South America, Days 108 to 116 - Stage 22: Punta Arenas to Antarctica - 65 degrees south

 

Amongst the icebergs in Antarctica

Day 108 Sunday 

Punta Arenas 

We went ashore and posted the last blog before going for a walk around town. We spent quite a long time here last time we were in South America, waiting to visit Torres del Paine, so it was interesting to see what we could remember. For me, not much, the Sara Braun house and the cemetery. We had a good walk around before returning to the ship for lunch and the regular quizzes.

Quite a few shipwrecks in the Chilean Fjords

Quizzes are a regular part of cruise days which we will take part in if there is nothing else to do, mostly because they are in the 10th deck observatory. We have even got a little sixsome loosely for this, Brenda and Mike and Kate and Bill. Midway through Brian thought he spotted a spout and indeed he did, there were lots. Lots and lots. I finished the quiz writing with one hand holding binoculars to my eyes with the other. We finished and went on deck, messaging Caroline the whale lady. They were a little further away by the time she arrived but there were upwards of 30 for a good couple of hours feeding. Lots of spouts, a few photographical backs and dorsal fins so enabling identification as a mixture of sei and fin whales.

The statue of Magellan in the plaza of Punta Arenas after which the Strait is named

Day 109 Monday 

At sea

We were scheduled to leave Punta Arenas at 10.00 am, but Captain had made the decision to depart at 22.00 the previous night to enable a convoluted journey through the fjords up three dead ends to see three more glaciers.

The memorial to the rescue of Shackletons crew from Elephant Island at Punta Arenas. The statue is of Commander Pardo and the bow of the tug Yelcho who took his ship (that was totally unsuitable for Antarctic waters) to rescue the 22 sailors marooned for 128 days on Elephant Island. Shackleton had sailed the Endurance's lifeboat, The James Caird from Elephant Island, after leaving his men there, to South Georgia to raise the alarm in one of the most epic sea journeys of all time. He hiked over the mountains of the island to a whalers station, who tried in vain to reach the island. Eventually he got to Punta Arenas where Commander Pardo took his ship to sea against all advice and successfully rescued all 22 sailors. Above information provided by Phil (who was in the navy for 34 years) and his wife Jackie, our fellow onboard passengers. Thank you both, I know you'll be reading this. We've had some great relaxing days together on deck and in the observatory room watching wildlife

It was a really good day, a mixture of being bundled up on deck to see glaciers, lectures and an invitation, along with Kate and Bill, to champagne, canapes and cake in Brenda and Mike's suite for their wedding anniversary, and Brenda's 82nd birthday.

Taking on fresh supplies at Punta Arenas for our week long journey to Antarctica. At least three large fuel tankers arrived to fill the ship with enough fuel, grey tanks were emptied and fresh water tanks were filled. Since no discharge at sea is allowed we were told to both wash our hands frequently but be sparing with water since all grey water has to be stored onboard until arriving back in Argentina

The afternoon lecture was on Shackleton and the Endurance, so I listened while looking out of the window where I'm sure I saw a whale. I don't think I'd fallen asleep and woken up hallucinating! In retrospect I think it was our first humpback, very close to the ship.

Another early morning and another trip along a dead-end fjord to see a glacier. This is the Garibaldi glacier and our captains favourite

The second fjord was so narrow that the pirouette for all sides to view and then make our way out was really impressive, he did not have much leeway. The last glacier was after dinner. He whizzed up the fjord to try and get there before dark which he succeeded, but as we rounded the penultimate bend there was a lot of ice in the water and it was really quite cloudy, and pouring with rain. There were only 4 of us stupid or hardy enough to be on deck, us and the couple who had been sitting next to us in the buffet. We didn't blame him at all for his hasty retreat and another very impressive manoeuvre.

Our nearest approach to this impressive glacier. Our ship is not reinforced so cannot break ice, so the collecting ice here meant we could go no closer. The width of the fjord was not much wider than the ship length but not only was our captain able to turn the ship round using the bow thrusters but also did 360 plus 180 degree turns to allow all cabins a view without leaving the comfort of the balcony. We were up in the open on deck, where it was cold but atmospheric

Day 110 Tuesday 

Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world.

