| s/y Nine of Cups A Sidetrip to Antarctica March 10-20, 2006 |
| Antarctica Facts: Capital: None Population: Officially none, except at research stations and then 1,200 in winter; 5,000 in summer Land Area: 5,100,021 sq miles (varies due to changing ice shelves) representing 8.9% of the earth’s land. It is the 5th largest of the 7 continents and about 1.5x the size of the US. The continent is divided into East and West Antarctica (aka Greater and Lesser) by the Trans-antartic Mountains. Language: No official language Currency: No currency High point: Vinson Massif, 16,066 feet above sea level Low Point: Bentley Subglacial Trench, -779 ft. Time Zone: A tricky question in a place where all time zones converge. So everyone in Antarctica officially goes by New Zealand time. |
| Our first landing was Aitcho Island in the South Shetlands. Cleverly named for the British Admiralty’s Hydrographic Office (“H-O”), this island is home to gentoo and chinstrap penguins. Since the South Shetlands are considered “peri- antarctic islands”, we were not yet officially in Antarctica. |
| On Danco Island, the sign noting the historical signficance of the island also provided good, but limited, reading material for this local gentoo penguin. |
| Our “little red ship” seems to be glacier- bound…just an illusion from the vantage point of our Zodiac. |
The Crew’s Reading/Viewing List:
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| With winter fast approaching, it's time to head north and out of this cold, high latitude place. Come back with us to Ushuaia and Up the Argentine Coast. |
| We left Nine of Cups on a mooring in Ushuaia, got a caretaker for Jelly and boarded the steel- hulled ship, Explorer (aka The Little Red Ship) bound for Antarctica for 10 days. |
| Antarctica, more than 99% solid ice, was finally considered a continent in 1840, and not just a group of isolated islands. |
| Yes, there is a Lonely Planet Guide to Antarctica and of course, we have it! |
| The Antarctic flag is symbolic only since no one country owns this continent. |
| The plan to visit Antarctica had been hatching for some time. After all, it IS the 7th continent and rarely visited by most travelers. We had even considered trying to work for a season in Antarctica, but our applications (along with 30,000 others we’ re told) were never even acknowledged. While in Puerto Montt, we chatted with a Dutch couple, Thalassa II, who had taken a 10-day passage aboard a research vessel from Ushuaia. Then in Ushuaia, we met up with "Asylum" who had just gotten back. The “bug” got us and never let go. We did not feel comfortable taking “Cups” there…most boats that sail there are steel boats able to cope with icebergs. The alternative was to take the route that Thalassa took. We ended up rushing through the canals to get to Ushuaia in time to make one of the last cruises of the season. At $2,750 USD per person last-minute rate, it is a large expenditure for miserly cruisers, but a once in a lifetime opportunity, we thought. We rarely regret what we do, only what we do NOT do. In retrospect, we'd do it again. |
| Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, darkest, driest and highest (on average) continent in the world. In fact, the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was recorded in Antarctica (-129.3ºF) and the mean winter temperatures range from -40º to -94ºF. Winds are commonly measured at up to 200 miles per hour. |
| The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on 1 December 1959 by the twelve nations (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and USSR) that had been active during the IGY (International Geophysical Year 1957-58). The Treaty, which applies to the area south of 60° South latitude, is surprisingly short, but remarkably effective. Through this agreement, no one owns the continent (although several governments have claimed territory and have permanent stations there); the countries active in Antarctica consult on the uses of a whole continent, with a commitment that it should not become the scene or object of international discord; only research for peaceful means is allowed. |
| Between the tip of South America and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula lies the Drake Passage, considered some of the roughest seas in the world. Our passage was one of the best the Captain remembered in the last 16 years! It was calm, smooth, sunny and unseasonably warm. The Drake Passage is named after the famous British navigator, explorer and privateer, Sir Francis Drake. When the passage is calm, it’s called the Drake Lake. When it’s not, it’s called the Drake Shake or “paying the Drake tax”. The area in which the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans meet the Southern Ocean is called the Antarctic Convergence or the Polar Front. |
