, Antarctica

I woke several times in the night as the boat listed sailing through some big gusts, quite annoying having Justin wake up fresh as a daisy having slept through it all. Drinking several cups of coffee at breakfast perked me up, and the announcement that we would cruise round Mikkelsen harbour before landing on D’Hainaut Island is a small, largely flat & rocky island (less than 1km2) that lies within Mikkelsen Harbour on the southern coast of Trinity Island. The area was first charted by Nordenskjöld’s Swedish Expedition, and later used by whalers as a mooring point for factory ships each season from 1910-1917. The remains of wooden casks, water boats and whale carcasses dating to this period can be seen at the landing beach, and there is a semi-derelict Argentine refuge hut that was established in 1954. The weather was described by Ross, our driver as ‘soupy’ a dense grey fog hung over the sea. We zoomed around the coast looking at Gentoo & Chinstrap penguins, seeing more jumping in the water. Fur seals and Cormorant birds were also found on the craggy, algae covered rocks around the bay. We then got to land on D’Hainaut island which had a colony of Gentoo penguins along with large whale bones. Fur seals once again littered the landing shore in varying states of interest in us but the stars here were the penguins. We walked part the adults going through a moult, and clambered over a small hill which was just covered in penguin poop. This stuff is pinkish due to the krill they eat and stinks! We spent about an hour watching the penguins, saw 2 with young chicks in the nest and found if we just sat quietly the juvenile birds would be curious enough to come up to us – so cute! Justin even got pecked by one until it decided he didn’t taste as good as Krill. Took a bit longer washing down as we got back onboard the ship and the cabin still smells a little penguinish. After our usual buffet lunch where I also finished five banana fritters off quite easily, we hopped back in the zodiacs to explore Cierva Cove. Cierva Cove lies on the south side of Cape Herschel, within Hughes Bay. It was named after Juan de la Cierva, the inventor of the autogiro (the precursor to the helicopter, first flown in 1923). The cove is surrounded by glaciated peaks and valleys up to 2000m in height, is known for its stunning icebergs, which were all stunning sculptures. They seem to be more vivid against the grey cloud, towering in chunks of blue and white. Lots of Antarctic Tern birds gliding around the rock. We found a Weddell seal having a good roll and scratch on a iceburg, and also 2 Crabeater seals playing in the water. Lots of penguins rushing through the water before hopping up to the rocks, I even saw a chick being fed! The great spot today were 3 Antarctic Minke whales that were just off the front of the zodiacs, apparently about 7m long and one of the fastest. We ended up staying out for 3 hours and ended the cruise by stepping off the zodiac onto the main Antarctica continent. An area home to Primavera, an Argentinian summer research station but for us a jump onto the rock for a official Antarctic picture as I can now say I have been to all 7 continents in the world! This evening was a BBQ on deck, below zero but good food and mulled wine to keep us going!

Fortín Sargento Cabral, Antarctica

About 4am this morning it became clear that the winds had picked up, it made it particularly fun at breakfast as the boat kept listing in the wind causing glasses and cutlery to slide off! The plan was to visit Paulet Island but there was no way the Zodiacs would survive in the wind and waves. We moved on back towards the Antarctica peninsula and anchored off Andersson Island, so we could do a cruise around the moving ice. It was colder today and still overcast so it didn’t look promising but always keen to get off and explore. Turned out to be fantastic, lots of cool ice formations (glacial ice) with blue sections to photo, we then saw a Fur seal sat lazing on a flatter piece. Spotted 2 Leopard seals, one sliding back to the water. These are penguin predators and look more like a snake who have swallowed a small animal! There were 3 Crabeater seals lazing on ice, looking cuddly, you could see scars on one where as pups they are often preyed upon by Leopard seals. Saw lots of penguins, Justin loving the groups swimming and jumping through the water. Found our first Weddell seal just as we were heading back to the boat. We also saw Terns flying overhead. Sunshine greeted us as we anchored off Brown bluff island, and we rushed to the bridge as a whale sighting was announced. There were 2 Humpback whales near the ship blowing and flipping their tails up at us! Brown Bluff lies on the eastern side of the Tabarin Peninsula overlooking Antarctic Sound. It is an ice-capped, flat-topped mountain (745m or 2400ft) with a prominent cliff of reddish-brown volcanic rock on the north face. Brown Bluff hosts around 20,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins and about 600 Gentoo penguin pairs as well as nesting kelp gulls and snow petrels. Zodiac cruising started at 3.15 and as we stepped out, it might as well have been a different day, sun was streaming onto the ice chunks as we cruised the clear, calm waters. We saw a Leopard seal watching us from a ice plate and then we were able to approach Bluff Island beach to see Adelie penguins running around and flipping out of the water, fur seals were also cooling off by barrel rolling in the sea. It was amazing zipping through ice blocks in such gorgeous weather. We were out for about an hour and a half before heading back to the ship. Justin and I reviewed pictures over a mug of wine, he really does have a new penguin obsession!

