February 3: Day of Epicness

Written on February 22

So much happened on this day! Humpies at Wilhemina Bay, our first (and only) continental landing, the Polar Plunge, an outdoor BBQ and a singalong at the end of the night. We'd had a lot of cloud cover and even a little rain/snow on the voyage up until this point, but the sun finally decided to make an appearance to give us a glorious "bluebird sky" backdrop for the entire day. Hence: day of epicness!

Morning Excursion: Wilhemina Bay
We started the day with a bit of zodiac cruising around Enterprise Island in Wilhelmina Bay... more like Whale-emina Bay! We saw multiple humpbacks on this outing, including a mom and calf just lazing about and "waving" to us with their enormous fins.

Just another day in a zodiac. © Melanie Adair

"Oh. Hey there."

Momma and baby

We also learned some history about whaling by seeing the wreck of the Guvernøren, an old whaling ship that caught fire in 1915 and sank, leaving only the first third of the ship visible above water today. With the sinking of the ship, the crew lost their entire cargo of whale oil - a highly profitable product at the time, as it was used as a major source of glycerine for making explosives during the First World War.

Learning about the Guvernøren and seeing the gentle humpies in the same outing was an interesting juxtaposition, given that the bay is now witnessing a return of these creatures after so many years of whaling, human interference and exploitation of the whales for profit. As hubs put it, "It's nice to see the whales coming back. If the environment can recover from all those whaling ships, then a bit of responsible tourist traffic shouldn't cause too much of a problem."

Afternoon Excursion: Portal Point
That afternoon saw us setting foot on the Antarctic continent! This "continental landing" (all the other landings so far had been islands) at Portal Point was the gateway for many explorers whose sights were set on reaching the South Pole - still quite a far distance from here. The Quark Expedition team had a continental flag at the ready, which we all took pictures with... because, why wouldn't we? It's the 7th continent!

Hiking up a short distance, we experienced incredible vistas from the top of the point. Gleaming mountains, clear water, rugged terrain and falling ice, all set against that glorious bluebird sky. A total highlight.

We made it!

Falling ice at Portal Point

Zero common sense. © Michelle Sole

The Polar Plunge and an Outdoor BBQ
Jumping into the near-freezing waters of the Southern Ocean is apparently a popular activity - which I did, but hubs did not (as he put it, "I'm impervious to regrets but not sub-zero temperatures."). My first reaction after hitting the water was, of course, "HOLY SHIT IT'S SO COLD" but was immediately followed by, "Mmm, salty!" 

I was in good company, with a total of 109 guests (out of 199) taking the big leap. The expedition team described us all as brave souls with no common sense. Agreed.

This was followed by a BBQ dinner on the aft deck. BBQ, beers, and sitting outside in Antarctica ("With wet hair!", as one of our friends observed), after taking a polar plunge... just another of many surreal experiences to add to the list of surreal experiences on this entire journey.

Outdoor BBQ in Antarctica. No big deal.

Sing-along and Nightcap 
After all of this, the "Chilli Goulash Rock Petrels" folk band, made up of three musically-inclined members of the expedition team, hosted a bit of a sing-along, performing some well-known - and lesser well-known - songs from around the world. The Canadian song they chose? “The Log Driver’s Waltz”. Good one, if you ask me.

February 2: It's Like Being on a Different Planet, but with Access to the Superbowl

From February 2, 2020 (Part 1 written on this date)

Part 1
Ahh, finally. A chance to sleep in. Except I didn’t at all, and woke up at 6:00 AM even though breakfast wasn’t ready until 8:00 AM. Gah.

While being terribly excited to experience everything we can, I also blame these early mornings partially on all of the programming available to us. With all of the presentations and lectures and landings and more, our days have been jam packed. I brought my runners and there’s a gym, but I haven’t spent any time in there at all because, well, there is no time! In some ways, I kind of wish “down time” would be built in - even a half hour or 60 minutes here and there would do - just so we have the opportunity to decompress and get ready for the next inevitable exciting and/or interesting and/or educational thing (I’m really not complaining; just a little tired).

And from this point on, I stopped writing on the ship (written on February 17)
I’m not entirely sure why, but I think I was feeling overwhelmed by all that we were doing every single day; I even skipped a presentation on “Why Antarctica Matters” on this day while the ship was navigating to our next destination. Shocking! (Thank goodness hubs went and was able to fill me in afterwards, ha.)

