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Hurtigruten Antarctica Trip
  • Muriel McCleery
  • Muriel McCleery

Hurtigruten Antarctica Trip

Et 25-dags eventyr af Muriel Læs mere
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    1. februar 2025
    Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day -3 London to Santiago

    30. januar 2025, England ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    The adventure begins. Had a day in the Premier Inn, in Hounslow. Bought a last minute hot water bottle 😂 Well I am going to the Antarctic! Went to Heathrow Terminal 5 3 hours before the flight and had a nice meal in Wagamama. Boarding was on time and we left at 10:15pm. I'm in a window seat and then I've an empty seat beside me with a lovely 80 year old woman called Olivia from Santiago in the aisle seat. She is very worried about me being on my own and has given me her phone number and I'm to ring her if I get into any trouble while I'm in Chile - which was very sweet of her. Her husband is from Scotland. I was able to stretch out and got about 4-5 hours sleep.
    I had great views of the Andes and of the sunrise. We seemed very close to the mountains - but apparently that's to avoid the bad turbulence like I previously experienced in Santiago. arrived 14 hours later in Santiago.    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day -2 Mandarin Oriental Hotel Santiago

    31. januar 2025, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    I arrived at 10am at Santiago airport. I met a really lovely couple Alan and Sue in the Passport Control queue. There were just 5 of us who transferred with Hurtigruten to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. And about another 15 with ROL cruises. Sadly our rooms weren't ready until 2:30pm. It is a beautiful hotel full of beautiful people and we kind of destroyed the ambience of the place with all our bulky down jackets and clumpy walking shoes. One lady in the lift looked me up and down and said "you must be with the Antarctic crowd" - how did she guess?
    Sat around, feeling unbeautiful, tried to charge my phone but only succeeded in bending the pins of the main adapter I planned to use on board the ship😢 I will struggle with the one remaining one.
    Met a nice lady Jan, also a solo and had a delicious smoked salmon bagel and felt a lot better. And then when I got my room it was wow, wow, wow! I would say that it's the most amazing hotel room I've ever been in. It's massive. It has a full width window with a fabulous view of Santiago with the Andes behind. It has a massive bed, then a lower floor with chairs and table in front of the view. The bathroom is open plan - well apart from the loo! Everything has beautiful lighting. All the same I think a cheaper hotel would have been more appropriate especially as some people will only spend a couple of hours in it.
    Sat with my feet up taking in the view, then down to the restaurant for a meal and people watching. And so to bed - I think I will definitely sleep tonight 💤 💤    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day -1 Santiago

    1.–3. feb. 2025, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Free day in Santiago
    Lovely breakfast and then explored the grounds of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Lay out in the sun for about 20 minutes but then quickly retreated to the shade. I'm not used to 34 degree heat. Very pleasant in the shade, listening to the waterfall.
    After lunch we had a 5 hour guided tour of all the sights of Santiago. We went up in Funicular and back down by cable car🚡
    I enjoyed my last view looking out the massive window as the rosy light lit up the buildings. I will never forget that view of the city and the beautiful Andes behind.    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day 1 Punta Arenas & MS Fram 😀

    2. februar 2025, Chile ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    Early morning alarm ⏰ at 4 am. Take away breakfast and then the logistics of getting 157 people and their luggage to the airport, checked in and onboard the 4 hour flight to Punta Arena. Lovely views of the Andes. Then a visit to an estancia (ranch) called Sombras de Fuego Treated to a gaucho (cowboy) horsemanship display, seeing the lamb being cooked over an open fire and a lovely meal of lamb and a very nice red wine.
    On to Punta Arenas and got checked in to MS Fram 😀 A lovely ship. My cabin is on deck 3, number 327, has a round porthole ( on the red line) and is near the gangway. So it's supposed to be the most stable part of the ship, low and central - we will see 🤢
    I like my cabin very much. Very Nordic and the remainder of the ship is very much like the MS Maude that I was on in the Arctic.
    We set sail at 7.30pm, sailing through the Strait of Magellan. The weather is lovely, blue skies, sunshine and calm seas. Time for an early night 💤    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day 2 First day at sea 🌊

