of the Antarctic continent.
We made our second landing at Whaler's Bay at Deception Island. The islandis an old volcano, with the bay inside the caldera; it's like a doughnutwith a bite missing. The approach into the harbor is made through a narrowbreak in the side of the caldera, with colorful rocky walls and spiresrising up on each side of the entrance. The ship anchored in the calmwaters inside the harbor, and from here, we kayaked again, back out throughthe opening and on the open sea swells, among the cliffs on the outside ofthe island. At one point we looked up and saw several of our shipmates afew hundred feet above us in a low point on the cliff, called Neptune'sWindow. It was fun and a little challenging paddling in the swell againstthe rocks. We then paddled back to the beach and had enough time to hike upto Neptune's Window, which offers a great view of the Antarctic Peninsula onthe rare clear days like this one. I then walked down the beach among theremnants of the whaling operations from decades ago. Toward the end of thebeach, the sand is steaming and the water is warm, from the geothermalactivity underneath.
Tuesday February 3
Today was the most action-packed day of the trip. Our first landing was atEnterprise Island, where we kayaked among icebergs and bergy bits (that isthe actual technical term for pieces that break off icebergs). There werealso some striking ice features in the channel… some arches and interestingshapes. We saw a whale and tried to follow at a distance… although we got acouple closer looks at the whale, it wasn't too interested in hangingaround. We would see it surface nearby, and in a seeming matter of seconds,it was a mile away.
Our next landing was Danco Island. More kayaking… this time it was a looparound the island. The island is mostly covered by a massive glacier, whichrises several hundred feet sheer up from the water. The island issurrounded by glacier-covered mountains. At this point, it was starting tosnow, and it was just about dead calm. Halfway through the paddle, Dansuggested that we stop for a few minutes of silence on the water… when westopped moving, the only sounds were the brash ice tinkling, an occasionalrumble from one of the glaciers, and penguins porpoising through the water. Snow was falling gently. Another one of the best moments I'll rememberabout this trip. We detoured in the kayaks to see a few Weddell Seals hauled out anothersmall island. Following Dan's example, Memie and I also played a little,attempting to run our kayak up on top of the flatter growlers (floating icechunks smaller than bergy bits). I was happily surprised at Memie'senthusiasm for the kayak horseplay.
Back to the ship again, sailing down a channel to our next stop, we sawseveral whales. The captain stopped the ship so we could watch a couplehumpback whales that were surfacing and rolling. At one point, the whalesswam right under the bow of the ship, and I was perched in the perfect spotto look straight down to see them just a few feet under the surface.
Our third landing for the day was Neko Harbor. We went ashore in Zodiacs,and I took my first steps on the Antarctic Continent (that's number 5 forme). The snowfall was starting to pick up again. Wayne and I quickly setup our tent – on a snowy slope above the beach, surrounded by noisy gentoopenguins. Then Cathy and I headed back to the landing beach for a lateevening kayak paddle; it was after 10 p.m. by this time. The light and theice were surreal… the new snow on the drifting ice chunks made them standout in the twilight. I was resigned that this would just be a nice paddlealong the edge of the glacier to see some interesting ice features in thewater, until we heard a spout. We turned and saw the humpback not too faraway and carefully paddled in that direction. This whale did a pretty goodbreach before swimming away. At this point we heard and saw a minke whale,which headed toward Jamie sitting in the Zodiac following us (he had theengine off at this point). Then we heard more spouting further away… abouta mile away we could see another humpback, so we started paddling in thatdirection. This humpback was apparently running into some good food,because it was rolling and circling repeatedly, and didn't seem to takenotice of our approach. We got closer and closer, and the whale put on agood show… rolling and breaching, giving us repeated views of its tailfluke, dorsal fins, and pectoral fins. We crept closer, and eventually wesituated ourselves at about the safest allowable distance. We had a perfectvantage point to watch the whale as it passed by in front of us… I wascompletely enthralled. Until the whale suddenly decided to circle back –straight at our kayak. It went under for a couple seconds, but I could seethe wave on the surface heading directly toward us, and then it surfaced. Holy sh*t! A massive hump rose out of the water, pushing a wave ahead ofit, coming right at us broadside. At this point Cathy and I were paddlinglike mad, except she was paddling forward and I was paddling backward. Inthe split second all of this was occurring, I'm thinking "does the whaleknow we're here, does it care, or is it *aiming* for us?" In alllikelihood, it just didn't care... it was probably focused on getting a bigmouthful from the swarm of krill in the water around us. Certainly if itwanted to flip us, it could have; I learned that whales are surprisinglyfast and nimble. In any case, I joined Kathy in paddling forward – as hardas I could – and somehow we got out of the way. I turned to look behind usjust in time to see the whale plow through the spot we had just beensitting. I was shaking from the adrenaline overdose for the next hour.