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Yesterday they launched a guessing competition for the time we would see the first iceburg, it appeared at 07:59 this morning. We went to a lecture on seals after breakfast and learnt about what we might see. The elephant seal (so called for the male’s ugly nose) were the most interesting to me. The male can reach up to 4000kg but only 2-3% will mate in their lifetime. They approach the breeding ground and essentially have to defend their part of beach from other males whilst the females arrive. The male will only be ‘beachmaster’ for 3 or so years but in each of those years will have a harem of approximately 100 females. During the season of 2 months he has to starve himself and stay alert to any approaching male threat! The female breeds most years of her life in a delayed pregnancy, so it won’t implant until she has recovered to a suitable condition after weaning her current pup. We saw spouting Sei whales off the bridge this morning but it would be great to get closer to a whale. Penguin Island is a small, ovular shaped island located off the southeastern section of King George Island. Approximately 1.6 km (1 mi) long, the island’s prominent geological feature is the 170m high cone of Deacon Peak, the northern face of which slopes gently down to the landing beach. Low cliffs surround most of the island, and there is a crater lake in the northeast. Chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels, Antarctic terns, kelp gulls and skuas breed at this site. Southern elephant seals and Weddell seals are known to regularly haul out. About lunch time we anchor off the shore of Penguin Island, the weather is clearing and excitement is building as we can see the hundreds of penguins in the colony perched on the rocks. We are one of the first groups to get to shore and start exploring, I wasn’t really prepared for the aggressive fur seals that we kept a wide berth from or the hundreds and thousands of Chinstrap penguins. The adults are moulting a new coat which takes a lot of their energy and was really fascinating to see them in different phases. I also loved the huge elephant seals just lying, snoring on the beach. Time flew by and after an hour or so we switched into the zodiacs and cruised around the bay looking at the glacier and birds including the Southern Great Petrels and Antarctic Cormorant. We had fabulous weather and it was lovely seeing so many thrilled people back at the ship, buzzing about their experience, including Casper who had watched a penguin get eaten by a Fur seal !!!

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Woke in the night, unnerved and had trouble sleeping, I think it was just the magnitude of crossing Drake’s Passage going so far from help. Had to get up to stop the beer rattling in the fridge! Day of naps between briefings, we went and organised our boots and learnt more about how to safely deploy into the zodiacs. Also listened to a good photography lecture, which will hopefully maximise my shots. We have had a pretty flat trip across and have discovered we are making good time, so there is a promise of a excursion to penguin island, which sounds great if we can. Everyone is very friendly and you sit where you like at meals so have already met Dutch, American & Australian on here with relatively few Brits. We will cross both the Polar front tonight (where sea temperature drops 4degrees and also the political line into Antarctica overnight. Other things I learnt today: Krill most plentiful animals in the world and feed the whole food chain. Penguins have long legs (just long bodies cover them).

Ushuaia, Argentina

The hotel is pretty basic and there is very much a transitional feel to it so we decide not to hang round. It has a great location looking out over the Beagle channel but you can’t stroll along the shore due to a uncrossable river, so we took the road for 45mins back to town. We genuinely have nothing to do today prior to 3.30pm when we meet to embark the Ocean Diamond so we visited several coffee shops and made the most of wifi to catch up with friends. My post office credit card is blocked again, so really frustrated that I will have to ring them when I get back to resolve – don’t know what the issue is this time. We buy more wine and head down to the port to begin boarding, we also spot the huge cruise liner Crown Princess in the next berth which makes our ship look tiny in a good way. Cabin is a big size and we are just behind the bridge at the front of the ship, level 6, so good spot. We seem to get a lot of briefings and then a lifeboat drill, get our jackets which are huge yellow parkas…. all while people are taking pictures! Strange to be among so may tourists. We manage a big 4 course dinner, definitely going to be well fed and free wine throughout which was a surprise. Sleep was surprisingly had to come by, I seem to be awake as everything swayed around for most of the night. Finally put headphones in and moved head to other end of the bed which seemed more effective.

