PUERTO NATALES to EMBARCATION MS MIDNATSOL
We were sad to learn this morning that Silvia's father passed away last night. She was diligent and responsible as ever, working with Gate 1 in the US to find another tour manager to step into her shoes for the next two weeks so she could be with her family. There was a consensus among our group that we'd be just fine without a dedicated tour manager while we're on our expedition ship (how much trouble could we get into on the boat?), but Gate 1 did find a substitute. So we said a sad goodbye to Silvia after boarding the MS Midnatsol and hello to our new tour manager, Rosemaria. We hope to see Silvia again in two weeks when we head to Santiago for the conclusion of our trip.
We left Puerto Natales around 9 this morning for our three hour drive across the flat range of southern Patagonia to Punta Arenas. The land is flat and empty, broken by occasional ranch buildings or a flock of sheep.
During the drive, Alexandra provided commentary about Chile and the original inhabitants of Patagonia and produced a lot of props ranging from clothing to hunting weapons to drawings of Ona ceremonial costumes. She's a very good guide, and obviously loves what she does.
As we approached Punta Arenas, we had our first glimpse of the Straits of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego! Unfortunately, the bull photobombed this pictures from the bus.
It can be so windy here that officials put up guide ropes on the streets for people to hold on to. I guess we've been lucky not to have experienced these extreme winds we keep hearing about. Instead, we saw some of the rope segments, though most had been taken down.
We learned that ship boarding commenced at 3 pm instead of noon, so we had time to see a little of the town before we were turned loose to find lunch on our own. We ate at La Luna, where we tried several seafood dishes which took so long to prepare that we were the last people back to the bus. Charley and Greg left the restaurant first so they could grab a geocache at the commemorative Magellan statue in the main square.
Kathy and I took Alexandra's advice and rubbed the toe of the Indian at the base of the statute. It's supposed to bring good fortune, but I suspect it probably didn't work well for the Indian.
Finally we boarded our ship. We have a small outside cabin in the aft of the ship with a window, which will be great when we get into iceberg territory. After the mandatory safety drill, the ship sailed around 7:15 pm. We're on our way!
(This is the complicated costume we are to put on in the event we need the lifeboats. It helps keep you dry and warm, and would be a lifesaver in a lifeboat in the Antarctic. But it took the crewman model some time to get everything tightened and fastened. It will be entertaining to see 400 passengers try to do it in a panic if necessary.)
After dinner we attended a briefing to meet the ship officers and the expedition team. The team is made up of 19 experts in geology, anthropology, sea ice, aquatic mammals, sea birds, kayaking, biology, etc. There is also a lab on board with microscopes and other equipment to analyze water and ice samples as we travel south. We look forward to the team's lectures and spending time with them during our landings.
We enjoyed our first sunset at sea and are eager to see what tomorrow brings. Favorable seas are forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
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SUNDAY, February 5
AT SEA - GARIBALDI FJORD & GLACIER
This was our first tour day without a wake-up call! But there was plenty to do on our first full cruising day. After crossing overnight from Punta Arenas, we woke to a beautiful day in the Bryan Channel, headed for Garibaldi Fjord.
We were issued our heavy rubber boots this morning, and had a briefing on safety and loading / unloading from the Tender boats that will take us on our landings and cruising expeditions. The small boats are like zodiacs:
inflatable boats with metal floors that can carry up to 24 people, though we'll generally have 16-18 aboard.
As the time for our boat group neared, we geared up per the staff recommendation in two pairs of socks, two coats, hat, gloves, rain pants over regular pants, our heavy (and warm) rubber boots and lifevest. Then we waddled like penguins down to the tender pit to be assisted into our boat.
The cruise was great. Our mooring was picturesque, with "hanging" glaciers (which do not reach the water) above the fjord, waterfalls streaming down the walls, and small icebergs dotting the water surface. As we pulled away from the ship and rounded a slight bend, the marine-terminating Garibaldi Glacier and its towering icefield came into view.
There was a great, vocal colony of Patagonian sea lions yammering on the rocks. Wi-Fi limitations preclude inserting a video here, but I'll try after we get home. The bulls are enormous and have faces only their mothers could love. There was a great deal of barking, roaring, chattering, fighting and splashing. A group of females kept popping up like periscopes to peer at us.