We arrived very early 01.45, just as I awoke with cramp, which was jolly painful. Before breakfast we had sun, rain and snow, which continued to rotate throughout the day. The only consistent thing being the wind, which we were quite expecting, having been before. The number of people I heard expressing that they had never been so cold though, and we still have the get to Antarctica....

You might not work out what this photo is, but its the ice on the fjord reflected in the windows of the ship and, lower down is the captain standing on the bridge extension taking photographs. I thought it was a good photo!

We took ourselves on a little walk, sampling all the weathers going up to a strange little Mirador which I'm not sure was worth the effort. We followed this with a walk around the lagoon with some interesting birds, some of which appeared to be trying to kill us dropping mussels from a great height onto the pavement to crack them open.

Celebrating Brenda's 82nd birthday and her and Mike's 36th wedding anniversary (or so he thinks!) in their very nice cabin

That was enough weather. It really was quite extreme, the catamaran trips down the channel were certainly cancelled in the morning, though I did see a couple coming back in the afternoon with everyone huddled inside. The helicopter flight that Jane and Simon were on was postponed in the morning and then cancelled in the afternoon.

What does this all mean for our trip across the Drake Passage tomorrow?

A giant petrel 

Day 111 to 116 Wednesday to Monday 

Day 1 was slightly disappointing nature wise, though the weather was kind. A couple of black browed albatross, but we are waiting for a wandering albatross with a 3.5m wing span, some storm petrel and our first porpoising penguins. It was however, just a sea day, so although there is stuff out there it's not as concentrated as when we cross into the cold Antarctic waters.

Arriving in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. It's a place we've been to before, so didn't do any excursions, just a walk round town and the lagoon

Day 2 we are heading to Elephant island where Shackleton made landfall to rescue the crew of the Endurance. This was actually meant to be day 5 but Captain is taking advantage of good weather.

We have crossed into the Southern Ocean so although we didn't actually get the mist and visible effect of the convergence of cold and warmer water we have seen more "stuff". Two whale blow before leaving the cabin, a group of unidentified dolphin or porpoise and porpoising penguins at breakfast and a large group of sei or fin whales during the quiz. And we've got our first large iceberg on the horizon.

We were close to getting hit by falling mussels as these seabirds dropped them from a great height onto the path round the lagoon to break them. I think this might be a Dormilona Cara Negra, but I could be wrong. I've no-one to ask at the moment as they are all engrossed in a quiz that's going on (who invented the battery was the last question. I've no idea!) Alexander Volta was the answer, I've just heard it!

We crossed into polar waters at 60°south, which apparently has to be celebrated, a little like crossing the Equator, with a dip in the pool. Brian, along with ex navy Phil, who we have spent some time with, for reasons best known to himself, decided this was a good idea. It was cold, obviously. Although my excuse for not going was someone had to take the pictures mine are not very good, but fortunately other people's, including Jackie, Phil's wife, are!

I think this is a Chimango, there were quite a few around the lagoon

18.00 we were all on deck again for penguin rookeries and our final views of Elephant island, which was unfortunate as the band was actually doing a ballroom dancing set. Probably the only one of the cruise. Fortunately the two Australian ladies we had dinner with one night were in the lounge and we knew they danced so he was ok till I came in! We both had to strip off though, I'm currently wearing thermals, fleece lined trousers and waterproofs on the bottom, and two layers of merino, a fleece, a down jacket and a waterproof for outside. Not ideal for dancing, particularly in approach shoes, so they were off, but socks are not good either!

This big boy was quietly waiting along the coast for a passing fish. Its a Night Heron and isn't he fabulous!

A great day, flat calm, sun and low cloud on the island made for great views there and I got a good wildlife spotting score.

Chinstrap penguin, Antarctic fur seal, fin whale, grey headed and black browed albatross all of which we have pictures of. Black and white Cape Petrel and two diving whale flukes which there are no pictures of. Then at dinner two orca, the first of anyone on the trip of which we have a not very good picture, but good enough to prove that's what they are.

