THE ANTARCTIC
SNOW, ICE, WATER, AND ROCK
WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GO THERE?

This is the question my daughter Brenna and I were asked most frequently when friends learned we were planning a trip to the Antarctic.   As you look over the images below, you decide.

The photography here is the work of both Brenna and me. I must confess that most of the really good images, like the flying penguins,  were captured by Brenna who has developed an excellent photographic eye and become a very capable hand with a camera.  Plus, she is great fun on a trip, up for any adventure.

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BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Brenna and I lined up in the first of many lines on the morning of 24 February, 2015, as part of the mob scene in the United terminal at LAX.  Eventually we wrangled through the herd (mooo) and found the flight to Houston, where we changed planes for the red-eye to Buenos Aires, and landed in Argentina mid-morning the next day.

Chris Wander of Wander Tours BA was waiting for us with a van at the Buenos Aires airport.  Chris dropped us off in the city at  the Fierro, a charmer of a small hotel. Chris allowed us enough time to check in and have lunch and returned to take us on a tour of the city.   Chris did a fine job of showing us the sights and I recommend him to anyone visiting Buenos Aires.  He’s a Brit who has lived in the city for many years and knows it and its history well.

La Casa Rosada (that pink thing in the background) is the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina.  It has been the site of everything from revolution gun fire  to demonstrations by the Mothers of the Disappeared.

This plaza was a central scene in  Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera “Evita” (Don’t cry for me Argentina) and a ho-hum follow-on movie starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.

In the city cemetery, noted for its streets of tombs . . .

  . . . we searched out  Eva Peron–“Evita.”

USHUAIA

After a busy day and evening in Buenos Aires, we caught a taxi (cheap) early the next morning to the city airport where just inside the front door of the terminal we were greeted by a young woman holding a Silversea sign. She made our luggage disappear and directed us on board a LAN charter flight (wow-real leather seats) to Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego and considered to be the southernmost city in the world.

In Ushuaia the good ship Silversea Explorer awaited us at the dock.The Explorer is the smaller black-hull vessel on the front right of the  the dock.  A “normal” size cruise ship is visible in the background.  The Explorer body count was 124 guests and almost as many crew.

After a slight delay, the port was closed for high winds, we were allowed to depart and make our way down the Beagle Channel and out into the Drake Passage, dreaded as some of the roughest seas on the planet.  We anticipated a wild ride, it was.

The photo above taken in the Drake Passage shows an ugly sea and a soaring Albatros. These birds have a six-foot wingspan.

The staff positioned sick sacks along all the interior corridors of the ship, but Brenna was prepared with nausea patches to be placed behind an ear, and  they worked magic.  For the next couple of days as the boat wallowed through the “roaring 40s”, Brenna and I stumbled down ship corridors and across the dining room like drunken sailors while the ship pitched and rolled like a bull just out of the chute.  We thought it all great fun.

There were others  who were not so lively as we.  At breakfast the second morning there were a noticeable number of guests missing.  Some of the ones present and not with faces the color of sea green were wearing Brenna’s patches.  She was fast acquiring friends.

By the second day we were among the South Shetland Islands in calmer waters, and awoke to find ourselves surrounded by dramatic terrain of great beauty

Above Brenna sports the free red parka that Silversea provided each guest, along with a small backpack.

As we continued south toward the Antarctic Peninsula the views just got more indescribable.

PENGUINS
It was not long before we saw the first penguins.  These birds (yes,  birds–flightless and highly adapted to aquatic life) are clumsy on land, but are acrobatic marvels in the water where they spend 75% of their time.

On land penguins nest, mate and raise their chicks in a place called a “rookery.”  A group of penguins in the water is called a “raft”, while a group on land is called a “waddle–appropriate. The fastest penguin, the Gentoo, has been clocked in the water at 22 mph.

Some larger penguins dive as deep as 1,800 feet and can remain under water for 20+ minutes, but 10-15 minutes submerged is more the norm.  The average life span of a penguin is 15- 20 years, and if you want to get up close and personal you gotta go south, there are no penguins in the Arctic.  There are no polar bears in the Antarctic, which is just fine with me.

Oh, I read somewhere that there was once a prehistoric penguin said to be the size of a human.  No data on if it was friendly.

ALONG THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

We continued south, dropping anchor each day to zodiac into shore and hike about, or for a zodiac tour through the icebergs searching out seal, whales, and more penguins, lots of penguins–Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie penguins.

All of the creatures we encountered showed absolutely no fear of humans.  We were instructed to stay clear of the wildlife by 15 feet, but it was often impossible.

A word about the photo above: it is a good example of what it is like to photograph on a good day in Antarctica. The hikers in red parkas in the foreground appear as if they were posed in front of a background of painted scenery, but I assure you the image is real and unaltered. The air is so dry and so clear that distances and scale are tricky to judge. The glaciers (there are two) in the background are huge and appear to be closer and smaller than they actually are, and the light is a crystalline quality like  nothing I’ve ever seen, I can only describe it as “Antarctic”–makes for stunning photographs.

We were accompanied by guides on each shore excursion. These knowledgable folks were part of a team of Silversea natural history experts.

Huh, that’s a stuffed toy.  However, it’s the only kind of penguin you can hide in your luggage to take home.

