2/10/09: We're off. After an late-starting but uneventful flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, we were bussed directly to our ship, and welcomed aboard and brought to our cabin. The luggage found us some hours later. We almost immediately headed back into Ushuaia to the nearest supermercado to fetch the necessities of ship life: gin, rum, wine, tonic and soda pop. We came back to the ship with about 20kg of stuff and our bar is now stocked.

As we write (Wednesday 2/11, 9:30 Atlantic time), we're rolling thru the high-ish seas of the inframous Drake Passage between S. America and Antarctica (swells around 15'). We've met the Cruise Director; she's good fun and a barrel of energy. We have our marching orders - we give lectures on most sea days (recall we're cruising on-the-cheap, as onboard Lecturers). First session is at the Internet Centre this morning (and at the start of each cruise segment) and we'll also be doing a surfeit of mostly-technology oriented lectures, mostly delivered by Kathy. You can see copies of the actual presentations here.

Our fellow passengers are mainly older Brits, with a sprinkling of US, Aussies, Kiwis, and South Africans.

Half Moon Island, Hope Bay & Antarctic Sound (2/12/09)

Disappointment! Deeply overcast weather with high swells in the water caused cancellation of the shore visits to a the Half Moon Bay penguin colony mid-way through the multi-hour procedure (Antarctic regulations permit a maximum of 100 passengers on shore, and with 500+ passengers that means at least 5 separate groups). We didn't make the cut. Had this been our first trip we'd have been really disappointed, but it was mostly the futile waiting time that bothered us.

Disappointment! Part II, but with Fabulous Photo Opps: After yesterday's troubles, we headed off to Hope Bay. Weather near freezing, with wind gusts up to 70 knots (about 75mph). You could go outside, but it was near impossible to walk into the wind, and difficult stand up once stationary. As one wag put it: "this gives new meaning to "camera shake". Nonetheless, folks were out in droves, including Kathy and I. Brrr. Antarctica is stunningly beautiful, both the snow-covered islands and the massive icebergs.

Our planned landing at Esperanza Base was cancelled - would YOU want to head into a zodiac in 70 knot winds in the Antarctic Sea? However, we got some just awesome photos of all the huge icebergs in Antarctic Sound. We tried to enter the Weddell Sea, but the pack ice was too thick. (This was the situation Shackleton faced, but he chose to proceed.)

We turned around and headed back for Half Moon Island, where the weather is alleged to have cleared, and we'll be 2nd in line (instead of 4th) for a return visit landing.

Half Moon Island II (2/13/09)

An unexpected diversion and special photo opportunity: our ship has ended up with a suitcase for a passenger in another cruise ship. We rendezvous' d in the lee of a huge iceberg, and the world's southernmost luggage transfer was successfully completed.

Much better today. Calm seas, plentiful penguins. Partly cloudy skies that looked good and cut down on potential sunburn.

We got on shore around 6:30pm (daylight has been around 5:30am to 10:30pm) and had about 45 minutes there, down from an hour to help other groups get their turns. Got some nice photos and its just fun watching penguins en masse. Spotted many fur seals and a few whale tails too.

Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands (2/14/09)

We sailed by Elephant Island where Shakleton's crew was stranded back in ~1917. This was particularly interesting for Kathy, who is seems like has read everything ever published on the subject. Hard to imagine that Shakleton's crew managed to stay alive and in good spirits under the conditions they had to live in. Otherwise, none-too-exciting scenery.

Falkland Islands

2/16/09: Off to a wet start. Today was supposed to be a short trek (about 1 1/4 miles each way) to a colony of albatross and penguins on small island in the far west of the Falklands. We were admonished about the strength of the sun ("Wear your sunscreen!") and the generally clear skies there. Met, however, with 30-50 knot windows and rain -- sleet at times. So, instead we are hanging out in the bar (drinking cappuccino, for cryin' our loud -- it's only 10am!), helping our fellow passengers out with their internet woes, and awaiting better weather. This is disappointing, but life will go on, as will our cruise. Better weather is forecast for tomorrow, when we'll be on the east side of the Falklands.

Interesting political history, here in the Falklands: the land has been claimed by the Spanish, the English, Americans, French, Dutch and Argentines; the Brits and the Argentines fought over it back in the mid-1980s, which put it on the world map for the first time, but based our lecture, Argentina had about the least claim to the land of anyone who has showed up in the last 200 years -- and the British Navy has a bit of an advantage over Argentina's.

After multiple aborted attempts at reaching shore somewhere in the Falklands, we finally reached Stanley -- the "big city" (2500) early Tuesday morning. Fairly fierce winds, but sunny, blue skies and a quaint little English town, albeit with a hundred or so well-marked minefields (from the brief war with Argentina in the early 1980s). Our only purchase (besides the manatory tonic water) was a little fridge magnet that said "Even Falkland Penguins give two thumbs up to Obama". We have been receiving hearty congratulations (and sighs of relief) from everyone we meet - taxi drivers, shop owners, and people onboard.

Killer Whale, or Loch Ness Monster?

The day wasn't entirely without excitement: as sort of a "consolation prize" (we really didn't need much consolation but I'm sure others did...), we got in close to one of the smaller, mostly uninhabited islands on the west side of the Falklands, cleverly named New Island. It contained the world's largest nesting area for black-browed albatrosses (think 120,000 breeding pairs); Scott took about 190 photos in 15 minutes, kept about 10 of them. Then, shortly after we got back into our cabin, unloaded our jackets and the camera stuff, an announcement came over the PA system: "Killer Whales off the starboard side!". The entire complement of passengers lines up, inside and out, along the starboard side of the boat. Scott's one remotely-viable picture could well be Nessie the Loch Ness Monster; Kathy did better since she was outside earlier. Tail of a Whale or Whale of a Tale?

 

South Georgia / Sandwich Islands: Grytviken (2/19/09)

One of the Scientists/Naturalists on board described this island as "his favorite spot for wildlife on the planet, bar none". That's quite a send-up. It's south of the Falklands by a bit (crossing back into the Antarctic region) but mostly east.

South Georgia Island is a British Protectorate. It's fame, such as it is, comes from three sources: it was the home for the booming whale industry for the early half of last century; it was the distant island that Shakleton sailed to (from Elephant Island) in a small open boat, to find help (from the whalers); and it is one of the great wildlife sanctuaries in the world. This is one of the places we most looked forward to visiting on the cruise.

Our arrival was delayed by a couple of hours due to "inconveniences" in the last port--fuel was not delivered to the ship in the proper timeframe due to the high winds. So instead of arriving 2ish, we showed up in Grytviken ("Grit-viken", "Pot Cove" in Norsk) at around 5pm, and we're in the group tagged first to go ashore. We're very excited to finally get to see this place - whaling station ruins, Shakleton's grave, incredible wildlife.

Belay that, mates: 60-plus knot winds made it impossible for anybody to get on-shore at South Georgia. Big disappointment but "he who is wise... never tries to revise... what's past and gone". Guess we'll have to come back some other time.

Next: a long sea crossing, Tristan da Cunha (one of the remotest islands on earth), then off to Africa.

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