We sat for a few minutes recovering and watching the whale continue tobreach and circle around, then decided to load the kayaks into the Zodiacand ride back with Jamie. As we paddled over to Jamie, two more whales wereblowing and breaching a little further away. It was probably 11:30 p.m. bythis point. We went back to the ship, I took a quick hot shower and changedinto dry clothes and then we got in Zodiac to head back to our snow camp onthe shore. I sat up for awhile in the twilight watching the gentoos aroundour tent, then eventually headed to the tent.
We had been warned not to go on the beach because the massive glacier nearbyoften calves large chunks which create a "mini-tsunami." The lines fromthese waves were clearly visible at the edge of the snowline on the beach. As I went to bed, I realized the wave line represented the more frequent"routine" calving events, but it occurred to me that the glacier lookedcapable of producing a larger icefall that could generate a wave to reach mytent. This paranoia is what kept me awake… every time I heard a rumble orcrack from the glacier, I reached for the door zipper on the tent. Eventually I was able to relax and fell asleep. Thanks to the good gear, Istayed warm enough all night.
Wednesday February 4
I was dead asleep when Jamie roused us from our tents at 5 a.m. It wasstill snowing, and the wind had picked up overnight. The worst part wasputting on my cold boots. We quickly broke camp, loaded everything into theZodiacs, and headed back to the ship.
Before loading into the Zodiac, I paused to honor my mom's brother Glenn,who died unexpectedly last year, just a few months after my grandma passedaway. My mom was surprised to learn from Glenn's wife just before my tripthat Glenn had a great interest in Antarctica, had an extensive collectionof books on Antarctica, and dreamed of visiting. I imagined Glenn seeingthe place as I was seeing it and inscribed Glenn's initials in the sandamong the gentoo penguin tracks.
Our next goal was to move down the Gerlache Strait to Useful Island, wherewe were supposed to make our last landing to see chinstrap and gentoopenguins. It was still windy, cold, and snowy. As we approached thelanding site, I got geared up, but just as I went upstairs to line up forthe Zodiac, Shane made an announcement that the landing would be scrubbeddue to the wind and waves. I was sorely disappointed to miss our lastlanding, but was still very thankful and happy that we had such greatweather over the course of the whole trip, especially when it mattered –this last landing was the only one we would miss.
I sat and enjoyed the scenery from the bridge as we sailed on down thechannel, then we had breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast, I went up to thebridge a little more, and then decided to go take a nap. When I woke up 45minutes later, I went back up to the bridge and couldn't believe my eyes. The skies were bluer than I had seen on the whole trip and the wind hadsubsided. The blue skies made the scenery along the channel even morestunning. After awhile, we went to lunch. Just as I was climbing thestairs back to the bridge after lunch, Shane came on and announced that wewould make a landing! And not just any landing… this one would includePalmer Station and an adelie penguin colony! Shane was just finishing thisannouncement as I walked onto the bridge, and everyone broke into applause.
I appreciated Shane's efforts to get us another landing. We'd only missedtwo landings on the whole trip. Shane didn't have to find alternatelandings on these occasions, but both times he went out of his way toarrange replacement stops… not only that, but these alternate sites turnedout to be better than the originally-planned stops.
Before reaching Palmer, we sailed a little way into the Lemarie Channel. Wehad a big crowd on the front deck to enjoy the sunshine and the mountainsand glaciers.