    3. februar 2025, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    I had a very good night's sleep last night. Our first day at sea was very busy. Delicious breakfast, plenty of craic at the dining table and then a series of talks. We saw a Sei whale spouting through its blow hole plus giant petrels and albatrosses. Some lucky people saw dolphins riding the bow wave of the ship. We have WhatsApp Group where anyone can post an immediate message to alert their fellow passengers about sightings of whales and dolphins But the most important talk of the day included information about the weather forecast. We are heading into a "particular nasty piece of weather" - hurricane force winds which may necessitate a change of plans. The weather map looked scary. We are being encouraged to embrace it as adventure. Apparently the giant iceberg A23a which broke off the Antarctic ice-shelf, shouldn't interfere with our plans. We may go to view it, if it's not covered in cloud.
    We also met the Captain, all the Officers and Expedition Team leaders (these include, geologists, historians, ornithologists, marine scientists, photographers etc). Most are from Norway, France and Germany.
    We also had our "solos" meeting which about a dozen attended. Off now for more food then the nightly briefing to hear what's happening tomorrow including the all vital weather forecast.
    PS less photos today as I used my SLR quite a lot today.    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day 3 Falkland Islands

    4. februar 2025, Falklandsøerne ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

    We had a magical day of fabulous scenery, wildlife and perfect Antarctic summer weather. Blue skies and a blue calm sea. It was great to get into and out of the zodiacs in calm conditions before we are doing it in wet and windy conditions.
    In the morning we went to NEW ISLAND. I could see the high cliffs from my porthole in the morning when I pulled up the blind. It is a nature reserve and run by a Trust. We got all 157 passengers transferred to the island within one hour, which was a very slick operation. The expedition team are so pleasant and patient with everyone and safety is taken very seriously.
    There was an old shipwreck of a WWII minesweeper (then sealing ship) in the harbour and a small museum and gift shop. But no toilet. If you need to go, you have to go back to the ship!
    The wildlife was incredible with ducks and geese and then thousands of seabirds on the cliff face. The Rockhopper penguins were so comical, either busy hopping around, flapping their wings furiously or just standing posing or lying immobile, flat on their bellies. The imperial cormorants had amazing blue eyes and fluffy dark grey babies. The black browed albatross is a beautiful bird with a 100cm wingspan with fluffy light grey birds. They build tall nests out of mud. We also saw the very rare striated Caracara and the long tailed lark that had a brilliant red belly. Experiencing the noise and sight of the albatrosses and cormorants swooping down to land was memorable.
    During lunch the ship moved to WEST POINT ISLAND. I took the Landover to see another colony of similar birds but in a different habitat of tall tussock grass and then later walked to see a number of Gentoo penguins. We also had a really clear sighting of a Southern Right whale in the bay (very rare ). That was followed by going to see Kiki who served us endless cakes that she had baked and tea. Her closed neighbours are 8 miles away. She has the Union Jack flying at the front of her home.
    Getting back into the boat was very inelegant. 2 team leaders more or less propelled me in.
    We also had an interesting talk back aboard ship about the history of the Falklands including the Falklands war. It was given by a neutral Italian historian.
    During the nightly briefing we knew it was bad news when the Captain appeared. Bad weather means we can't visit Stanley and instead go directly to South Georgia. This bad news was followed by the bar opening, the team leading a sing-song and folk up dancing. A good response to bad news.    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Day 4 At Sea ⛵ to South Georgia

    5. februar 2025, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

    We are currently racing across the South Atlantic Ocean in a 67 hour (800 mile) dash trying to escape the worst of the coming storm. It will catch us but not today. Hopefully during the worst of it we will have reached the shelter of a fjord in South Georgia. Opening the blind this morning revealed another lovely day. I certainly needed the sun block as the sun can easily burn.
    We had the excitement of 3 separate mandatory biosecurity training sessions to attend today before we go to South Georgia - a rules and regulations session, a boot cleaning session and a vacuuming your kit session. chummed up with a lady called Jan, so we will look out for each other if either of us is unwell. We also had talks about whale conservation, geology and birds of the Falklands and a photography workshop. As one Swiss guy commented, I have more appointments here than at work!    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    South Georgia Jason Harbour