I had been attempting to do my write-ups in the mornings while the experiences from the previous day were still fresh in my mind, but by this point - as somewhat evidenced by what I wrote on February 2 - trying to document it all as it was happening almost started to feel like a chore. Of course in hindsight, I wish I’d forced myself to do it because now I’m left trying to piece it all together from our Daily Programs and the pictures I’d captured that day. Oh well.

Okay, so here we go: me trying to remember what happened!

What a palaver!

Early Afternoon Excursion: Palaver Point
Our first excursion for this day took place in the early afternoon at Palaver Point, west of Two Hummock Island of the Palmer Archipelago. About the site, from our Daily Program: “Home to a small Chinstrap penguin population, its name describes the kerfuffle and commotion of the colony.” And the name did not disappoint! There was a lot of squawking and blaring going on. Even though we’d already seen Chinstraps on our voyage, this was the first time seeing an actual Chinstrap colony. It was also the first time on the trip that we stepped foot on snow - which was surprising for many guests on the boat, who were expecting a lot more of the white stuff, being Antarctica, and all (but it’s summer!).

Decent view from the point

Looks like this Antarctic fur seal was making a palaver, too

Penguin tracks in the snow

It was from the zodiacs at Palaver Point where we also saw our first Minke whale! As part of the excursion, those who are seeking certain “adventure options” can pay extra and do such activities as kayaking, paddling, or stand-up paddle boarding. As we were getting into the zodiacs from the ship, there was a Minke whale playing with the stand-up paddle boarders who were getting set for their paddle around the point. He seemed like a friendly and curious little whale, hanging around to see what was going on and engaging with the paddlers.

First Minke sighting

Italian Market Dinner and a Note About the Dining Room
We enjoyed an early dinner, which was Italian-themed. The food and beverage, and kitchen and serving staff, were all incredible on our journey. Friendly and accommodating, after the very first day when hubs and I talked to Keith the Maître d' and Marlon his second-in-command about our dietary restrictions, we were greeted as “Ma’am Angie” and “Sir Matthew” (nicknames, I should say, we’ve missed hearing every day since we left the ship). The head chef is also a wizard with watermelon carvings and had intricately carved fruit waiting for all the guests as we walked into the dining room that evening.

Watermelon flowers

What's "hoot hoot" in Italian, I wonder...?

Evening Excursion: Graham Passage
The original plan for this evening was to be in Cierva Cove. I cannot remember why, but that plan had to change. And so, that evening after dinner, we loaded up the zodiacs again to cruise instead around Graham Passage which “lies north of Charlotte Bay between the Antarctic Continent and Bluff Island. Stunning, narrow and glaciated, this passage also provides great potential for sighting marine mammals.”

And how! It was here that I first felt like we were on an entirely different planet. The evening was a little gloomy. It had been misty and then started to rain, which turned into snow. At one point during the zodiac cruise, we were surrounded by huge, towering walls of ice. We watched seals and birds resting on icebergs. It was so quiet.

So many terms to describe the different kinds of ice...
think this is an ice wall

Antarctic cormorant a.k.a. shag

Giant ice! Ship in the distance for scale

And then, as if by magic, the snow stopped and a Minke whale appeared - and it wasn’t just any sighting. This guy was another curious whale, swimming in between and next to the zodiacs, and then underneath us! He even followed us back to the ship when it was time for us to go in for the night. It was an incredible encounter that left us wanting more. I’m not sure what we missed at Cierva Cove, but Graham Passage was an amazing alternative and a definite highlight for me.

Note: the next morning talking to Jimmy the whale guy, I asked him if there was any risk to the whales being so close to the propellers on the zodiacs. He had absolute confidence that the whales know what they are doing, and as long as we are being predictable i.e. driving straight and not making sudden movements, there is zero chance of them being hurt. In his words, “They are Olympians.”

It's a Minke over there!

Having fun with the humans

Swimming under our zodiac

Thanks for stopping by, Mr. Minke!

The Superbowl
Amazingly, the excitement for the day wasn’t over yet! The crew made last-minute, surprise arrangements to try and live stream the Superbowl game for the guests. Watching the Superbowl from a ship in Antarctica... so weird! But, pretty cool. It worked out well, although they had to use almost every bit of bandwidth available on the ship for the game. (Hubs and I only made it to halftime and then went to bed.)