We anchored at Palmer Station and went to shore in Zodiacs. I'm not usuallystirred by patriotism, but I felt proud as we approached the station and sawthe American flag flying … here were fellow Americans in Antarctica for thesole purpose of advancing the cause of science and knowledge. We broke upinto a few small groups and got tours from the station staff. We were leadaround the station by an IT guy named Paul, from San Diego. Most of theresearch happens in the field, so there wasn't a whole lot to see at thestation… there are two main buildings with living quarters, a few labs, therecreation space and gym. The most interesting part was listening to Pauldescribe life at the station. About 45 people are there in the summer, and16 in the winter. There are lots of measures taken to keep everyone safeand sane. I went away thinking I would enjoy a year or two there.
After the tour, we took the Zodiacs across the cove to land at an adeliepenguin colony… a few thousand here. The chicks were mostly molted, butmany of them had funny little tufts on top of their heads, like littleafros. The penguins were not very curious or interactive. I think myfavorite penguins of the trip were the rockhoppers, which we only saw on theFalklands. Among the 5 penguin species we saw on the trip (rockhoppers,gentoos, kings, macaronis, and adelies), the rockhoppers were the mostinteractive and inquisitive with us human visitors.
Done with our landings, we went back to the ship for our last Antarcticactivity… a polar plunge. I dove off the gangway into the water (just acouple degrees above freezing), and then swam straight back to the gangwayand ran up to a dry towel and a congratulatory shot of vodka administered byDr. John. 15 of us did the plunge; again I was happily surprised at some ofmy shipmates who decided to jump in.
At this point we weighed anchor and headed into the Drake Passage on the wayhome. There was a colorful sunset, which lit up the mountains… our lastview of Antarctica.
Thursday February 5, and Friday February 6
Open water days. The Drake Passage is notorious as some of the roughest seain the world. This is known as the Drake Shake. Having been seasickearlier in the trip, I was prepared for the worst. However, all dayThursday, we were lucky to experience a much less common phenomenon known asDrake Lake… relatively calm seas. Seriously, the weather was amazinglycooperative on the whole trip. As the trip progressed, Shane keptcommenting on our good fortune with the weather – at several landings, hesaid he'd never seen it this good. Someone on this ship has some goodkarma.
Today, Friday, the Drake is slightly more rolly, but nothing compared to thedescriptions I've heard from those who have experienced its true fury.
We'll reach the Beagle Channel tonight (ahead of schedule thanks to the calmseas), and disembark in Ushuaia tomorrow morning; from there it's straightto the airport and off to Buenos Aires.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Antarctic Dreams
In 90 minutes we will do a landing, at about 8 p.m. local time, and I willset foot on the Antarctic continent for the first time. I'll do a shortkayak paddle with three or four other shipmates, set up my tent, and spend anight sleeping on the ice. It's a perfect evening for it... no wind and alight snowfall. We've been warned that we probably won't get much sleep,with the noise of penguins, the all-night twilight, and of course the cold-- but I wouldn't pass up this opportunity for anything.
It's been an another amazing day. Lots of whales -- several of them rightup close, including one that swam right under the bow of the ship; I lookeddown and could see the whole creature from tip to tail just a few feet belowthe surface. Kayaking three times... during one of the paddles, we stoppedand sat silently for ten minutes... it was dead calm and the water was likeglass, with icebergs drifting silently by and brash ice all around. Therewas a light snow falling, shrouding the high points of the peaks andglaciers that surrounded us. The only sounds were the brash ice tinkling,an occasional rumble from one of the glaciers, or the splash of penguinsporpoising their way along the channel. We got back to the ship, and hadanother BBQ dinner out on the bow in the snowfall.
I'll post a longer entry later, with more on the last 2 or 3 days, but thisis one of those times I wanted to capture the moment.
It's been an another amazing day. Lots of whales -- several of them rightup close, including one that swam right under the bow of the ship; I lookeddown and could see the whole creature from tip to tail just a few feet belowthe surface. Kayaking three times... during one of the paddles, we stoppedand sat silently for ten minutes... it was dead calm and the water was likeglass, with icebergs drifting silently by and brash ice all around. Therewas a light snow falling, shrouding the high points of the peaks andglaciers that surrounded us. The only sounds were the brash ice tinkling,an occasional rumble from one of the glaciers, or the splash of penguinsporpoising their way along the channel. We got back to the ship, and hadanother BBQ dinner out on the bow in the snowfall.
I'll post a longer entry later, with more on the last 2 or 3 days, but thisis one of those times I wanted to capture the moment.
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