We traveled on the Akademik Ioffe, operated by One Ocean
Expeditions, leaving from Ushuaia on November 18 and
returning there on December 9.
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Executive Summary
In a nutshell: "you have to do this". For me the highlights
were the amazing wildlife on South Georgia Island - upwards of
3/4 million king penguins in two rookeries - and the glaciers,
icebergs, snow and ice on the Antarctic Peninsula - shades of
white. The penguins, and the fur seals and elephant seals showed
no fear of humans; we spent hours watching and interacting with
them. We kayaked twice each day during our time around the
Peninsula, giving us a unique view of the ice. While around the
Peninsula we realized there were no airplanes, no contrails. And
the air clarity was phenomenal. You could only judge the
distance to some mountains by their different shade of white.
I've selected about 20% of the ~2500 pictures I took
and posted them here. I still have not figured out what to do
with the videos and panorama shots.
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Details
The trip was run by One Ocean Expeditions (OOE), a polar
expedition cruise company based Vancouver. Deb's nephew, Aaron
Lawton, is a partner and operations manager of OOE (and
some-time expedition leader, but not on this trip). They operate
two small vessels, leased from the Russian Academy of Science
out of their research fleet. We were on the Akademik Ioffe;
there were about 65 passengers on board with 20 OOE staff, and
~40 Russian crew actually making the ship go. So it was a cozy
trip. (OOE's sister ship, the Akademik Sergey Vavilov, traveled
essentially the same itinerary at the same time, and was full
with 92 passengers). This trip had a historical focus with two
polar historians on board: Huw Lewis-Jones and Kari Herbert. In
addition, there were the ship's artist (David McEown)
and photographer (Daisy
Gilardini), plus specialists in geology, birds (Tony Beck) and natural history.
We got to Ushuaia early to make sure we didn't miss the
boat. We took a bus tour to the Tierra del Fuego National Park
and rode the Tren del Fin del Mundo. We took a full day
excursion, including some off-road 4x4-ing to Lakes Escondido
and Cami, crossing the Andes at Garibaldi Pass. And we took a
cab to the Martial Glacier. Deb got a sampling of the excellent
ground support when, after breaking her front tooth the 2nd day
we were in Ushuaia, she was driven to a dentist on a Sunday
afternoon by a translator and had a temp put in right away. No
hassle at all - and on a Sunday afternoon. It surely would have
affected enjoying the trip!
We boarded the ship in Ushuaia, on the Beagle channel near
the tip of Tierra del Fuego (commonly regarded as the
southernmost city in the world). Our destinations (the Falkland
Islands, South Georgia Islands, and Antarctic Peninsula) are not
so close together, so there were two sea days before each
location. About half of the passengers turned green on the
journey from Ushuaia to the Falklands, with waves breaking over
the bow of the ship at times. The OOE staff did a good job on
the sea days of keeping us entertained and prepared for the next
adventure, initially with a solid dose of polar history from Huw Lewis-Jones and Kari
Herbert making sure we came to know the stories of Ernest
Shackleton and Frank Wild, Scott, Mawson and Amundsen, and of
their wives. There was quite a range of success/failure across
those expeditions. For example, the privations Shackleton and Co
endured in their 1914-1917 expedition are hard to imagine.
We started in the Falklands. Our first landing at Carcass
Island had to be abandoned due to excessive swells - we could
not get off the ship (the ship did not actually dock anywhere
after we left Ushuaia - excursions were all done by zodiac off
the gangway. Swells of over 1.5 m meant we stayed on board.)
West Point Island has a protected cove, so we were able to go
ashore there and visit a rockhopper penguin/black-browed
albatross shared rookery. This was our introduction to wildlife
that holds no fear of humans. At this time of spring, both bird
species were sitting on eggs. As you can see from some of the
photos, they were oblivious to our presence. The two residents
of the island treated us to tea and cakes at the end of our
visit. I imagine they might appreciate company from time to
time!
