We spot an iceberg – Antarctica, we are coming !
There was a competition to see who can guess the location and time of
the first iceberg to come to sight. Somehow I guessed it and won a bottle of
wine for my efforts the result: 12:26 pm Lat 61 4 75 S Long 61 0 34 W .
What did I guess ? 62.050S, 61.000W at 11:45 am. So, maybe if you are on
this cruise guessing the first iceberg location it might be still there and
you could use these coordinates, however these are massive frozen boats, so
this particular one is probably in Patagonia now forming the ocean brimming
its coast.
It was the second day of our Drake passage crossing. The crossing is smoother
than what I thought it would be though it was a bit tricky to get my clothes
on due to the wave motion. The combination of the travel sickness drug
Phenergan and jet lag is still making me quite dozy, so most of the day is
spent sleeping. I knew I should have used the other drugs, but then it’s still
sea out there so I haven’t missed a lot, apart from a few special interest
lectures.
The iceberg, cold sea winds and all that snow and ice requires a bit of a rug
up when you are standing up on the top deck of the ship. My drowsiness and
trance state has all but vanished. The cold is not relevant: iceberg,
Antarctica; over 25 years of dreaming has now morphed into reality.
Land ahoy: Table island. The first of a chain of islands all the way to
Antarctica, the time for passage flew by. Up close the island offers nothing
in the way of a safe landing spot for us humans but the the birds are a
perfectly adapted. They are more capable than we'll ever be. Having wings they
keep a safe roost away from threatening predators that abound in the Antarctic
region.
We get to land on the south Shetland Islands – part of the
Aitcho island group
(H.O. for Hydrographic Office) . Time to get off this roller coaster and
enjoy some land based action.
We see chinstrap penguins, aptly named, are nesting up high as well as on the
beach side. Penguins wow , these dudes are cool (so to speak) . We were
advised to get down low to achieve a more personal photo, and that worked, as
well as giving them the courage to come right up to you for closer examination
on their part.
The view from an elevated position is breathtaking. I spent a while traipsing
up high to soak in the view.
Some eggs do not quite make it. If early enough a penguin will lay another
egg, possibly a third if this happens.
Skuas are opportunists and will use all manner of tricks to gain access to a
penguin egg or young chick.
Walking down to the beach front it was a joy to watch the penguins leaving and
entering the water. Keeping the 5 metre distance was difficult, especially
when they walk right up to you ! We learn that we will probably see macaroni,
chinstrap, gentoo, adelie, king and magellene penguins. The big emperor
penguin is further south and is unlikely to be spotted. On this island the
gentoo penguin is also sharing real estate with the chinstraps.
Light is closing and it is time to depart. The Zodiac inflatable boats are quick, comfortable, albeit wet vessels giving us a good ride to the ship. Our supplied polar jackets are up to the job for keeping the spray off and were warm; and it also proved useful to have waterproof trousers.
For our first Zodiac outing we all pass with flying colours – tribute to the
staff of Aurora. We are are quickly and effectively taught to the procedures
for getting on to the Zodiac from the ship and off to shore as well as the
reverse. Strict protocols are in place for tagging and reversing tags to
check passenger counts, as well as disinfection of boots before leaving
and upon return to the ship.
We have had a good time on our first touch of the Antarctic lands, well
satisfied with the penguins, skuas and other bird life. At 62 degrees south we
are officially in the Antarctic circle.
Blog Indexes:
- Contents
- PDF documents of interest
- Antarctic peninsula route (pdf).
- Ship news: El Pinguino (pdf)
- Navigate:
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