Kelp geese
A crystal ball from an iceberg
We got back in time for the next briefing, which was full of excitement and cautions about tomorrow's anticipating landing at Cape Horn. The weather forecast is favorable but the landing is challenging at best and can get treacherous with the swells. We hope the weather holds and we get to try it.
We passed one spectacular glacier after another as we cruised to the Beagle Channel.
The final program today was a lecture on the Yamana Sea Hunters of Cape Horn by the expedition anthropologist. He's been living in Puerto Williams on Navarito Island for 32 years with 150 remaining Yamanas, including the 88 year old sole surviving pureblood Yamaha. The talk included many photos from 1882 and cultural information about their families, diet and social structure. Until the Europeans arrived, the people lived naked year round. They coated themselves with the melted fat and blubber from hunted sea lions and beached whales, which provided protection and insulation from the cold and wet. For survival here, it is most important to stay dry and be able to move quickly for hunting. Their approach was more effective than using seal skins, which would have been wet and heavy. Amazingly, the women would dive year-round to harvest mussels, crabs and other sea life.
At dusk we passed Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the southern most city in the world. Tomorrow morning we will - hopefully - land at Cape Horn.
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MONDAY , February 6
CAPE HORN
We woke this morning to 46°, clouds and drizzle, but the seas were relatively calm so the landing was on. We are fortunate, as the last two sailings bypassed the Cape on both the outbound and return journeys due to weather conditions.
Our boat today was 7th of 12, so we had time to attend a lecture on seabirds and try to absorb info on identifying albatrosses, petrels, terns, skuas, and lots of other birds before our boat number was called to the tender bay. Charley and another tall guy had to hold hands and extend their arms to demonstrate the 12 foot wing span of the wandering albatross.
I was glad we'd had our first tender outing in calm seas yesterday, as it was a lot more challenging today. Two crew members on the deck grabbed each arm and handed us off to two more crew members in the tender. The tenders rise and fall on the swells, so there's a countdown and then a quick step onto the slippery inflated side of the tender at the handoff, then one scoots down the side and hold onto the ropes for the thrill ride ashore.
Upon landing, we climbed 175 steps up the rocky cliff to explore the lighthouse, chapel, and monuments.
In the lighthouse, we met the wife and one of the young sons of the Chilean naval officer who is stationed at the lighthouse. AND we got a national park stamp!
There are well-maintained boardwalks everywhere to protect the vegetation. After about an hour and a half, we headed back down to the landing site to return to the ship.
As we had been on land, we went through the mandatory boot disinfection process for the first time. Following the Antarctic protocol, they are careful to avoid cross-contamination between islands. Here's Greg in the "guanomatic", a contraption that scrubs the sides and treads of our rubber boots. Next step is a disinfectant wash, which is allowed to dry on the boots while they sit on their trays in our cabins.
The afternoon lecture was on atmospheric currents and oceanic tunnels, a complex topic that I couldn't begin to explain. Kiki did a great job illustrating the relationship between them and the role of temperature and solar effects.
With no land masses to deflect its flow, the Antarctic circumpolar current is the world's strongest ocean current. Icebergs caught in the current can circumnavigate the world several times as they slowly melt away. The average wind speed in January is a blustery 25.5 mph.
Now we sail across the Drake Passage for 36 hours. We're anticipating a relatively easy crossing, though our lifevests are swinging on their hooks and we are definitely rolling more than we have previously.
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TUESDAY , February 7
CROSSING THE DRAKE PASSAGE
We woke to continued gentle swells, and 39°F temps for both air and water. The slight wind made it feel warmer than yesterday when we walked laps around the ship. The expedition crew said today that these are the best conditions they've experienced since the last season. Greg gave me a high five. As the pitching picked up a little late last night, we had both put on our acupressure bracelets and a scopolamine patch before turning in. No issues today.
The captain advised that we were truly in deep water now, with a depth of 12,000 feet. We were about halfway through the 480 mile visage from Cape Horn to our first Antarctic landing.
The ship has a Science Centre with banks of microscopes to examine water, kelp fronds, berries, etc that are collected by the expedition crew. It's equipped with scientific books on the marine and aquatic life, geology, and so on, and staffed by the crew specialists. We saw tiny snails living on the kelp, microscopic shrimp in the water, air bubbles trapped in glacier ice. It's a nice setup to peer into the sea life beyond our own limits of observation.
