Antarctica, Astonishing

Antarctica, Astonishing

You first fly to Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. Then onwards to Ushuaia, located on the southernmost tip of South America. Ushuaia is nicknamed ‘The End of the World’. A nice, windy city. Most of the tourists here are traveling on to Antarctica.

Lunch in Andino restaurant. We walk to the Panorama viewpoint. The Fin del Mundo museum turns out to be a tourist trap. The Maritime Museum on the other hand is very interesting. It’s located in an old prison. There’s an atmosphere of harshness.

We check in on board. The ship is called the MS Ushuaia. How original. After a welcome drink and a lot of instructions we do the life jacket drill. The management on this trip is American. Most crew members are from Argentina or Chile.

At dinner we meet a nice guy called Auke. He is a walking encyclopedia about photography. We learn a lot from him.

The ship moves on. In a few hours we enter the Drake Passage. Here two oceans meet. The ship moves a lot. From right to left all the time. On all sides of the bed there are rods. So you don’t fall out. In the shower rods all around and you need it. Shaving is an adventure too!

It takes two days to cross the Drake Passage. My wife was smart to bring some sea sickness pills but most of the people become seasick. Well, more space for us to wander around.

Rough seas. Looking ahead into Drake Passage from the bridge we see dolphins. Fin whales as well.

The Drake Passage is named after English privateer Sir Francis Drake. His ship was blown far south (in 1578). This incident implied there was an ocean south of South America. The first recorded voyage through the passage was that of ‘Eendracht’, captained by the Dutch navigator Willem Schouten in 1616.

At dinner the sea is high and menacing. Knives, forks and spoons all fly through the room. One more conclusion. It’s getting much colder.

Every morning we are woken up by a loud bell sound. The American manager Anna then announces ‘Good morning, we are rock & rolling towards Antarctica’. At last we arrive.

First excursion to Aitcho Island. This needs a lot of preparation. We put on special boots, special underwear, thick coats and a sturdy hat to protect us for cold and windy weather. And we bring the camera of course.

Important: before you leave the main ship to board a zodiac and again when you enter the main ship you thoroughly clean your boots. We take nothing ashore – we leave nothing behind. A zodiac is a small inflatable rubber boat for 8 or 9 people we use to get ashore.

On Aitcho Island we mainly find two kinds of penguins. The Gentoo and the Chinstrap penguin. There are 8 penguin species in Antarctica. The two we see now we will see along the rest of the trip.

Because this is our first excursion we take our time. It’s slippery on the island but we manage to stay upright. In the same way we also visit Hydrurga Rocks and Neko Harbour.

Early in the morning we pass Lemaire Channel. Steep cliffs hem in the iceberg-filled passage which is 11 km long and just 1600 meters wide at its narrowest point. A Belgian Arctic expedition passed first through it in 1898. The captain named it for Charles Lemaire, a Belgian explorer of the Congo. It is very interesting to watch the ship carefully maneuvering here. Beautiful views. And very, very cold!

At dinner we meet two young guys from Taiwan. They have Chinese names of course but to make things easier they use Western names. So it’s Ed and Joseph. They are on a World Tour. In a few weeks they will be in Europe, they will also visit our country. When Ed and Joseph do, they stay at our place and we show them around. Years later (2019), we visit them in Taiwan.

We pay a visit to Vernadsky Station. This is a Ukrainian Research Base. The people who work here are happy to see us. They are very well organized. We send a postcard to our home address (which we never received). Drink coffee in their very inviting bar. Have a look at the sauna they often use.

Life is hard for the guys who work here. They stay here for half a year. The group is relatively small – you have to deal with that. There are cases known of people who got so lonely or frustrated they literally went mad. Back on the MS Ushuaia we spot a Humpback whale passing by.

Sightseeing trip on a zodiac in Paradise Bay. This time we are joined by a Japanese film crew. They shoot an episode for their travel program. The travel host tells about what he sees and experiences. We see the Leopard Seal as well as the Arctic Cormorant.

Ashore at Cuverville Island. I have never seen that many penguins together. Nature is fabulous here. It’s surely picture time. One of the guests – an American – dressed up as a penguin to come a little closer to this beautiful animals…

On the zodiac we look around. Spot a group of Antarctic Fur seals. A shipwreck. The only one here. It was called ‘Governoren’. In 1915, just before leaving the crew threw a party below decks. Alas during this party the boat caught fire. Only the boat was fatally injured.

Moving around we see ice in all kind of colors. We learn something about ice. The bluer it looks, the older it is. The other beautiful thing is the silence. In most other parts of the world you constantly hear all kinds of noise. Not here. Silence rules.

Last stop on Half Moon Island. Here we see a Southern Elephant seal, a beautiful bird called Arctic Shag and a lot of penguins.

We go back. We conquer Drake Passage again.

In the afternoon everybody is called to the central room. Here – one by one – we get a certificate for successfully having visited Antarctica (…). It comes with a loud applause and a hug from Anna, the American manager. Somehow I succeed in avoiding at least the hug.

Next morning I’m early in the main room and I try to find the light switch. Anna enters. I ask her to point out the light switch for me. She laughs and replies ‘A hug first !’.

This trip was made in 2015.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

 antarctica nature