Speaking of internet, we could have paid a (not inexpensive) fee to access WiFi for the time we were on the ship, but we opted not to. There were many reasons for this: as mentioned, it was costly. But the internet was also dependent on satellites and could therefore be either intermittent or non-existent. And how many times in our over-connected lives would we have a real chance to just disconnect from it all? We reasoned that, if there was an emergency, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway. So we took the opportunity and decided to truly be offline.

...except, obviously, when the ship streams the Superbowl live for everyone, ha. The crew threw a party, complete with bar food and snacks, and a Superbowl-themed sheet cake! There were even 49ers and Chiefs decorations too, which the ship’s receptionist apparently spent most of the day printing and cutting out. Of all the things we had experienced on the trip so far, this was one of the more surreal ones, for sure.

February 1: Is This the Real Life?

Tabular iceberg

From February 1, 2020 (written on this date)

We woke up to tabular icebergs outside our window. And as I write this, I am enjoying a cup of tea while watching penguins swimming in the Antarctic Sound. As Queen so aptly put it: "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" Somebody pinch me.

Morning Excursion: Brown Bluff
It was a very early start for all guests today, with breakfast starting at 6:45 AM in order to get everyone outside by 8:00 AM or so. The original plan for this morning was to do a shore landing onto Brown Bluff; however, floating ice [or "growlers"] along the coastline meant this would not be possible. What to do? We shifted slightly and experienced our first zodiac cruise of the trip, instead!

We were out there for about an hour and a half, drifting amongst icebergs, Adélie penguins… and humpback whales! It’s amazing to be out there, where it’s so quiet, and then suddenly to hear a BLOW in the distance. Based on the whale spotting done by all of us in our zodiac, we saw at least three different humpbacks in the space of 90 minutes. Crazy.

Captured some great photos and video on this excursion, including Adélies giving themselves a bath, panoramas of the iceburgs and bluff, and tail flukes of two of the humpbacks.

One of our first "humpie" sightings

Adélie bath time!

A Note About Clothing
I’ve very quickly learned that it’s best to overdress. On the shore landings we did yesterday, especially when walking around and navigating over rocky terrain, I was definitely too warm. But as soon as we got going on the zodiac, I was the right temperature. For today, since we were just on the zodiacs and not on land at all, I dressed as I did yesterday and was slightly cold, but only towards the end of the trip.

When I was getting ready for this trip, I was worried about over packing - but I’m definitely over that, now.

Speaking of which, I learned yesterday that a checked bag belonging to an older gentleman on this ship did not arrive at all, so he was forced to restock all of his warm clothing from the shop on the boat, which has a very limited selection. Unlike when travelling to a city, for example, it’s not like the airline can get his bag to him while we’re in the middle of the Antarctic Sound, right? Can’t help but feel so bad for him.

Note: this is why I always prefer to carry on, whenever possible. Even for our charter flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, I made sure to pack at least one warm outfit for the excursions, just in case my checked bag went missing. Some folks may think this is overkill, but I don’t see anything wrong with having a little bit of paranoia and/or lack of trust in baggage handlers. Case in point.

Afternoon Excursion: Paulet Island
This was a dual excursion, with half the guests zodiac cruising and the other half landing at Paulet Island, and then both switching after a period of time to do the other.

Saw Weddell Seals, and one of the biggest Adélie penguin colonies in Antarctica - approximately 400,000 adults and chicks all in one place! Chicks were chasing their parents for food, parents were trying to run away from their pestering chicks, and all the while it smelled so bad (ha ha) and it was amazing to be walking amongst all the penguins, and seeing them hanging out on icebergs.

Think we interrupted this guy's afternoon nap

So many Adélies!

The only concern was that the penguins seemed pretty comfortable amongst all the humans. At the bar talk later in the evening, a researcher from Dartmouth College in the United States talked about his time researching at McMurdo Station, mentioning that the Adélies there - a place much less visited by humans - were very skittish around people. Makes one wonder if surges in tourism have habituated these penguins to humans, and whether that should be okay.

Speaking of this, there are researchers on the boat from Monash University in Australia who are working on developing a sustainability and long-time conservation plan for tourism in Antarctica.