We stopped in at Stanley the next day. Stanley is a very
British town (~2500 residents). We started off with a walk
around Gypsy Cove, home to Magellanic penguins. They don't seem
to have got the memo that we were coming and were largely AWOL,
leaving only three penguins on shift for us to look at.
While we were in port, there was a memorial at the cathedral
for the ex-governor, Sir Rex Hunt, who was in office during the
1982 Falklands war. He had died earlier in November, and
services were held in London and Stanley. Also in Stanley, there
was a special treat for one of our polar historians, Kari
Herbert. Her father, Sir Wally Herbert, was a famous polar
explorer in his own right, and a survival hut he had stayed in
for six months on the Antarctic peninsula in the 1960's had been
moved recently to the museum in Stanley. It was the first time
she'd seen it. (Later in the trip, we also visited its original
location on the Peninsula at Portal Point.)
From the Falklands, it was off to South Georgia, being
educated on penguins, ice and the Antarctic region along the
way. Here the true highlights were the king penguin rookeries at
Salisbury Plain and St. Andrews Bay. Something like a quarter
and half million kings at each location, respectively. The
sight, sound and smell(!) were something else. We were also
treated to fur seals and elephant seals, also largely unfazed by
our presence. King penquins have a two-year cycle for breeding
and we saw chicks mostly at adult size, up to fledging and
shedding their brown coat of feathers. We spent hours observing
and interacting with them. There is a 5m rule for approaching
wildlife, but if they approach you don't have to retreat. You
can see some pretty close-up encounters in the photos.
We stopped in Grytviken, site of an old abandoned Norwegian
whaling station. We'd been steeped in the whaling/sealing
history as well. It was nice to see the wildlife reclaiming the
station. There was a toast given at Shackleton's and Wild's
graves - a great-niece of Wild's was on the trip with us. We
also got to kayak in a snowfall... it's so quiet. We were
treated to an antarctic tern landing on one of our boats and a
fur seal came up beside my boat to give me a long examination.
Along the way, we'd gone ashore at Stromness Harbour,
another abandoned whaling station. We saw a herd of reindeer -
they'd been brought to the island by the Norwegians in the early
20th century, for sport and food. As part of the rat eradication
program, the reindeer will be collateral damage; they are to be
eliminated in the coming months. (I think a small number may be
transferred to the Falklands - they were said to be the only
non-irradiated reindeer in the wild after Chernobyl.. It was
said that it took the reindeer only two seasons to switch
breeding to the Antarctic spring.
We were given a presentation by a member of the South
Georgia Heritage group about the rat eradication. It is a very
ambitious program to eliminate the Norwegian rats who decimate
the bird populations. Recovery is already being seen in the
areas where the eradication has already happened. We were also
encouraged to donate to the cause (which we did). OOE has helped
out by delivering helicopters for the first phase of the
process.
From South Georgia, it was on to Antarctica proper (defined
as south of 600 latitude). On one of the sea
days, David McEown gave a sketching class and taught us
all how to draw penguins. He also treated us to a lightning
painting exhibition - paint the aurora in 20 minutes from
scratch. Daisy Gilardini gave lectures on taking good photos,
how to use Photoshop and did one-on-one critiques of passenger
photos.
Our first stop in Antarctica was at Deception Island, the
caldera of an active volcano - there is a small break in the
caldera wall big enough for a ship to sail through, and we did
so at dusk. The light was amazing. We were also treated to our
first view of Chinstrap penguins.
Then on to other destinations along the Peninsula. You'll
see from the photos the grandeur of the mountains, glaciers and
ice. We were able to kayak in rash ice and among the icebergs,
sometimes in small mazes of ice. We were treated to Gentoo,
Adelie and Chinstrap penguins. Sadly no Emperor penquins that
far north. We got as far south as 650 - the sun
dipped below the horizon around 11:30 pm and back up around
02:30, never really getting dark. We had wonderful sunsets on
Gerlache Strait.
