29 December 2010

Technically tomorrow is our last day on this Antarctic cruise since we will disembark at eight in the morning but today is our last day of sailing, We arrived in the calmer waters of the Beagle Channel around 2:30 or 3. We sailed for another two hours before they dropped the anchor.  We will wait here for a pilot boat to guide us back to the dock in Ushuaia.

In the meantime things are wrapping up on board. I finally watched The Assassination of Jesse James which I had seen in the ship’s DVD collection when I first boarded. I just needed a straight three hours to watch it all. In the conference room we did a final briefing and recap of our trip. The expedition leaders made us all a DVD with a photo montage as the final recap. Also on the DVD are pdf files of all the lectures, stops, animal sightings, and group pictures.

It wouldn’t play in my Macbook without using VLC. The French family had even more trouble than I did. The DVD got stuck in their mac and they had to reboot because the computer froze.

During the photo montage recap I couldn’t help but think what a terrible thing friendship is because it is pure favoritism. Everyone clapped at certain pictures of certain people - the Krauss’, the Braeli’s, Hugo, even at a picture of myself  building the snow penguin. But after my picture followed two pictures of people no one clapped for, my French roommate and an old Italian lady. It didn’t seem right. There are definitely a few stars on this trip, namely Otto Krauss, Tim, and Jordan but they have also done the craziest things like swimming in the Antarctic waters and Jordan stripping to his underwear to pose for an Israeli magazine.

Sebastian, the team leader, thanked everyone for making the trip fun and enjoyable and marvelled at the unity we had all shared. He said it’s not usually that way. Alan Kraus gave me his business card and said to come visit his dairy farm next time I’m in Wisconsin.

Just before lunch there was a problem with some pipes near the bar and common room. They had to rip out a wall panel and collect leaking water in trashcans. It took them a few hours to fix the problem. They had to weld the pipe back shut too.

The Captain's Dinner was tonight. King crab cocktail, soup, filet mignon, and chocolate cake plus a champagne toast. Following dinner in the common room was the handing out of certificates. This was to certify that we had indeed walked up on the Antarctic continent.  Everyone received an applause as their name was called out. Some got more applause than others. Goes back to the friendship rant. I think Hugo got the most applause. Some people posed to get a photo with Sebastian and the Captain who were handing out the certificates. Anyway having a certificate seems self-congratulatory and stupid to me. It’s not like we are real polar explorers.  We are merely tourists on a cruise.

There was another secret party below deck with the crew. Dancing. Strange booze concoctions. I pissed off the deck and into the Beagle Channel. I overheard a conversation between Otto and the bartender and apparently the last group of tourists were all a bunch of jerks. I can’t imagine why people are jerks especially on an awesome cruise to Antarctica. I hope I’m not a jerk.

Yesterday it pained me to think that one say this ship will be empty. One day there will be a cruise and it will be the last cruise. One day all these people I have met will be dead and no one will have known them or care.

Back in Ushuaia the next day

Hugo and the Korean documentarian. I still have not seen his documentary.

28 December 2010

The constant rocking of the boat is almost unbearable and as a consequence I have been in my bed for most of the day. Sleeping, listening to music, and lounging about with my eyes closed trying to acclimate my head and stomach to the dizzying rhythm of the ship.  The return voyage through the Drake Passage was not as smooth as the initial passing on our way to Antarctica. 

Our route through Antarctica

I ventured out to walk around. To eat lunch and dinner and to listen to the lecture on Antarctic mythology and legends.  This lecture was scheduled for a few days ago but was put off because of all the landings. Before lunch I sat at the bar in the common area eating a banana and watching the young French boy Hugo show off his magic tricks and tumbling skills to the amusement of the ladies young and old. He is probably only five and quite a charmer. His family’s road trip through South America will only serve to set him on a life course unlike many others.

Tomorrow will be the last day of open seas. Later tonight we will reach the Beagle Channel where the water will be much calmer. I left dinner in the middle of the main course, country fried steak and mashed potatoes, because the lurching of the ship made me very nauseous. You could see out the window as the ocean appeared and disappeared with the tilting of the ship. I laid down for a bit to calm myself. 

They showed the movie Robin Hood with Russell Crowe after dinner. It was okay. It wasn’t great.

27 December 2010

All night the ship thrashed and pitched and rolled back and forth and side to side in the tumultuous ocean waters. Many times there were loud crashes which shook the whole ship as it lifted up in the swell and slammed back down. There were not many people at breakfast. I can’t believe I even ate. All the violent motion was sickening and I thought I might vomit a few times.