    7. februar 2025, Syd Georgia og Sydsandwichøerne ⋅ 🌫 4 °C

    Last night was rough. Didn't sleep well. Crash, bang, wallop on the side of the boat and thrown about in all sorts of directions. But thankfully no sea sickness.
    Morning talks about the history and bird life of South Georgia, "how to make friends with a fur seal" and about feathers. Also I got on the photography landing group. The introductory briefing was very good with lots of tips. Starting to see penguins and seals in the water. Many types of albatrosses, giant petrels and skuas about.
    It was very wet, but we donned all the gear and off we went on the zodiacs. Survived the wet landing. Lots of playful seal pups who were also interested in us. The mountains were swathed in clouds. Such a gorgeous place, craggy peaks, waterfalls, pebble beach, a little lake. In good weather it must be breath taking. After the seal pups it was then on to see the elephant seals. They just lay there and. made a lot of noise. It was very hard walking through tussocks of grass. And of course, I tripped. I'm absolutely fine but sadly my camera is not. I think that I've moved the lens and the lens won't retract. But it would have been worse if I had been broken. It has shaken my confidence.
    At lunch I met a girl who was in Dromore last week and a fellow who is a friend of Patrick Kielty.
    Worked on the camera to 1am. No use. Properly dead. I won't be able to do the Adventure Photography excursion 😭    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    At sea - Iceberg A23a to Signy

    11. februar 2025, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌧 2 °C

    A day at sea. A grey day. Not too rough to start off with but got worse in the afternoon. Saw a great "tabular iceberg" with 7 caverns in it.
    The big excitement of the day was seeing Iceberg A23a. It is massive (twice the size of
    London) and it literally fills the horizon. As we got closer (but not too close!), we could see caverns and then it looked as if 3 massive tower blocks were approaching - incredible.

    We also had the "what's in the water" results from the science lab boat samples taken from around South Georgia. This also included George's hilarious experiment of cutting open kelp bladders to release the carbon monoxide. There's supposed be enough gas to kill a chicken. He didn't have a chicken, there was horror at his idea of using a penguin so he used the audience (we survived) and a portable gas centre. It did set off the CO alarm but sadly the experiment could not be replicated. The alarm also went off on deck - a faulty overly sensitive monitor

    Saw a humpback whale from the restaurant during dinner too - amazing 😀🐋    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    At Sea - towards Signy Island

    12. februar 2025, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ❄️ 1 °C

    A rough night at sea. I didn't sleep well as I was too busy trying not to fall out of bed. The bad weather has continued all day. They've closed the decks to us. Thankfully I've no seasickness. In fact I enjoy the stormy weather. Although everything is a bit more of a challenge - like having a shower, getting dressed, going for a cup of coffee. I've also got a head cold with a nose like a tap, but don't feel unwell. I'm now glad I packed the NeilMed sinus rinse in. Plenty of interesting talks - "the penguins of South Georgia", "a recap of South Georgia - geology, vegetation etc", "the history of Antarctica". I had the third part of the photography workshop which was all about Lightroom and how to improve your photos. We had a mandatory IAATO talk on Antarctica biosecurity. There were some very miserable sea sick people.
    Also did a pub quiz to end the evening. "the last boat" crew consisted of Jan, Alan, Sue and me. We came third - so not too shabby. Thankfully the sea has finally calmed down so I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep.    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Signy Island

    13. februar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Said goodbye to Shajeda, the diatom scientist as we left her at Signy Island British Antarctica Society Research Station. Hopefully this will be for the planned for 2 months and she will not get iced in and overwinter. The scientist we picked up was supposed to be at Signy for 3 weeks but instead ended up there for 3 months
    The 5 folk at Signy Research base include scientists, a base manager, a medic , a field safety guide, and a tech guy. They have a rota for cooking (which includes baking fresh bread each day) and the rest of their food is either tinned or frozen. I hope MS Fram is generous to them in leaving some fresh food. The folks in the research station were very generous of their time - doing their spiel to a total of 12 groups. It's not everyday that 160 folk descend upon you. The base is only open in the summer November to April. It used to be open all year round and had a much bigger workforce. They can also go to a couple of huts for a night if they need to escape one another. They have a direct line to the ED Derreford Hospital in Plymouth for any medical problems. On looking at their medical store and living room I saw that the BNF and Baileys get everywhere in the world. Enjoyed our circular walk past fur seals and chinstrap penguins and the views over the domed ice cap.
    Good craic in the explorers lounge later that night trying out our long distance semaphore to Gerome, our bar man to signal for more Pernod, Drambuie or hot chocolate. The sign for please help Judy off the groundwas more difficult .    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    Astrolabe Island

