Half Moon Island and Deception Island

10 Jan 2012 Early zodiac launch at 8.45 am as we have a 3 hour sail after lunch to the second stop for today. Our first landing is on the beach at Half Moon Island. This is a chinstrap penguin's island. They have a cute face with their little distinct chinstrap. Not a bit scared of us and seem to have no concerns with us being so close to their rookery. They are always on the go, either on their way to the beach to fish and completely filthy or on their way back sparkling clean. They just walk straight passed us without any care and they take little notice of us. As usual the creche where the parents and the chicks gather is full of noise and non stop activity. A couple of lazy seals on the beach were useless. Ger wanted to poke one with her stick to see if it was dead or asleep. We talked her out of it. Nice pleasant island but cloud base very low so not a great view of the nearby Livingstone island with a big mountain.

After lunch 3 hour sail to Deception Island where it was pouring with rain and the sail in through the narrow opening of this still active volcano was very interesting. There is a big submerged rock in the middle so the Captain needs to follow a narrow passage close to the walls on the starboard side. About to board zodiacs but can't decide if I will go for the polar dip, well, got the budgie smugglers on but think they could finish up Krill smugglers if I go for the polar plunge.

The weather turned on us. It was raining and very windy. Less than 2 hours ashore walking into some very strong winds. The old whaling station closed in 1964 when the volcano erupted and it was not looking safe for anyone to stay here. We were ordered to dash back as the wind was getting up to 40 knots(72km/hr)and that is their limit for using the zodiacs and a night on the beach was not going to be a good idea. Surprisingly the ride back and getting off the zodiac onto the gangway was not as bad as some of the earlier transfers where we had large swells. All back on board but drowned rats by 6pm. Looking forward to happy hour where we can all say we would have done the polar plunge had they not banned it. Ship cannot pull up anchor to leave until the wind dies down so at anchor for a few hours. Planning here is an ever changing situation.

After dinner Brian told his story on how he transported an Elephant's skull on an international flight as luggage from Zimbabwe to Calgary Zoo in Canada. In Brian's normal style he had us rolling with laughter at his exploits. As someone said it would not matter if you could not understand his language he would have people laughing as he puts his whole body into every story. He is so entertaining and informative that we all love to listen to him and he loves to talk.

Old whaler's water boat. After 40 years in Ice every year how does it survive?

Unusual, A chinstrap,an Ardelie and two Gentoos together.
Like going to the Grand final

This berg had just calved, you can see the fresh ice in the middle

Needs a clean so on the way to fish.

Been fishing and look how clean we are now

Just cute, chinstraps

When is the food coming?

Same boat

Sailing into Deception Island

It's going to get rough hold on to me, you can trust me.

Some old blue ice

Deception Island buildings, notice the volcanic fall out

Into and onto the Antarctic

9 Jan 2012. Seas so calm during the night it was hard to tell if the boat was moving. Woke to a glorious day, not a breath of wind, sunny skies and the sea was like a millpond. Lots of magnificent icebergs everywhere. Into the Zodiacs about 9am and on to Paulet island. The island was full of Adelie Penguins, again by the thousands. Estimate is 200,000 breeding pairs.

We walked up a short distance to where there is the remains of a hut where 20 men survived for I think 5 months when their ship was crushed in the ice. Another story of extreme endurance and unbelievable hardship. Larssen was the captain but another long story.

We have learnt to just sit in one spot and watch the penguins entertain. It is a mass of non stop action with the chicks wanting food, the parents going to and from the sea to collect food. Others pairs still courting,some still on the nest. You can sit and be amused and entertained for hours at their antics.

Back on board for lunch and the most beautiful and peaceful 3 hours sailing down the Antarctic straight to Brown Bluff. The seas were like a millpond and there were so many icebergs, lots of penguins, birds and a couple of whales. It was so quiet that the crowd on the foredeck were dead silent as we just stood there and took it in.

But after a couple of hours the weather changed and by the time we arrived at Brown Bluff it was snowing heavily but we all put on our gear and went ashore. This was a special moment as it was our first landing on the Antarctic mainland at about 63deg south. For some it was their landing on the last of the 7 continents. It was 6 for us. Found the southern most Collingwood supporter in the world. Although it was snowing heavily and reasonably cold everyone had a great time and we had mainly Adelie penguins with a few Gentoos. This will be the last time we see the Adelie penguin. It was clear that everyone enjoyed the few hours we had on this stop. Back on board before taking off our gear in the mud room they met us with Kahlua and coffee.

Great dinner and again the staff recapped on the day in their usual fun way.

I just love cute chicks. Adelie Chicks.

The remains or the shelter where 20 men survided for 5 months. Tough and cold work.

Even a French Doctor who supports the pies

Just a few penguins in the distance.

More please and Dad just watches on.

Ice and penguins

Having a rest with the black and white army.

Just cute

Ger and adelies

Ger with her best friend, the barman, Andy. Not just coffee in the cup.