I had to take this photo on the dock in Ushuaia. If you look carefully you'll see Jackie in the window of our cabin. Look up from the front of the bonnet of the car to the square window under the lifeboat. That's us

Day 3

Opened the curtains at 06.15, much to Brian's disgruntlement, to huge tabular icebergs so our usual early morning on deck. We were meant to be at Hope Point, by an old Argentinian research station at 07.00 but we were late, due to the number of icebergs in the water en route, so we didn't quite make it, and then the cloud has come in, and the snow is coming down so the views are not what they were yesterday. Fortunately we still have calm seas and it has been possible to see penguins, looking very cute, on some of the bergs as we pass. It is however still quite spectacular.

She forgot to mention this in her text, but this was an exciting moment on our first day after leaving Ushuaia. That rock behind is Cape Horn, the very tip of South America and the rock that must be rounded to reach the Pacific Ocean in often very rough seas. Our crossing was relatively calm and we had a view, something that's quite unusual. Sailors who 'Rounded the Horn' in early wooden ships, usually sailing against the wind were highly regarded. They could be recognised by having one gold earing in the left ear. Apparently anyone who has rounded the Horn can eat with their left foot on the table. I don't think we'll be doing either! We left Ushuaia at 10:00pm and I assumed we'd round trhe Horn in darkness, something I was quite disappointed about. However on opening our curtains at 06:20 next morning I was confronted by its sight. In my excitement and brain still in sleep mode I tried to hurridly dress to get outside for photos, much to the amusement of Jackie. She joined me later to get this photo. 'Why didn't you bring me coffee?' she asked. No time, this was much more important!

Time constraints meant we missed our second stop and went straight to Deception island, through 'whale alley'. The history lecture meant we didn't get on deck till 15 minutes in when apparently we had missed so many blows , and backs and flukes. These were humpbacks. But there were still so many , it was amazing, who would have thought we could ever say, "oh it's just another humpback!"

I'll put this on before I go too far. The little red dots I put on the map periodically. This one shows the three glaciers at the end of dead end fjords we visited on the way to Ushuaia. The little white bit is an ice cap and we entered it from the top left and the twice from the bottom. 

Deception island is a caldera with an opening which sadly we are too big to go through. Inside is slightly warmer due to thermal activity and home to penguin rookeries and seal colonies. This led us to see the seal catching a penguin and tossing it into the air to skin it. Feathers not being to their taste! Interesting, and natural, but the reason I don't watch natural history programmes, I never know who I am rooting for! It also enabled us to not only see Antarctica, but to hear and smell it too.

And this one shows our route across Drakes Passage to Elephant Island and then our voyage through Antarctica to the 65th parallel. The gaps in my dots are when we were asleep. The straight line from South America ends at Elephant Island, where Shackletons men were marooned for 128 days awaiting rescue

Captain Antonio, who is Spanish, and apparently in the Spanish navy then organised a treat for us, bringing aboard 3 crew members from a Spanish navy ship here to support the research stations on the ice. Poor guys thought they were coming on to speak to some of the crew, not have a Q and A with 400 people.

And this is a close up of Elephant Island and our passage round it. Shackletons crew arrived ashore at our nearest approach at the top

Day 4

Much 'motion of the ocean' overnight, which meant I got out of bed half a dozen times, to move every empty coat hanger from the wardrobe, the bin from the bathroom, Brian's water bottle from the cupboard, check the safe, and finally the shoe horn from the other wardrobe!....but at 06.15 as we opened the curtains to views of the Melchior Islands, despite the above, we as usual, leapt out of bed. Most people don't like sea days but for me, on this cruise, I'm more likely to have that extra glass of wine before a shore day, than a sea day, but I am the person that looks for whales from an airplane!

Before getting there though there was quizzing to be done and here we are with Kate and Bill and Brenda and Mike

The views were amazing, but despite the note that this might be a place for orca, none were seen, so how smug were we when we finally saw Caroline, at lunchtime, to show her our orca photo from the day before yesterday. She didn't even put her glasses on to confirm!

The quiz at 09.30 was a very lack lustre affair as many of us couldn't actually sit down to participate for having to wander about with binoculars. The penguins (Gentoo) and seals (crabeater ) on icebergs that floated far to close for comfort were so cute, who was the lady who asked "who thought we'd all get so excited watching a penguin jump off an iceberg?" she seemed most surprised when I asked her wasn't that what we were all here for? Well that and the whales obviously.

