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Chile to Antarctica

oktober - november 2024
  • Lorna Spaas
  • Paul Spaas
Chile to Argentina and Antarctica. The start of an adventure! Læs mere
  • Lorna Spaas
  • Paul Spaas

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  • Argentina Argentina
  • Antarktis Antarktis
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  • Spanien Spanien
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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Arrival at Yankee Harbour

    28. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ 🌬 -1 °C

    Snow, wind, and ice. It is -2C outside, but the wind chill has brought the temperature down to -11C. Brrr.

    Paul is back from his shift and had an hour's sleep before waking up. I think he might come outside with me to visit Yankee Harbour and then go back to sleep later.

    We are waiting for the announcements as to when we get off. I'm in the Blue group, which will be one of the first groups to go. Which is also nice for Paul this time as he has the rest of the day to sleep 😴.    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Yankee Harbour - Visiting the Penguins!

    28. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ 🌬 -1 °C

    The strong winds, coupled with a choppy ride and snow made for an interesting ride from the ship to shore. We got thoroughly soaked as the zodiac hit the waves - a baptism from the sea! Sometimes the water droplets froze immediately and came down on us like small stones, and then melted quickly.

    We couldn't go all the way inside the natural harbour because of sea ice but the expedition guides had found a place at the entrance of the harbour, right at the end of the spit.

    If we wanted to see penguins, we had to walk along the spit, through snow, following coloured poles, to the mainland island and saw a colony of penguins. Despite the driving wind, frozen faces and lips, we got to see the Gentoo penguins. They were delightful to look at. Some were sleeping, a few standing, others walking. At one point 2 penguins came towards us where our group was standing (a rope demarcated a safe distance barrier, not to be crossed in order to observe the penguins from a respectful distance). We had to walk back, away from the penguins in order to maintain a good no-contact distance. They were really sweet.

    After a while, rather frozen, we headed back to the zodiac for a ride back to the ship. Hot chocolate afterwards came in handy!

    Paul is heading back to bed now for the rest of the day, and I'm going to relax and wait until this afternoon's zodiac ride to Edinburgh Hill (an ancient basalt volcanic plug) that is on Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island, south Shetland Islands.    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Edinburgh Hill, Livingstone Island

    28. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

    Paul was sleeping nicely at around lunch time so I didn't disturb him when my group was called to go for a zodic cruise to see Edinburgh Hill, a volcanic basalt plug/column.

    It was still cold but the wind had died down a bit and made the ride a bit more pleasant.

    The column was impressive with its hexagonal shaped columned slopes. On one side there was a bit of algae. Melting ice formed lovely artwork on the lower cliffs.

    Penguins were spotted - Gentoo penguins, and a Chinstrap penguin was seen but I find it difficult to see with iced up glasses. I think we will get a pair of snow goggles when we dock in Ushuaia!

    As we headed back to the ship, we passed a beautiful iceberg with a blue base. Unfortunately my telephone's battery died so I couldn't take any more photographs!

    After a hot chocolate and de-frost session, chatting to another couple in the bow lounge, I went back to the cabin to find that Paul had disappeared. It turned out that he had to go to a meeting on the bridge so got rudely awakened.

    He stayed awake long enough to have dinner in the crew mess with me before heading back to bed.

    I went to the recap meeting and briefing on tomorrow's expected landing and zodiac cruise. We were shown an ice chart that showed us the sea ice in relation to the places that we hope to visit. It was interesting. The short lectures afterwards were extremely interesting, including a story about Tom Crean, an Irish sailor who joined Robert Scott on an expedition to Antarctica, and also Ernest Shackleton's to Antarctica. You can read more about him and his interesting life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Crean_(explorer) ).    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Heading to Livingston Island

    29. oktober 2024, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☁️ -2 °C

    It was a hectic night for Paul - there was a lot of sea ice and the ship made slow progress. He ended up having to call the Captain around 1pm to make some decisions because the ice was really bad.

    I didn't have a great night myself. There was a lot of motion with the ocean and the ship rocked quite a lot with the swell. The stabilisers couldn't be put out because of the swell, and also noise of the ship's engines to manoeuvre the ship around very hard ice or away from bergs.

    What a sight to behold when people woke up and looked outside their window. Ice surrounding the ship: icebergs, plate ice and ice from melted snow on the water that immediately froze that caused a very thin frozen film on top of the water. It was incredibly beautiful.

    We were due to head to Two Hummock Island, with an proposed landing expedition on the island to see a colony of Gentoo penguins and a bit of a hill walk included. Due to the slow progress the ship made through the ice, it was decided that we might as well head towards Livingstone Island instead - which was were the proposed afternoon zodiac cruise would take place.
    So, with a change in today's plans to skip the landing expedition, guests on board had a few hours to kill, watching the sea ice surrounding the ship, and seeing passing icebergs. A talk thrown in by a Marine Biologist which some people attended but a lot of guests decided to look at the sea ice.

    It is amazing, beautiful and magical. We must never take life for granted.

    Some of the photographs Paul took (from the Bridge with the ship's spotlight) and early morning view of the bow of the ship.    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Livingston Island - Zodiac Cruise

    29. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

    Paul woke up soon after 10:30am so he got up and we went to the Bow Lounge before heading to the Colonnade for an early lunch. By this time the ship had arrived at more or less it's scheduled stop, for the zodiac cruise.

    Paul was awake enough to come with me for the zodiac ride, away from the ship towards Livingston Island, and along it's cliff-line. It was a bit foggy but visibility was reasonable. The sea ice was interesting to see from very close up. We also saw interesting ice bergs, cormorants and petrels, as well as a seagull. There was an interesting needle like basalt column and we had time to take a few photographs.