I was sitting at the breakfast table as we sailed into Deception Island. It’s a crescent moon shape with only one entrance and exit. There was a large cruise liner ship sitting just inside the entrance of the island. Sebastian announced that the winds were reaching 50 knots so we would not be able to land at the hot springs. We would wait until after lunch to set course for Half-Moon Bay and the Shetland Islands.

Deception Island

After breakfast I napped until lunch. I headed up to the bridge after lunch to watch the ship sail out of Deception Island. The rocks framing the entrance were brown volcanic pillars. Not much snow accumulation. As soon as we exited the calm waters of Deception Island the waves increased in violence. The boat lifted up and dropped down hard several times splashing water all over the windows of the bridge. Even gripping the railing tightly we were jostled around. I stayed for a while to take photos and videos then made my way back down to play cards.

Peering through the telescope

First Mate sipping mate

On the Bridge

But instead of playing cards I returned to the bridge with the camera of a girl from Dallas to take videos and photos of the crashing waves for her. The motion of the ship was overpowering to my stomach and head. I could barley stand up and I was overcome with nausea. I returned with her camera with a few good pictures and video footage and then I napped for a few hours.

We arrived near Half-Moon Bay just before dinner but Sebastian said it was too windy and conditions were not right for a landing. But we will wait here, where it is a bit calmer, until after dinner. We were to have tiramisu for desert but the rocking of the ship caused it all to be tossed on the floor so they substituted pineapple rings with whip cream. Following dinner we were treated with a showing of Meet the Fockers in the conference room. There was a talk earlier in the day about seals which I did not attend because I was napping. After the film we walked back upstairs to see the last of Antarctica and the Shetland Islands pass by into the fog. A light snow covered the deck outside.

26 December 2010

We started this morning with an early 8:15 landing at Neko Harbour in Andvord Bay. This was to be our second and final continental landing. The snow was hard and compact which made the ascent to the overlook easier than previous landings. No slow going with boots sinking deep into the snow. There is a small gentoo penguin rookery at the bottom of the hill at the landing point. On the shore I found an interesting rock with a milky stripe around the center and tiny stalactites and two holes eroded through like caverns. At a certain angle it looked like a monstrous alien face. I threw it back amongst the other rock and took note of its location.

Our group waited at the foot of the hill while Danny, the geologist, made sure the path was safe to hike. At the top was a tiny rock outcropping with a skua resting. The view of the bay was gorgeous. The sun caused everything to sparkle and glitter. There were several small avalanches but nothing like the major slides we were warned to be wary of and on the look for. Once the skua flew off everyone made their way over to the ledge to take pics of themselves with the white ice shelf as a background. Inspired by the Israelis and their flag I brought my copy of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence and took a picture holding them. We also took two group photos using Danny’s camera.

View of Andvord Bay

This German girl is very excited

The Israeli delegation

After an hour I headed back down. I wanted to snag that rock before anyone came around. On shore I sat down next to the rock I had espied earlier and secretly and swiftly stashed it in my coat pocket. No one saw, no one asked questions, and I tucked it away safely in my suitcase.

I watched a bit of 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her then napped until lunch time. After lunch I napped until the announcement for the zodiac cruise came over the loudspeaker. Yesterday we were told to sign up for one of two groups and one of the groups would go on the cruise first while the other waited behind. The group I had signed up under, seals, went second while the other group, penguins, went first. I washed the sleep out of my eyes, finished the movie, and got dressed in my Antarctic gear.

We cruised around Foyn Harbor taking in the large icebergs, snow formations, and whaling ship and factory remains. There was one island where several wooden rowboats had been run ashore and were covered with snow. The largest wreck was the iron factory ship Governoren. Half of the ship was aground on a few rocks while the rest was hidden beneath the water. The Norwegians were forced to abandon it after it caught on fire. We circled around the rusted ruins stopping to peer in the portholes to view the ancient Norse whaling harpoon tips.

We then paused to watch a small avalanche before we headed off to view more icebergs. There were three crabeater seals resting on a large iceberg. As our boats approached the seals took notice and began playing our cameras, scratching themselves and wiggling around on the ice.

The other two zodiacs

Crabeater seals

Bak on the ship there was no recap before dinner as three whales playing in the water just waters from the ship captured everyones attention. We followed them for about an hour, everyone running from bow to stern as the whales moved about in the seas. This went on until dinner was served.

Two whales

The usual four course salad, soup, entree, and desert was for dinner with an exceptionally dry slab of turkey breast for the entree. But there was an announcement from Sebastian: after dinner we would do a third continental landing at Portal Harbor.