Sightings off the deck included this grey headed albatross. Not the largest wingspan but impressive nonetheless

Our mid morning stop at Paradise Harbour, lasted a few hours as the views were amazing, the sun was out, it really wasn't that cold, the water was like a millpond, Captain had got some guys from the Chilean research base in the cove to come aboard (not that we could leave the deck to hear what they had to say, and you couldn't have looked out and not seen a humpback whale. And we thought we were blasé yesterday. Oh my goodness, if anyone says they haven't seen a whale I'm throwing them overboard! It was stunning. A fab paella with a chilled glass of sauvignon blanc with whales is one of the things I will always remember. How lucky am I?

On deck in front of our first iceberg. We saw hundreds more afterwards!

As we moved off the scenery was just as dramatic, though the wildlife did drop off a smidge, until it started snowing and the visibility dropped. By then it was time to go in, despite the clothes listed above (thanks to Simon and Diane who warned that the Atacama desert was 'bone shatteringly cold' not while we were there, but it did mean we brought everything) you can't stay out forever. We did come in, just before the snow really started falling!

Brian chatting with Phil at the 'Penguin Dip', a ritual that occurs at 60 degrees south and generally considered to be the point at which arctic waters and the polar region occurs. At this point warmer northern waters mix with colder Southern Ocean currents to bring up nutrients and an abundance of wildlife. They had filled the pool with arctic waters, thrown in some extra ice for good measure and invited all passengers daft enough to jump in the pool. Phil and I were two of many who did. Not for long it must be added! 

It's now clear again as we leave the Lemaire Passage and start our two day journey to the Falkland Islands. We are not expecting to see so much, or for the weather to be so good, but we can only hope.

Phil's Jackie's photo after we'd been in, drinking hot wine. He is 6 foot 5 inches, I haven't shrunk!

Day 5

In we all go! Getting in was not as bad as getting back out. The cold wind on a wet body was very chilling. But the hot wine afterwards helped!

The first of our two sea days and the Drake Passage is still being amazingly kind to us. There is a bit more swell it's true but it's sunny and clear. Makes you think you can just pop outside, which of course you can, but at somewhere around 4° you do still need lots of clothes on!

Today's tally so far is a Southern Royal Albatross, and a light mantled sooty albatross (neither quite as big as the wandering albatross), a couple of lonely penguins and a pod, or maybe two, of some very energetic cetaceans, narrowed down to either hourglass dolphins or southern right whale dolphins. Did they have a fin or not? Having studied Brian's rubbish photo which won't make it onto the blog, and had a discussion with Caroline we are going hourglass. Having seen the dolphins I went looking for Caroline at the stern of the boat and had a discussion, left her and walked back onto deck. I did swear as I was face to face with a pod of something, going past. Turns out that was a pod of Orca, so I saw them, hurrah, but Brian didn't, so no photos, boo.

I got so many really cute photos of these Chinstrap Penguins porpoising from the ship. This is a typical one. See how the one at the highest taking a breath. Apparently its easier to do these leaps than swim underwater as air is less dense than water

One of our best views so far of fin whales feeding in these rich waters

After a day and a half sailing across a relatively calm Southern Ocean we arrive at Elephant Island

It was here that Shackelton and his crew landed after the Endurance sank. Can you imagine being marooned here for 128 days? They lived on penguin and seal meat for the duration

Penguins still live here, but why they are scrambling up that steep slope is anyones guess

The icy, beautiful but forbidding southern side of Elephant Island

It was here that I got my only, but very poor photo of an Orca (killer whale). The unmistakable tall fin and white on the body made it a rare sight. They are quite abundant here we are told, but they were out of sight on our visit

Watch your step! The steaming pool and snow. It's cold but you get the best chance of sightings up here, so that's where we spent a lot of time. just going in for meals and a warm

Another 'must see' destination, Deception Island, an active volcano, although it doesn't look much in the photo. It's crater is open to the ocean at one point so provides a safe harbour. We were not allowed to go inside as we're considered too big, although our captain said he could have got her in there, but its against the rules. The waters inside a warm due to volcanic activity so contains a unique eco system with species unique to its waters. There's a Spanish Research Station in there and we had three guests from there to give us a talk

The entrance to Deception Island and the warm calm waters inside

This is Deception Island on my map. Iconic isn't it! The dots show how close we got

Hundreds of penguins line the rocks at the entrance to the island

OK, one more photo of porpoising penguins. We saw this so many times and they are so cute!