    On the way back we got close to a sea cave that was being carved out by winds and waves. And then the fog came and we couldn't see much. The zodiac pilot had to rely on a navigator to get back to the ship. If that failed, the expedition guide/pilot would have called the ship's Bridge for guidance and they would have used a location beacon on the zodiac to ping its whereabouts and then guide the zodiac towards the ship. Fortunately it wasn't needed. Also, Paul had his phone with him and saw exactly where we were on Find Penguins app which relies on satellite to track us, so in need - he would have helped out, no doubt! Out of the gloom we saw the ship ahead of us.

    Sadly photographs from our Nikon camera have not come out very well so I apologise for the quality of them. I found that my phone's camera is a lot better so I have used some of them here.

    Once back on board, we had a welcome hot chocolate to warm us up and the Paul headed to bed.

    I attended the recap session, and briefing about tomorrow. One lady gave a very passionate talk about krill and its importance to the ecosystem. There are only 2 protected areas for krill in Antarctica at the moment where no fishing is allowed.. Russia and and China recently vetoed (again) 2 planned conservation areas for krill. Krill is used for omega-3 supplements, it is used in pet food, food ingredient for aquaculture, as bait it in sport fishing, and more. Krill is being overfished but it is the lifeblood of the oceans. Without it marine mammals and birds will not survive. Here is a news article I found about Russia and China's veto: https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/more-krill-fi…    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Cuverville Island & Gentoo Penguins (1)

    30. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ 🌫 -2 °C

    Each guest is assigned a colour for groups to go out on expeditions and each group is allocated a time to go out. Groups are rotated so that each gets a turn to go out late or early.

    This morning Blue was given a 10am start rather than a 7:30am start, so it meant I could sleep in late. I wish! I woke up around 7:30am when the announcements were made for the first groups to go out. Eventually I got up and worked on my blog. Paul was soundly sleeping, and by the time my colour group was called, he was still asleep so I didn’t wake him when I went out.

    The groups started to run half an hour late so it was after 10:30 by the time I left the ship to go to Cuverville Island. Although the weather had closed in and snow was falling, it was well worth the zodiac ride to the island. There were lots of penguins. And I could see why the zodiacs were running behind time. The landing was difficult with a steep run onto a small area of rocky, pebbly ‘beach’ and staff had to help guests get into and off the zodiacs safely.

    The ship has arrived in time to see penguins arriving for the nesting season. I believe the earlier groups didn’t see as many penguins as the last few groups. There were lots of these gentle, bumbling creatures. We had to keep a respectful distance from them, and we sometimes found ourselves having to wait quite a while before crossing their walking path because of a traffic jam of penguins walking from one part of the peninsula, along the coastline to more nesting sites further along. It was really wonderful.

    We were allowed to walk up to the shoulder of a hill to look out towards the sea, in one direction, with penguins coming in, and also looking into the bay where we landed, where more penguins were coming in. Then we could walk along the coastline (away from the penguins but in the same direction) and then up to a viewpoint on a hill where there were more penguins. It was interesting to see the ‘March of the Penguins’. Sometimes they walked, sometimes they rested, a couple glided along on their bellies. It was sweet.    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Cuverville Island & Gentoo Penguins (2)

    30. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ 🌫 -2 °C

    While walking, against a rocky slope there was a small patch without snow and, looking carefully, there was most southernmost flowering plant: the Deschampsia Antarctica. Fortunately one of the expedition guides, an avid botanist, had seen it and was standing by to show people. It is trying hard to make a living and is very slow growing.

    At the viewpoint a penguin couple was going through a dance, being re-united with each other; but other similar dances were seen too. One penguin was nesting already – an egg had been spotted under it’s tummy. Egg laying takes place between October and November, and we might get to see checks towards the end of November and in December! Egg incubation is about 34 to 37 days.

    It was soon time to head back to the ship but guests got interrupted by the penguin highway when trying to cross it to get to the zodiacs, so there was a bit of a delay again. But it was lovely.    Læs mere

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  • Chile to Antarctica

    Cuverville Island & Gentoo Penguins (3)

    30. oktober 2024, Antarktis ⋅ 🌫 -2 °C

    When I got back to the ship, Paul had gone to a meeting so I went for a hot chocolate and by the time I got back to the cabin, he had returned. So we went for lunch. After lunch we went out on deck and saw Snowy Sheathbills near the swimming pool and hot tubs, eyeballing the water. One or two birds attempted to bathe by sitting on the drainage slats of the hot tub and putting it's head into the warm water and trying to shake the warm water over it's head and wings. Sweet!

    With a bit of the delay back to the ship from the Cuvervill Island, the zodiac cruises are delayed a bit. It looks like we are going a bit further south within the Errera channel rather than continuing into Andvord Bay because, as per another expedition ship which passed by the Pursuit, the bay was blocked by ice.

    Errera Channel Zodiac cruises started about half an hour later due to the delay earlier this morning. By the time it was my group’s turn at 3:45pm, Paul (who was still awake), and I decided not to go out. The wind had got up and it was snowing a lot. We felt that we wouldn’t be able to see much on the water.

    Just as well we didn’t go because about 45 minutes later the zodiacs were recalled back to the ship. The winds had taken a turn for the worse and icebergs were moving fast and getting to close to the ship for comfort. The ship had to take avoidance measures. Paul went to the Bridge for a bit and we saw the zodiacs from the last groups coming back. The captain also decided it was in our best interest to continue south through the Errera Channel and into the Gerlache Strait, and then up north in the Gerlache strait to our next possible landing tomorrow. This was instead of heading through the icebergs, northwards out of the Channel and back into Gerlache Strait to our next destination. A bit of a longer route but safer.

    It was an interesting time!    Læs mere

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