Ushuaia, Argentina

Amazing mountains and blue sky from the hotel this morning. Took a walk across the water to view the Beagle Channel and look back across at Ushuaia framed by the mountains. Visited the Museo Maritimo, Ushuaia was first built around this jail. The building still stands after being built by convicts 1902-1920, just incredible that they ferried from the quarry and constructed with their hands in such harsh climate. Several interesting exhibits on ship structures and Antarctica exploration make for a nice couple of hours immersion. Walked up and down town getting supplies for the boat in the form of wine and chocolate. Lunch was too big, forfeited a dinner for snacks in the hotel. Tomorrow we board our boat for Antarctica!

Río Grande, Argentina

I thought I would struggle to write anything for today, as it was a epic 10 hour bus trip from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia. It was actually ok, and fairly eventful. First we set off early, me wheeling my rucksack whilst justin carried his (some of my stuff fitting into his pack nicely) to the bus station. Boarded into our seats, with plenty of snacks to hand of course and we were off. Worth mentioning that this epic trip was driven by one driver and cost equivalent of £40, didn’t think £4 an hour was too bad. We drove onto a ferry about 2 hours in to cruise across Magellan strait, nice to stretch our legs and grab a coffee. The scenery is mainly flat against a blue sky with amazing cloud formations, see lots of guanaco, rhea, foxes and birds. Boarder crossing at San Sebastian was interesting, first the Chilean and then about 1km up the road is the Argentinian. We get off the bus each time and once through both it becomes clear one of the girls has a visa issue. We all go back to the Chilean side so she can access Wifi to download her visa to present to the Argentinian immigration. I knew this girl was trouble when she got on the bus with furry stripped gloves and indexed coloured notebook!!! So, actually crossed the border 3 times before getting everyone through and back on track. About 2 hours in or 1 hour from Ushuaia the scenery changed to become mountains and really stunning lakes, road got a bit winding as we dropped in to Ushuaia and the most southerly city on earth. No problems finding the hotel before a quick bowl of pasta and bed. Prices are way more down here, so need to be careful. Using this post to reflect a little on Chile. Friendly people, speak fast Spanish with slang terms. Never felt unsafe and really easy to travel around. Amused a lot by their obsession with providing a receipt, slow walking pace and pedestrian priority at all times. Food is often sweet with Dulce del leche (caramel) everywhere, even on toast for breakfast! General food is meat or cheese based and is more bland than I was expecting.

Punta Arenas, Chile

Today was a different day, glorious sunshine and blue sky. It was a bit of a ‘filler’ day due to the bus mix up but still enjoyed wandering around. Headed to the cemetery first, great mix of interesting graves from the wealthy marble domes to the apartment style I’d seen in Santiago all decorated with pictures, flowers and momentos. We also walked the whole shoreline, tons of birds flock to the old piers including Cormorants. Justin even spotted a pod of porpoise playing off the far end. Strolled back via a shopping mall (terrible but lots of duty free) and a coffee shop to recharge. Slow, easy day that was finished off with King Crab lasagna at La Cuisine, which was amazing. Earlyish night at our creaky hostel ready for our early bus.

Punta Arenas, Chile

We said goodbye to Suzie at 7am as she set off to catch her bus to El Calafate, Argentina. We then set about breakfasting and loading the car ready for the trip back to Punta Arenas. It was a really dreary day, not bad for a travel day though. Enjoyed the flat landscape and spotting the same animals we had on the way up – Darwin’s rhea (bit like an Ostrich), birds of prey and of course the flamingos which I insisted on photographing despite the cold wind. The were all huddled up with heads tucked in, can’t help but wonder if they just took a wrong turn such a strange place to see them! Found the hostel Bustamante easily and sorted the return of the hired car without issue, and boy was it filthy. Dropped some laundry off for tomorrow pick up, can feel prices starting to rise as we head south (laundry is still done on weight but what was 8000 pesos in Santiago is now 22000 pesos). We strolled around the main town, which is surprisingly nice as it clearly has had wealth with big colonial style buildings framing the main square. One such building is now a museum and we were able to wander through early 20th century living with many furnishings from Europe. Love that the newspaper here is called ‘el penguino’. Dinner was lovely this evening, La marmita, where I enjoyed some fish and veggies, definitely been living too much off meat, bread and cheese based meals.

Puerto Natales, Chile

Today was rainy, more so than expected so we woke late and headed back to Puerto Natales. We managed to sort tickets with Buses Pacheco from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia at the bus station here. It will be a Sunday trip as we couldn’t find a company for the Saturday. Not too much of an issue other than forfeiting a night’s accommodation and I hope Punta Arenas is more interesting than I initially read as we have a full day extra there. Spent the afternoon eating cake whilst catching up on the blog. Dinner was at Cafe Kaiken, roast lamb washed down with Chilean red! Last night with Suzie before she heads to Argentina was a great excuse for a nice meal.