We attended a mandatory pre-Antarctica briefing today for an introduction to the Antarctic Treaty and procedures / regulations for tourism landings on the continent. The treaty was negotiated and signed in 1959 by 12 countries, and now has 53 signatory nations. It preserves Antarctica as a natural reserve dedicated to peace and science. There is no military presence, and no exploitation (like mining) of its natural resources.
Recognizing that this is the largest wilderness on earth, IAATO (International association of Antarctica Tour Operators) was founded in 1991 to advocate and promote safe and environmentally responsible private-sector travel to the Antarctic. They've established site guidelines and protocols for landings and assure that the wildlife is not stressed by visits, and that the pristine environment is preserved. Since tourism began here in 1969, visitors have increased from a few hundred to about 30,000 a year.
While not all tourists to Antarctica will make landings there, those who do must observe strict guidelines. No plastic bags, cairns, graffiti, food, hitchhiking seed pods, botanical or animal species should be introduced into the specialized Antarctic environment. Also with our 400 fellow travelers, we dutifully complied and took our backpack, camera cases, gloves, hats, and rain pants to be vacuumed prior to our first landing tomorrow.
We crossed the 40 km wide convergence of the South Atlantic and Antarctic oceans today, and the 60° parallel around noon. Now we are officially in Antarctica...though still no land in site.
I've been trying to capture a photo of one of the wandering albatrosses that circle the ship from time to time. I'll keep trying.
In addition to the IAATO briefing, we attended a photography lecture and a briefing for tomorrow's scheduled landing and cruising at Half Moon Island. Everyone is excited at the prospect of coming face-to-face with our first penguins, the adorable little chinstraps.
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WEDNESDAY, February 8
HALF MOON ISLAND
We woke to 37° and blue skies. Two of the activities schedule for today (scenic cruising and kayak adventure) were cancelled, however, due to high winds. Happily, the tender landings on the little island called Half Moon were still on.
As only 100 tourists are allowed on shore at a time, our ship implements a rotation system that assures everyone gets a chance to land. Today we were in the first group of boats called, and were ashore by 9:30. After a quick briefing at the landing site regarding different places to walk to, we were told to return in 90 minutes and turned loose.
To our delight, a few fur seals and chinstrap penguins greeted us at the landing site.
The expedition staff had marked trails with red flags, and were stationed around the island to remind people not to get too close to the seals or penguins, to keep us from dallying near or stepping on the "penguin highways", which the pedestrian birds favor to get to and from the sea.
The chinstraps are almost 2 feet high and incredibly cute, comical and fearless. I sat on a rock a few times to watch them hopping up and down the rocks as they busily went about their business. We were not to approach within 5 metres / 15 feet of the penguins (and 15 metres, or 50 ft, for the fur seals), but no one had given the message to the penguins. They would come within a couple of feet to inspect us as they continued on their paths.
Most of the snow had melted on the rocky island, but snow-covered mountains and glaciers lined the sound behind Half Moon Island.
Fresh water pond in the foreground.
Some of the adult penguins were going through their annual molting, which renders them unable to swim for a couple of weeks. It's a stressful time for the birds, as their food all comes from the sea. They are sea birds, and live on land only to nest and raise their young. The chicks, too, are unable to swim until they get their adult feathers. They aggressively chase their parents begging for regurgitated food, even when they have grown to be the same size as their parents.
Fluffy fledgling chick.
The chinstraps look like proper little English hobbies with their black crowns. Their chinstraps make them look like they are smiling as they come to check you out.
Then there were the fur seals, who can attack people if they or their young are threatened. We saw only lazy ones; but you can check out the teeth in the second photo here.
And the skuas, birds who like to dine on penguin chicks.
The staff told us that a lone young king penguin had been sighted at the other end of the island, so many of us trekked over there. They later told us they'd never seen one on this island before. 🐧
And we were not disappointed.
I almost stepped on a gentoo penguin while watching the king. Greg alerted me just in time. The gentoos are not always on this island, either.
We were back on board by lunch time. This afternoon's activities included a lecture on penguins, the Frozen Seas segment from the Blue Planet series, and a briefing on tomorrow's visit to Damoy Point on Dorian Bay.
We cruised through a beautiful channel all late afternoon and early evening. There were numerous humpback whale sightings, and clusters of penguins who would pop up like inflatable bowling pins and throw their entire bodies out of the water as they skimmed along. Very fast, very funny.