Adélie penguins and chicks as far as the eye can see...
and nose can smell

Every day is a bad hair day when you're moulting

Ocean Endeavour from Paulet Island

Random Tourism Facts
There have been so many presentations and things to learn on excursions and from the guides, that it’s been very hard to keep track of it all! Here are some random other facts specifically about tourism that we’ve picked up along the way.

• Antarctic tourism operators are all part of a group called IAATO, to ensure sustainability of the region amidst increasing accessibility and interest in visitors to Antarctica.
• Landing sites are restricted to two ships visiting per day. For example, if other ships had already “booked” a landing on Paulet Island yesterday before us, we would not have been able to - which would have been a real shame, but understandable, given efforts to minimize human interaction with the wildlife and the environment, in general.

Penguin traffic, Paulet Island

January 31: First Iceberg, Penguin (!) and Land Sightings

From January 31, 2020 (written on this date)

First iceberg!

First things first. I did not win the iceberg spotting challenge from yesterday.

About Antarctic Cetaceans 
But that was only because we attended an amazing and thoroughly entertaining talk about Antarctic whales and dolphins, given by the designated marine biologist on the trip (i.e. there are other marine biologists travelling with us as crew, but he’s the one doing the talks). Why so fascinating? To explain just how big the blue whale is, the largest of all the marine mammals, he walked from the lounge where all the presentations, talks and briefings are held, out the door onto the deck of the ship and right to the edge - and it still wasn’t long enough to show 33 meters in length. So… HUGE, essentially.

We may see a blue whale, although it’s more likely that we’ll see humpbacks. We were also reminded that orcas are not whales but rather, dolphins. Although, they are quite treacherous - they’ll eat anything, including sharks. But are also very picky eaters and tend to feed off one specific type of animal. This is why our resident orcas off the coast of British Columbia are dying out; they are used to eating only chinook salmon and we’ve overfished this specific salmon stock. Want to save our orcas? Stop fishing all of the chinook and encourage our government to place stricter regulations on this practice.

Approaching the South Shetlands

First Penguin Sightings
We spent a lot of time outside on the deck, on the lookout for wildlife. There’s so much to see, even just from the ship: we spotted Wandering Albatross, Northern Royal Albatross, Northern and Southern Giant Petrels (who, we were told by one of the guides, are basically vultures - absolute opportunistic predatory birds), Antarctic fur seals… and penguins!! Hard to tell which specific species they were from the ship, but there were tons of them swimming along and flying through the water. I may have a cried a little, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Flying penguins - built for water!

Watching these penguins in the vast open water is incredible, and makes me feel so sad for captive penguins - and all animals, really - in places like zoos and aquariums. No animal belongs in that environment and I’m convinced of that now more than ever.

Land Ho!
We spotted land at about noon, after the marine biologist’s talk.

(Aside: the marine biologist’s name is Jimmy and he is originally from Saskatchewan! So basically, he’s living my dream; when I was a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist but talked myself out of it because… Saskatchewan. But - he’s doing it! And he’s amazing. This is his 12th season with Quark Expeditions.)

We did our first shore landings: Fort Point and Hardy Cove, which are both on the south side of the Greenwich Islands. To get to these places, the ship anchors off a ways-away, and everyone hops into zodiacs.

Feeding time for this Gentoo penguin chick

Fort Point
At Fort Point, there were hundreds of penguins! Chinstraps and Gentoos, with their chicks - in every direction. I watched parents feed their young, penguins returning to land from the water, penguins waddling down into the water from the land, penguins watching all of us humans watching them. There were a few Antarctic fur seals at this landing as well, napping and “honking.”

At one point, I was lying down on my stomach to try and get some interesting shots and a tern walked right in front of me - and kind of gave me a little side-eye, if I’m not mistaken. Sure enough, a few minutes later I feel a “tap tap tap” on the bottom of one of my boots - and it’s the same tern! Totally reminded me of the buns at home when I’m lying on the floor and they nudge me to move out of the way. Totally made me laugh.

My snowy sheathbill friend

Hardy Cove
At our second landing we saw an incredible ice glacier, along with a terminal moraine (hubs pulled his rarely-used geology background out to explain to me what this is), more Antarctic fur seals taking an afternoon nap, and a couple of Gentoos just hanging out.