Start of the serious ice

About to get the gear off in the mud room.

Inspecting and discussing the merits of the ice we brought on board for scientific research with some other devotes of the science.

Some nice ice.

Deep into the Antarctic peninsula

8 Jan 2012 An all day, sailing day on our way further south to the Antarctic Peninsular. Today is all about lectures and eating as usual.

The first morning lecture was Ray on his year in charge of the Mawson station Feb 1963 to March 1964. He lead possibly the last dog sledge expedition on the Antarctic. Three of them with 16 dogs and 2 sledges travelled from Mawson to the Amery ice shelf. Starting on the 19th November they travelled 1750 Km taking 87 days. A great achievement and was possibly why he had a mountain named after him and was awarded the polar medal.

We then had a lecture from the rock man on the science of icebergs,sea ice and glaciers, amazing and informative.

After lunch Brian showed a video that was made for the discovery channel a few years ago. It was set in Madagascar, it was great and Brian is so excitable that we all found it very funny. I bet that the animals at the Calgary zoo in Canada got excited when Brian was the manager. The bird man on life of penguins and our leader David on the plans for the Antarctic peninsular rounded out the day. But then it all started, icebergs everywhere and some big ones. The boat made a 2 hour detour to see a very big iceberg and we were lucky to see it calved off a big section. One of the passengers got the photo of the trip of the ice falling.

Now 10.30 at night and we have just witnessed a great sunset with icebergs in the foreground and dead calm seas with the young wild ones doing a conga line on the bow of the ship. Just special, can't believe we are here. Everyone is having fun and as it was Maggie's birthday today the happy hour was busy. Maggie is one of the staff and we all love to be in her zodiac as she is so much fun. Still very bright as we went to bed just after 11pm but seems like 4 pm.

View from our window

A passing iceberg

Big Ice

More Ice

Ger looking out our window

More Ice

Two O'Connor girls

Any reason for a conga line

Sunset at about 11pm



Our landing spots in South Georgia

South Orkney Island

Jan 7th Another day that is normally a full day at sea but as we approach the South Orkneys there is a possibility of a rare landing. At the tip of this group of islands is the oldest continuous research station in the Antarctic sea, The Orcadas Base on Laurie Island. It was originally setup in 1902 by a British researcher, William Bruce. After a year he when to the Argentine authorities and sold them his equipment at this station in return for funds to do further exploration in the Antarctic. The Argentines moved in, in 1904 and have been here since then. They have the longest continual recordings of the magnetic field in the Antarctic. It is rare that the weather is good enough to stop here. Even Ray has only landed here once. As we approached the visibility was poor and lots of icebergs on the radar. As we got close it cleared and a landing looked good but now 40 Knot winds. But blessed again it cleared up and we were able to launch the zodiacs and go ashore. The 17 crew at the station have been here for one year and one day and seven hours as our man told us. We are only the second ship to visit and their email broke down a month after they got here. They do have a satellite disk and 150 channels of TV. They were thrilled to see us and some one suggested we needed to send the first two zodiacs with women only. They gave us a great tour and the museum was very interesting. They even had a few post cards to sell and key rings. We have purchased two cards and though we cannot post them here we did have them stamped here and our passports as well. It must be tough spending over a year down here it is seriously remote.
Time for some photos of the many chinstrap penguins and there were even a few Adelie and one gentoo so plenty more photos on the beach. This point is below the 60 deg south point so we are now in the Antarctic waters. Not too cold about 2C but no wind. Found two more Collingwood supporters down here, one was one of the men stationed here.
Many birds around the ship, mainly Snow Petrels and Snowy sheathbills.
Afternoon lectures by The Rock man, our geomorphologist, on the geography of the Antarctic, really interesting. How come the ice area is increasing in the Antarctic and is decreasing in the Arctic? 10,000 years ago South Georgia was under 2 Km of ice, are we heading that way again? Who really knows? It seems the science of climate change is still a guessing game.
Our oceanographer gave a very technical 2 hour presentation reduced to 1 hour. So seemed to be a bit all over the place but we did learn some interesting things. Only more confusion on the climate of this area and the rest of the world.
Have lots of visitors for drinks. John,Sue and brother Mark from Florida, the two NZ girls, Rob & Jill from Oz and of course Ray dropped in for wee dram. Official results are out and the Aussies come out on top 37 of us, 25 Yanks, and the rest are Canucks and Poms and a then lots of different countries.
Another great day with the highlight being the visit to the research station.