On the last night, Daisy and David showed off an 18 minute
film/slide show they'd made from passenger photos (augmented by
short videos of their own). It made for a wonderful souvenir of
the trip (and took the pressure off having to get these pictures
out the door asap!).
Tidbits
We were a bit disappointed not to cross the Antarctic Circle
(66 degrees latitude). We came very close, getting to 64.9
degrees on our last stop on the peninsula. Even though we
did not have 24 hours of daylight, it never really got dark.
Sunrise was around 3:30 a.m.; sunset around 11:30 p.m., but
overnight it was twilight, not really dark. We had black-out
curtains on the window in our cabin.
We were indocrinated about the Antarctic Treaty and the
pristeenness of South Georgia. To that end, we had a "vacuum
party" between the Falklands and South Georgia cleaning every
bit of apparel we might take on to the island to avoid
introducing any invasive species.
Meals were a big part of the journey. Food was good and
plentiful (perhaps too plentiful!) with a buffet for breakfast,
and a salad bar at lunch and dinner, followed by served meals
(typically three choices for dinner) at group tables. At the end
of each meal, David McGonigal the expedition leader, would tell
us about the upcoming events for the current day or the next.
Most days, we went up to the top deck before breakfast to
see where we were, get some air and drop some GPS breadcrumb
photo trails (all my cameras have GPS now). We had rented heavy
duty gear (bib pants and parkas, plus gum boots for wet
landings); usually those were reserved for the coldest days and
shore excursions. We also rented waterproof binoculars from the
ship (and waterproof backpacks that we only used once).
The bridge was usually open, so we spent a fair bit of time
there watching for wildlife, and ice and weather. One of the
Russian bridge officers was quite interested in my work, in
fact.
Sixteen people had signed up for kayaking. We had two guides
- Mark Scrivner (from Ottawa) and Sophie Ballagh (from New
Zealand). For kayak outings, we would all get into one or two
zodiacs and drag the kayaks (tied to back of the zodiac) to the
put-in location. We would get into the boats from the zodiac and
when done, get back into the zodiac for the trip back to the
ship. We also got to go in the water a couple of times (in our
dry suits!) and our guides accommodated us by each doing an
eskimo roll. I think they enjoyed it, though it may have given
them ice cream headaches! Our guides were excellent, both
skilled in kayaking and excited to be in the Antarctic (you can
see from the look on Sophie's face when the tern landed on her
kayak). Mark was the quiet one and Sophie the bubbly kiwi. They
made a great pair.
Each evening after dinner there was a short bar talk given
by one of the staff - topics ranged from orcas in British
Columbia to tying knots to wrangling penquins (for attaching
tracking tags). The bar/lounge was a magnet during off periods.
It helped that there was a constant supply of tea and hot
chocolate. And fresh pastries at daily tea time.
One evening, there was a limerick contest, hosted by Huw (he
also acted as emcee for the charity auction on the last evening
-- Deb got outbid on a book of Daisy's photos). Deb got
honourable mention for her limerick, but was disqualified from
the main event because it was too clean (the voting process for
best limerick was a hoot):
"A Cambridge professor named Huw
told tales of great derring-do.
When asked for the time,
he answered in rhyme.
Polar history was not all he knew."
I felt a perverse pleasure in being one of the few on board
with a point and shoot camera. And iPhone5. Most people had very
impressive SLR's, though several seemed to have been purchased
for the trip. The iPhone5 actually was very useful for taking
panorama photos. You can see views of the ship's living spaces
via the panoramas.
The passengers were largely a mix of US, Canadian, South
African, British and Aussies. In a poll, half owned up to having
been to 7 continents. Half of the rest to 6. Three weeks was
long enough to get to know several of the passengers and staff
pretty well. Hopefully we'll stay in touch...