    15. februar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

    We had beautiful gentle cruising today amongst islands, icebergs and increasing amounts of sea ice. We were supposed to go to Gourdin Island but it had to be changed to Astrolabe island due to too much ice in the bay. We had an excellent series of lectures and talks this morning. Our historian Jane was in fine fettle telling us the story of the Belgica Expedition. She subtitled it the "promenade of the madhouse or saved by the penguins". It told about the impact of scurvy on Antarctic exploration and how the mean were saved by eating "lightly cooked" penguins and seals. She is a brilliant story teller. We then had a small group discussion "how to design a whale" by looking at replica skulls and flippers, which compared cetaceans being either odontocetes (toothed whales) with mysticetes ( baleen or moustached) whales, about the melon in whales which focus sound waves produced by monkey lips.
    During the next geology lecture, I became increasingly migrainous. I took an Immigan injection, went to bed and slept for 5 hours. I missed the landing and walk on Astrolabe island. But it's maybe just as well as it was a very stoney icy beach. The wee Chinese boy (the only child onboard ) fell into the sea whilst on the beach and needed hosed down as he got covered with guano. His mum said to me that he was being a true penguin, moving from land to sea.
    When I pulled back the blind on waking up, there was an amazing dragons teeth rock and ice landscape. On level 7 the view of the icebergs and snow covered mountain peaks. I managed a bit of dinner and feel ok. Tomorrow we head north to the South Shetland Islands with a planned landing on Half- moon Island and in the afternoon Deception Island which is an active volcano. We have an option of doing a polar plunge.    Læs mere

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  • Muriel McCleeryHurtigruten Antarctica TripRejsende

    At Sea - Drake Passage

    21. februar 2025, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 4 °C

    A poor night's sleep - spent rocking and rolling about the bed and fighting with the duvet. But absolutely no 🤢. There are definitely fewer folk at breakfast this morning. The captain says that we are in for about 3-4 metre swell, getting worse as the day proceeds. We should arrive at Puerto Williams late tomorrow night. The Beagle Channel will mark the end of our 2 day crossing of the Drake Passage. We had a lecture from Maëva this morning about the Drake Passage ocean currents and why it is such a rough passage of sea. People talk about the "Drake Shake "or the "Drake Lake", but there is really no such thing as a calm crossing. There will always be a significant swell, which causes a lot of side to side rolling (which explains why Rosemary and I need cot sides on the bed) rather than up and down pitching. Maëva also shared the cheery fact that 20,000 people have lost their lives crossing the Drake Passage. Another fact is that Sir Francis Drake never crossed the Drake Passage.
    Gulia then did a workshop about the food web. It's a complex web rather than a food chain with krill at its heart. And the krill depend on the photoplankton and as both are disappearing the whole ecosystem is perilous. There are no restrictions on fishing for krill in the Antarctic. It's used for omega fish oil, cosmetics, salmon farming and fertilisers. We then got looking at them in a bucket of seawater - trapped in the engine inlet filter. Had a look at them under the microscope too. All the time we were lurching from side to side. People took to crawling across the floor or pushing a chair across the carpeted floor as a rollator - worked well.
    After lunch I lay peacefully on the cabin floor just going with the movement of the ship. Then went out to deck 7 to the wildlife watch with Ornithologist George and ORCA whale man Richard. Had a chat with Giuli - she's done the Drake Passage 16 times. She's off to Alaska next after she does survival training including rifle training in case she has to shoot a 🐻. She went to Belfast with the Maud and had her first date with her boyfriend over a Guinness 0.0 in a Belfast pub.
    After dinner we had a talk from the British Antarctic Survey engineer that we picked up in Signy Island. He had loads of photos from his time in the 1990's. He spent a continuous 2.5 years there. The things they got up to skiing, water skiing, diving under the ice.
    In the lounge as usual for our nightcap there was just Nick, Jan and me plus one other table with three folk. I think seasickness and the drowsiness of Stugeron has them all in their cabins    Læs mere

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    25. februar 2025
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