60 deg 40 south

Found the bar at the research station

Us and their living quarters

Just an iceberg in the bay at  the station

Found the dinning room in the museum

Long way to anywhere

Just another conga line

Ger waiting for me to pour a drink at the bar

An Adelie and a chinstrap together

Even the head of the research station supports the pies

Second day on South Georgia and visit to Shackleton's grave

4 Jan 2012. Woke to another great day, sunshine and very little wind. We have sailed into Stromness bay overnight. This is the sight of an old whaling station, its major claim to fame is this is where Shackleton walked into after climbing and treking across South Georgia from west to east, an incredible feat having already rowed with 5 other men for over 1300 km.from Elephant island. It took them 16 days to row across some of the stormiest waters in the world in the James Caird only 6.9M long. They had to chip away at the ice on the boat to prevent it sinking under the weight. Even when they got to the island before they could land they were hit by a hurricane that nearly drove them onto the rocks. They then slept for 5 days and only 3 of them were well enough to attempt to reach a whaling station which Shackleton knew existed on the other side as he had visited there 2 years earlier. So the three set out with a length of rope and axe and some biscuits in their pockets. After 36 hours they walked into Stromness. It was now 18 months since they had seen civilization. The Endurance had been frozen in ice for months before it broke up and he left 22 men on ELephant island whild he set out save them all. But their rescue took a futher 5 months before Shackleton could get to them. His men under the command of Frank Wild had survived and as they had total faith in and admiration for Shackleton they never gave up.

Of course Wild's leadership was possibly the major factor they survived. Wild would make them pack up everyday in preparation and in his words " We must be ready for the boss"

It is ironic that when Shackleton did arrive it was in the early morning and they were not ready. Every man survived due to the efforts of both Shackleton and Wild. He did loose 3 men on the ship that was in the Ross sea that was to pick them up when they had walked across the Antarctic via the south pole. Of course they never made it as both boats where frozen in ice. The rescue of the men in Ross harbour is in itself another unbelievable story. Today we walked some of his path on Stomness. Very moving moment for everyone.

Now sailing for Grytviken where he is buried. To think that we will eat dinner tonight on the 4 Jan, 90 years since he had his last meal at the same place, as he died here 5 Jan 1922.

Arrived at Sunny Grytviken 2.30 after seeing our first baby icebergs . Landed just below the pioneer's cemetery, only 64 graves, now snowing. We were all given a nip of whisky and we stood around Shackleton and Wild's grave. Following the tradition we drank a small amount and then poured the rest onto their graves. It was a most moving and emotional moment particularly as David our leader was there for the internment of Wild's ashes in Nov. It was a moment we will never forget and everyone felt touch by the occasion. A tour of the old whaling station by a young Scotish lass who is working here for 4 months was a lot of fun. The yanks could not understand her and we had trouble. There was whaling here until 1965 and a good day was 18 whales and 200 tonne of oil. It must have been busy. Just like the bird people who get excitied at the sight of a Light-mantled sooty albatross I got excited at all the old machinery and had to point out the plate roll machine, the shearing machine and the grinder. My knowledge of a centrifuge was my crowning glory as nobody knew what they were. There are 25 people stationed here in the summer and about 5 in the winter. The museum and gift shop did well. The post office was really busy as everyone wanted to send a card with the local postmark. The girl on the counter was filling in as she was a medical doctor waiting for the research vessel she was joining to arrive. Multi skilled in these places.

Then a short 50min. walk out to the moment to Shackleton erected by Frank Wild and the crew of the Quest which is the ship that Shackleton was commanding when he had a heart attack here at 2.30 am on the 5 Jan 2022. Not a difficult walk if you discount the number of times we had to fight off the mad fur seals. The elephant seals are to fat and lazy to bother but the encounters with the fur seals is a bit hairy. We are experts at hiting rocks together, waving our arms and yelling. It is amazing to be walking all the time among seals and penguins.

Back on the ship at 6pm with 4 of the island staff for dinner. The head women down here gave a talk on the work they do. She has been here for 20 years, hard to believe or understand why or how you can live here that long. Everyone was given a free glass of wine with dinner for some reason they gave us an extra free bottle as well. They said we had been the best wine customers on the trip. Strange.

On the way from South Georgia to Antarctic Peninsular

Jan 6 2012. Ray told us that the seas will be rough overnight and for the next few days so last night for the first time we took seasick pills. Never again, have been drowsy all day and as this is an at sea all day, day, it has been hard to stay awake. Seas were much rougher and big swells but we did not get sick. Saw a large iceberg early in the morning with a large group of penguins on a ledge.

Lectures today on Whales one by Brian, who is so enthusiastic that you cannot help but be affected. The second lecture was by Mark and again on whales but a different aspect to Brian's. Both were excellent and informative. Afternoon was a lecture by Uncle Ray on the Frank Wild story. Frank Wild must have been the best second in command of all the polar explorers. The fact that he was engaged by Scott, Mawson and Shackleton shows how well he was respected. His story is inspirational. The aftenoon we all had a session in the multi media room on both photography and video with Mark and Brian. They have setup a file on the computers for all of us to put the best of our photos to share. They want 10 from each of us and they will produce a collection at the end to share.
Just had time to fit in happy hour in before dinner and off to bed.

Some more Ice now we are further North

How to fill in time on an all day at sea, day

This is how we dress and how we must wash and clean our boots after a trip on land

Uncle Ray, the 78y Polar Medalist driving the zodiac around a little iceberg