Here's the three Spanish Research Station people who came aboard and our captain. They thought they were going to give a talk to a few officers and were a bit daunted when they were led into a theatre full of passengers. They were good fun though and, of course they got a free lunch!

So we went on to what we all think was the absolute highlight of the trip. The dots finishing on the right, halfway down is Paradise Bay and words cannot express the beauty and wildlife present here. It was unbelievable. Glaciers from high surrounding mountains, floating icebergs, penguins, fur seals and more humpback whales than we could possibly count. Getting a photo of a whale tail as it descends into the depths is on everyone's bucket list, here there were endless. The area didn't look that big because of the high mountains, but we could see between 4 and 6km off every side and it was full of wildlife. Never did we expect to see something so amazing as this - and we had good weather too with some sun. almost no wind and flat calm sea - how lucky were we! 

I'm going to try to convey a bit of what we saw in a few photos, but they never really do it justice. Here's a couple of humpback whales eating very close to us

Amazing scenery

A group of penguins float by on an iceberg

Closely watched by a crabeater seal on another

So here's a whale tail as it dived down but, let me tell you we saw so many, sometimes three or four at once, continually all day

So I put together a montage of a few. This is just a brief selection of all those I got and that was a brief selection of all we saw. It was breathtaking!

Two Gentoo Penguins waddle across an iceberg as it floats past

More humpback whales feeding on the abundant fish in these waters 

Here's a whale just broken the surface on its side catching fish. You can see its open mouth on the right

This one confused Caroline our onboard wildlife and whale expert. It's a humpback with what appears to be three blowholes, but the only normally have two. She went away to research it and concluded that the third is a dimple which some whales exhibit. Nice to give her something to think about!

This was a group from a Chilean Research Station coming aboard to give a talk, but this photo has a humpback whale in front, just to give an idea of size. They are huge beasts! Nine of these Chileans came aboard, but I have to confess, we didn't go to their talk as there was too much to see outside. I think nearly all the research station came aboard, probably at the promise of a free lunch at the captains table!

More drop dead gorgeous photos. We didn't want to leave here, whoever named it it truly is Paradise!

I really tried hard to get a photo like this. It's a humpback breaking the surface on its way up with open mouth to catch fish. Anticipating where they will appear at great speed with the camera pointing in the right direction, ready focussed and ready to press the shutter was extremely had and I missed plenty. However I got this fairly average one that was the best of the bunch. You can see his mouth, upper and lower jaw with the ballooned throat on the left with all the fish and water he's just caught. Absolutely amazing to watch

From Paradise Bay we voyaged down this narrow channel, called something like Neumire. It was a narrow channel flanked with 1000m high cliffs and very beautiful. Had we been nowhere else it would have been the highlight but as we'd seen so much, the weather started to close in and visibility decrease and I've already put so many photos on, I haven't put any of this on. Just off to the left was our furthest south point before we turned and headed north. it was about 64.995 degrees south on my map, but I asked the captain if we had crossed the 65th parallel. He thought so, but after checking, confirmed it was slightly short. However, I'm claiming 65 degrees!

An iceberg in clear waters showing how much is underwater

We're now heading north-north-east towards the Falkland Islands, arrival tomorrow morning at 7:00am, we've had an amazing experience in Antarctica and leave with some great memories. We're still spending time on deck looking for wildlife and I got this photo of some small, very fast swimmers. Caroline managed to identify them from this photo as hourglass dolphins. Tomorrow, the Falklands, war sites, penguins and a tour of Port Stanley, we're looking forward to that, but also keeping our fingers crossed that we land. We have to be tendered in and if the sea is too rough they won't take us. Four our of five of the last visits had no landings. However, at the moment it's looking optimistic and our captain is determined to get us there if its possible. Next post, Buenos Aires after 25th February - until then, live long and prosper as our captain says as he signs off announcements 

I'm going to finish with this photo of a Cape Petrel taken by Phil. I've been trying to get a good photo of one for a while and I saw his effort on Facebook, so we nicked it. I'm sure he won't mind (he's got a much better camera than me!)