If every day is going to be like this, I never want to come home.

"Ugh, humans."

Terminal moraine © Matthew Boulton

Zodiac cruising at Fort Point

January 30: We Are at Sea!

From January 30, 2020 (written on this date)

We are at sea!

Brief Stop in the City at the End of the World: Ushuaia
We arrived in Ushuaia yesterday around noon, via our tour’s charter flight from Buenos Aires, and had a few hours to explore and grab a proper lunch before boarding the boat.

Port of Ushuaia

Ushuaia observations: what a cute little place, full of friendly people. I made friends with some local restaurant staff who very easily accommodated our vegan requests, and were more than happy to help me with my Latin American Spanish. Muy bien.  

Ushuaia: fin del mundo

We also learned that the government has taken active measures to encourage Argentinians to move to Ushuaia. As a result, the population went from 30,000 to almost 80,000 in a fairly short period of time, with tourism i.e. cruise ships like ours and research excursions, being an essential contributor to the local economy.

Ocean Endeavour: Our Temporary Home
Everything  runs like a well-oiled machine (boat?) on this ship. From embarkation, to daily briefings, to sit-down meals and refreshments, to biosecurity procedures of gear checks to prevent bringing non-indigenous fauna and flora into the region, to wellness and educational programs… the list goes on. Let’s just say, I am impressed - and most of you know I am really not easy to impress. As I write this, we have been on the boat for just more than 24 hours and I have been fascinated by so much already; the crew even ran a safety drill with all of the guests in case of an emergency! No Titanic-level human arrogance on this ship, that’s for sure - thank goodness for that.

Soy Vegetariana Restricto a.k.a. “I Am Vegan” 
Getting onto a boat without knowing exactly what vegan options would be available made me a little nervous. Turns out, there was no need to worry. The chef and kitchen staff here are all more than accommodating, and I am confident that we will not starve! As a matter of fact, we may even gain some weight if they keep feeding us desserts like the ones they made especially for us today, which was a tart with a strawberry sauce drizzle, and a side of lemon sorbet - yum. Feeling very special and well fed so far.

Birds, Birds, Birds
I’ve been taking advantage of our two days at sea to practice taking pictures of the birds we can see from the ship deck. It’s been good, particularly as I hadn’t picked up my camera in a few months (oops) and needed to remind myself of what all the settings mean and how to change them. It sounds like I’ll have all evening and early tomorrow as well to keep capturing photos of the birds that have been following our boat.

Great Southern Petrel on the left and the Northern Petrel on the right

Bird watching summary: so far, we’ve seen and captured two on camera - the Great Southern Petrel and the Northern Petrel, and I’m getting all revved up to see albatross and penguins! And as we’re about to cross the Antarctic Convergence, we may even get to see a few before reaching the Antarctic Peninsula.

About that last sentence: guess where I learned this information? At an educational lecture this morning from the resident ornithologist!

Here We Come, Cetaceans
No whale (or iceberg, for that matter) spotting yet. However, we have been assured by the resident marine biologist that they are all ahead of us where the waters are cooler and the phytoplankton and krill, from the bottom of the food chain, are in abundance. We just need to catch up.

The crew has issued a challenge to the guests to be the first one to spot an iceberg - a very reasonable expectation once we cross the Antarctic Convergence. Even though the prize is apparently “immeasurable” I’m just in it for the glory. Challenge accepted.

More birding from the boat - another Great Southern Petrel

Catching Up - For Reference

Okay gang, so I know I'm waaaay behind on updating the blog.

(Aside: at exactly this time last week, hubs and I were at an airport hotel in Buenos Aires, having breakfast and getting ready to head to Ministro Pistarini International Airport, better known as Ezeiza or EZE, to begin our long journey home.)

I did write a few posts from the ship; I will share those here and indicate if they were written in "real time." For everything else, along with over 1,600 pictures I shot and and still need to review, I'll do my best to get caught up.

For now, I'll just say that Antarctica was incredible, and unlike anything I've ever seen or experienced before. Almost indescribable, in lots of ways. But - I'll do my best.

Homeward Bound

Update: we are alive and well and have access to WiFi!

Keeping this short as I'm updating via email from EZE as we wait for a taxi. More to come.