This was to be our absolute final continental landing and it was beautiful. The water and air were calm and the sky was not so gray but the sun was able to make the land glow. There were no penguins on this landing, just a quick hike to the top of a low hill for a spectacular view of the surrounding bay. Large icebergs floated silently in the sea and snowy mountains surrounded the horizon. There were several snowball fights on top of the hill. Following the lead of the small French boy Hugo who was making a snowman, I constructed a snow penguin that ended up looking more like a duck. One couple from Germany made a snowman and decked it with their hat and glasses. Tomas asked to take a picture with me because he liked my beard. At the landing site the rocks were perfect geometrical cubes as if they were carved by man and not natural. It was exhilarating to be on the continent of Antarctica again and I was sad to know it would be my last time.

The zodiac boats which took us from ship to shore

Perfect geometrical cubes (sort of)

Hugo making a snowman

Snowball fight

On the ship before the recap we had a champagne toast from Alan Krauss for his daughter Elsa because it was her twenty-first birthday and to the international friendships we had all formed.  Happy Birthday was sung to Elsa in English, French, Spanish, German, Hebrew, Korean, Chinese, and Italian. Tomorrow we will land on Deception Island if conditions permit. There is a hot spring and we will get to bathe in the water. Deception Island is a submerged volcano and we will be sailing in to the caldera.

Inside the ship's lounge

At the recap Sebastian also addressed rumors that the ship had struck a whale. What happened is as soon as we headed to the mess hall for dinner a whale decided to jump right in front of the ship. The ship was able to steer out of its way and narrowly avoid a collision.

25 December 2010

This morning the ship had to abandon plans to navigate through the Lemaire Channel and visit the Ukrainian station because there was a lot of ice blocking the passage. So we headed back north and did a quick landing on Dorian Island which had a few penguin colonies as well as a nice viewpoint from up top. It was only an hour stop because it was unscheduled and so late in the morning. Jordan, the guy who took off his clothes in the snow yesterday and held up the Israeli flag, stripped to his underwear again and posed for the camera with his favorite magazine. The magazine has a photo feature where readers take it to extreme locations. Half naked and posed in front of a penguin colony in Antarctica is pretty extreme.

Jordan. I travelled with him for a while in Argentina.

The staff from the old British research station turned museum Port Lockroy joined us for lunch and afterwards we visited their station. Again we were divided into two groups based on the number on our life vest. One group visited Port Lockroy while the other group visited the Jougla Point which is next to Port Lockroy.  I was in the group that visited Jougla Point first. On the way we saw a seal rip a penguin to shreds, thrashing it from side to side hard against the surface of the water to tenderize its lunch.  Aside from the several colonies of gentoo penguins there were also whale bones scattered along the shore of Jougla Point. Before the British took over, the area was a place where whalers docked their ships. There were old rusted chains for mooring as well as large cement blocks with metal hoops to lock into which the penguins had claimed as their own and built nests around.

Whale bones

On Jougla Point penguins waddled about up and down their highways wary of and keeping their distance from our group. They went about gathering pebbles for their nests and incubating their eggs. The snow was splattered brown and red with feces.

As soon as the Zodiacs dropped us off at Port Lockroy I rushed inside to compose and mail all twelve postcards. I did not write them on the ship because I wanted spontaneity and I wanted to be sure they would be mailed from Antarctica and until I was at Port Lockroy I wasn’t sure of that at all. Just as I finished and was reviewing them the Korean documentarian began filming me and asking how many postcards I had and who I had written. Stamps were only a dollar each. I also bought a sticker and bumper sticker.

At the review of the days events Sebastian said we would attempt a second landing on the peninsula tomorrow. I left dinner early and in the large social room, while I was writing and listening to music, one of the passengers alerted me to the presence of a whale near the ship. I hurried out to the deck while he ran off to the dining room to spread the news. Everyone dropped their forks and rushed outside to get a glimpse. It was a humpback whale. Because it was so close you could see the bumps on its face as it surfaced. After breaking through the water three times it dived deep into the ocean with a tremendous show of its flukes. For the next hour everyone followed the whale as it appeared and disappeared and reappeared off the horizon. It never got as close as it was when I first saw it.

24 December 2010

After breakfast our first landing today was at 9am on Danco Island. The island is covered in a thick snow which we had to crunch our way through to the top. But since the island is a common landing spot for the ship there were several trails for us to follow. There were also several “penguin highways” giving them access to the sea from their colony on top of the island and to the colony on the side of the island.