ICEBERGS

Little boat, big ice cube.

Much of the ice was a incredible color of blue.

GOUDIER ISLAND

Above, the post office and gift shop on Goudier Island.  I mailed postcards from here–you’ll get yours in about a year.

The British built a listening station here on Goudier in WWII, which was used as a research station in the 1950s, and since 1962 as a museum and gift shop.

If you are interested in the quiet life,  there is an opening for a postal employee here at arguably the remotest post office on the planet.  The  position description reads in part:

“Candidates are required to be able to ‘carry a big heavy box over slippery rocks and slushy snow whilst dodging penguins’, go a month without a shower and survive with no heating or running water. The location is so remote that even helicopters are unable to get there, which means the nearest doctor is three days away on a ship. There is also no internet or Wi-Fi connection, no central heating, no phone signal, and no means of communication with the world other than by VHF radio.”

MORE ICEBERGS, SEALS, WHALES, AND YES, MORE PENGUINS An array of seals–Elephant, Antarctic fur, Weddell, Leopard and Crabeater.

The Leopard is the most  formidable hunter of all the seals and an accomplished muncher of penguins and even other seals. It gets its name from its spotted coat, similar to that of the big cat.  I was not sure I could ID a Leopard seal, so was careful to give any seal plenty of personal space.

. . . and whales–humpback, fin, orca.

In the photo below a surfacing humpback comes close to upsetting a Zodiac, while providing a great sight for the folks in the rubber boat who might be too startled to fully appreciate it.

ANTARCTIC TRECKING

Brenna who has  marathon or two under her belt said clambering over slick rocks to the top of this mountain was a challenge.  I was wise and and positioned myself at the bottom of the hill in order to get a proper photograph.

RESEARCH AND WHALING  STATIONS,  PLUS A  SURPRISE PARTY

Base Brown–Argentinian research station

 

A PARTY ON THE WATER

A pleasant surprise–the dining room crew ventured out in a zodiac during our tour of Paradise Bay to hand out glasses of champagne.

FURTHEST SOUTH–DELAILLE ISLAND

The Silversea crew told us that this was the first time in several years that the ship had been able to get through the ice this far south, below the Antarctic Circle– 66°33′45.7″ south of the Equator

Delaille Island was home to Base W of the British Antarctic Survey. The research station was hastily vacated in 1959 when a resupply ship was blocked by ice from reaching the island.  The base residents were forced to dog sled out to meet the resupply turned rescue ship.  The base was never reopened and remains as left–a time capsule of the 1950s.

DECEPTION ISLAND

On the trip north back in the South Shetland Islands,  we visited the ruins of the whaling station on Deception Island. The island is a flooded volcanic caldera.

Brenna, along with 30 other nuts, participated in the “Antarctic Plunge” here.  The first few steps into the water are warm, heated by the volcano below, then a few steps further the water gets colder, much colder.

THE SHIP

Life on board  was good.

Our stateroom was compact, but comfortable, and we had our own butler.

The weather was mild (if you think 32F is mild) and several times we cooked our own heated-stone lunch and dinner out in the open on the back deck. Actually, Brenna bullied me into this, but I admit it was fun.

Below is a better view of the hot cooking stone,–hot enough for long enough to leisurely cook a steak.  I first encountered this style of cooking in New Zealand and dearly wish it was offered in restaurants the United States, but I guess we would have to kill all the lawyers first.

Lectures were presented each day by staff subject experts.  Most of the lectures focused on natural history, but in the photo above we are attending a lecture by a staff member and native of Scotland who is speaking on the subject of single malt scotch, with samples. I quickly warmed to this presentation and count it as my favorite lecture.

Seated to Brenna’s right in the photo are Mark and Jeff, two chiropractors with a kitchen pass to go adventure, and adventure they did.  They were good company and their wry humor was a hoot.

A nice thing about a smaller cruise boat is that you see people more than once.

Jeff and Brenna

Mark and Brenna.

Except for the slog through the Drake Passage, each day was filled with things to see and do.  I’ve not mentioned much about the food and service, but we thought it all to be excellent. Like us, most of the guests were there for the Antarctic experience, but we did value coming home to the comforts of the boat.

As usual,  Brenna marched my wheels off.

Brenna and I both had a great experience and return home with a backpack of good memories.

The Antarctic is a place you must experience to grasp–no description,  no photograph can evoke the awe and wonder you feel just standing in ethereal light of the Antarctic. There is no other place like it.  Go there!

 

MAP

Below is a map I pulled off the web that will give you an idea of the location of some of the places we visited. We were fortunate to have consistent good weather, no snow and for the most part calm winds. I mentioned above that we were able to get to Detaille Island (off the bottom of the map),  below the Antarctic Circle–66°33′45.7S. This was a special treat.

A wit once remarked that “plagiarism is the first step in good journalism.” In that spirit I wish the reader to know that the background blurbs presented here on the history of research stations and the habits of various animals like the Leopard Seal are pretty much quoted without attribution from various web sources like Wikipedia. The information on the post office job open at Port Lockroy was taken from a British newspaper article sent to me by Matt Kelch. Typos and other factual errors are proudly mine.

Besides, this site is a private affair offered up for the enjoyment of family, friends, and anyone else who is directed or blunders here.

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