| Our trip, the green dotted line on the map to the right, took us across the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Convergence to the Antarctic Peninsula. |
| The view from our porthole shows a calm sea and a huge tabular iceberg in the distance. Tabular icebergs are those which have broken off an ice shelf. |
| The first tourist groups left for Antarctica in the 1960's. In 2005, 20,000+ tourists visited. |
| Our first landfall after the Drake Passage was the South Shetland Islands. The South Shetlands, named after the Shetland Islands of Scotland, are a major group of islands at the northern point of the Antarctic Peninsular. The 335 mile long chain consists of four main island groups. The Brit, William Smith, discovered them in 1819 after being blown off course while rounding Cape Horn. Sealers took an incredible number of fur seals in 1820-60 almost annihilating the population. The highest point on the islands is Mt. Foster on Smith Island at 2280’. |
| The first photograph of an iceberg was made by Britain’s “Challenger” Expedition in 1874. One of the biggest icebergs ever, broke free from the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000. It measured ~183 miles long x 23 miles wide with a surface area the size of the Bahamas…above water…and 10 times larger below. |
| Antarctica’s ice sheets contain 90% of the world’s ice which holds nearly 70% of the world’s fresh water. In fact, if Antarctica’s ice sheets melted, the world’ s oceans would rise by over 20’. Global warming? |
| Two gentoo penguins in a greeting ritual.We were surprised at the how much green there was. The beach where we landed was cobble, but green moss and algae covered the hillside…along with a significant amount of penguin poop. The smell was similar to that of a hen house and we spent a great deal of time scraping and washing our boots before being allowed back aboard the launch and the ship. |
| Though late in the season (referred to as “dead penguin season”), penguins were innumerable and totally unafraid of us. They went about their business, never bothering about us as long as we stayed out of their way. They had an interesting way of spreading their wings as they waddled quickly past … as if they had important business to attend to and they were already late. |
| Plants on Antarctica are limited to about 350 species of lichens, mosses and algae. There are no trees or bushes. |
| We were also surprised at just how warm it was in the bright sunshine. We were all decked out in our foul weather gear with multiple layers of clothing underneath and we were sweating. It was molting season for the adults and fledging time for the chicks. The adults lost all of their feathers and the chicks lost their baby down and grew their first feathers. There were down and feathers every- where and many of the penguins looked miserable waiting for the process to be over with. |
| Our next landing was Danco Island…still not “on” the Antarctic Peninsular, but we were getting close. Danco Island, about 1 mile long, was established by the British as Base O for the purpose of topographic and geologic surveys. It was occupied from 1956-59 and then abandoned. Per the terms of the Antarctic Treaty in 1994, all disused, non-historic sites,were to be abolished and thus the site was cleared except for a small refuge hut in 2004. The island was originally charted by Gerlache in 1897-99 and later named after the expedition’s geophysicist, Emile Danco, who died in Antarctica. |
| Penguins trudged up the steep snow-covered hillsides with ease…no huffing and puffing. They actually slid back down when they wanted to descend and looked like surfers maintaining perfect balance, seemingly enjoying themselves. |
| We climbed one of the hills on Danco for a scenic view of our “Little Red Ship” below and another scenic vista. The glacial ice and icebergs are blue, blue, blue in sharp contrast to the whiteness of the snow and the black volcanic rock. |
| Long before Antarctica was discovered, ancient Greek philosophers as far back as 530 BC, believed that a continent covered the southern end of Earth. Specifically, they believed that the world was “balanced” and thus a large southern continent would balance the northern continents. Since they had named the northern ice lands “Arktos” after the northern constellation, the opposite would be “Antarktos”. It was also referred to as Terra Australis Incognita…the hidden southern continent. During Cook’s explorations of the area in the late 1700’s, he mentioned the abundance of seals at South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands which prompted sealers to begin exploration and exploitation of the area nearly decimating the seal population. The Antarctica continent was first sighted in 1820 by Fabian Bellinshausen, but not considered a continent until 1840 when sufficient exploration deemed it large enough to be considered a continent rather than just a group of islands. Inland exploration began in the early 1900's. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911. In what turned out to be a dramatic race, he arrived there five weeks ahead of a British expedition led by Captain Robert F. Scott. The Heroic Era from about 1895 until 1930 included the Big 4 Explorers: Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton and Mawson. |