Penguin colony

Penguin Highways leading to the top

From the top of the island you get a majestic view of the mountainous peninsula and surrounding islands as well as the icy waters of Gerlache Strait. At first the air was calm but a sharp fast wind quickly blew in from off the peninsula. Katabatic winds, cold air dropping back to the earth from high in the atmosphere and rushing down the slopes of the hills and icebergs near the peninsula and towards us. I stayed for about twenty or thirty minutes before I made my way back down. Not long enough to see all the Israeli guys strip to their underwear and brandish the flag of Israel. 

View from the top of Danco Island

Penguins on the Highway

All the Israeli guys stripped to their underwear

Hiking down was a lot easier than hiking up. I practically slid the whole way down in my rubber boots. On the ship I finished watching La Mala Educación huddled up in bed.

We commenced our second landing of the day after lunch at 2:30. This time they divided the group in two according to the numbers on our assigned life jackets. One group landed on the peninsula while the other group did a tour of Paradise Bay in the zodiac boats. This landing was our first actual landing on the continent of Antarctica. It was pretty anticlimactic. There’s an old abandoned Argentine research station which the penguins have surrounded with their seasonal breeding colonies. We hiked a few meters up above the station but we didn’t follow the trail to the top of hill overlooking the whole area because of reports of hidden crevasses in the glacier underneath the snow deeming it unsafe. We waited at the landing site for almost half an hour before the boats returned to take our group on a tour of the bay.

View from the top with the research station

Paradise Bay was named so by whalers because of the calm nature of the water. We navigated our way along the edge of the mountains and between icebergs, seeing the most spectacular sights: cormorants nesting high up in the cliffs, blue patches of ice, mineral deposits seeping bright colors through the rocks, the jagged ends of glaciers extending of the land and floating in the water. The sounds of birds overhead and the crackle of unseen avalanches filled the air. Each avalanche sounded like a large cracking storm on the backside of the mountains. Once we turned in time to see the face or a wall of snow crumble into the ocean. Our helmsman stopped twice to collect huge chunks of clear ice for use on the ship. We found a lone weddell seal asleep on an iceberg but everyones attention was diverted as soon as a whale was spotted.  We  watched it surface a few times and did our best to followed its trail but lost it and then it was time to return to the ship. Everywhere was a beautiful picture waiting to be taken. It seemed pointless to even attempt to capture the stark regal beauty with which we were surrounded.

 

A penguin had hopped into Sebastian’s Zodiac and was having trouble jumping out so we went over to ogle the silly bird until he finally jumped back into the ocean.

While on land I took a rock to give to my sister Courtney. If anyone saw me they didn’t say a word. If I see a better rock I think I will do a trade. Tomorrow we may get to visit an Ukrainian research station if ice and weather conditions permit. We will be able to send postcards from there.

Dinner was a barbecue with chicken, lamb, and sausage. At my table this young German girl, Carolin, and a man from Maryland, Mark, began wondering how many different nationalities were on board. Once we got it figured out they then had all the tables guess the number with the winning table receiving a bottle of champagne. Mark was going to have the bottle charged to his account but the chef convinced the ship to donate two bottles because there were two winning tables. The answer was 24. 

Later Mark approached me asking if I would sing Christmas songs but I don’t know any so instead I lent my iPod which had a Bright Eyes Christmas album. I hadn’t even listened to it but it wasn’t too nontraditional for everyone. Though it does feel awkward to participate in any celebration of Christmas since I do not celebrate the holidays.

While writing this entry a whale appeared off the side and then the bow of the ship and we all ran out to watch it surface. Also earlier today it was exceptionally sunny and we took a group photo on the bow of the ship. My roommate did not participate though because he did not hear the announcement. This was right after lunch.

I was playing cards with the Israelis and some other new friends, one who happened to be the sixteen year old son of the ship’s geologist, when his dad came over and discreetly told him and us about a party happening later on in a secret location. He told his son to follow him so he could see the location and then return with us later. The crew was having a Christmas party. When we arrived they were still playing secret santa and passing out gifts. But then the music and dancing began.  One guy handed me a cup of foul smelling fruit pulp that was really a strawberry daiquiri. Suddenly the music stopped. A call from the captain saying he was coming down. They rushed us out of the cramped room and around a corner and back upstairs. Finally all was clear and they came to get us and now they had a black light and a strobe light and more music and dancing. But the captain showed up there too. He wasn’t displeased at all but wished all a Merry Christmas and then left. The music and dancing continued for a few more hours. I left an hour later and the party was still happening. The sun has not set. It is the color of an early morning. The color of the sky makes it seem as if we were partying all night and its only 1 am.