| A parent feeds a baby penguin. It was near time for the baby to strike on its own and soon the parents would abandon it. Tough life! |
| There are 8 varieties of penguins in Antarctica. We saw Adelie, Gentoo, chinstrap and macaroni. Additionally, there are rockhopper, emperor, king and royal. |
| Famous British navigator, James Cook, was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on January 17, 1773. |
| From Danco Island, we went just around the corner to land at Neko Harbor, an actual landing on the Antarctic Peninsular! Located deep inside Andvord Bay, this harbor was discovered by de Gerlache, but takes it name from the Norwegian whaling ship, Neko, which operated in the area between 1911 and 1924. It was here that American long distance swimmer, Lynne Cox made her historic 2km swim in 25 minutes in near freezing water in December 2002. This area is home to a large colony of Gentoo penguins as well as brown skuas and snowy sheathbills. |
| A chubby fledgling Gentoo in the process of losing his baby down and acquiring his first feathers. |
| Marcie mingles with the local inhabitants who don’t seem to mind her at all…in fact, they pretty much ignored her. Take a good look at the icy water in the background…not a good place for a swim! |
| Still traveling south, we entered the Lemaire Channel, so scenic its nickname is the Kodak Gap. We took a Zodiac trip through the iceberg fields, threading our way between huge, building sized bergs. |
| We saw lots of crabeater seals and also several very aggressive leopard seals. Check out the peeking penguin. |
| Ice is a major part of the landscape here. It is everchanging and magnificent. We had the opportunity to drift and wander through ice floe aboard Zodiac inflatables. The colors, hues and shadows were incredible. The water was very clear and the submerged portion of the massive ice bergs showed well beneath the surface in shades of shadowy blue-greens. We could hear cracking and loud thuds as the ice settled and sometimes split with a crash to the water and subsequent big waves. |
| Antarctica’s coastline measures nearly 19,000 miles of which only ~800 miles is ice free. The Ross Ice Shelf is larger than France. |
| Antarctic Explorers |
| Our next stop was in the Argentine islands at the Ukranian station, Akademik Vernadsky on Galindez Island. At 65º15S / 64º10W, this is the most southern point we will reach on the trip. This station, built by the UK and named Farraday Station was the first to identify the hole in the ozone layer. The station was transferred to the Ukranians for the sum of 1£ in 1996 and is currently the most senior station open continuously in Antarctica. |
| Before visiting the station itself, we visited Wordie House, an historic site. Built in 1947 (not THAT historic!!) as the first station, it is located about ½ mile from the current station and was restored by the British in the 1990’s back to its early 1950’s appearance. The vintage kitchen to the right included a pantry that still contained canned and packaged goods on the shelves and a true reminder that the place was once British… a Guiness sign. |
| The outside of the facility was neat and clean. Storage sheds housed fuel, generators and tools. All refuse is hauled away by supply ships which call infrequently. Our ship left several crates of fresh veggies for the station which we’re sure were much appreciated. At the station itself, we were greeted by one of the 24 Ukranians who man this station year round and given a tour of the facility and an overview of the research work that is performed here. The wharf, far right, where we unloaded with a huge iceberg just floating into the little harbor. |
| The pub, a remnant left by the Brits, sports a carved wooden bar, a dart board, billiard table and bras hung from the ceiling left by nubile visitors over the years. There is also a souvenir shop with a banner “the most southern souvenir shop in the world” draped over its entrance. Additionally, there is a post office which sells commemorative postage stamps An interesting note…only American $$$ are accepted. |
| At the end of the tour, we all met in the Farraday Pub where we all tried a shot of Ukranian vodka (whew…now that puts hair on your chest!). Our bar- tender was friendlier than he appears. |
| Life aboard the ship was quite civilized. We had a small, but comfortable room with two twin beds (ugh!), a private bathroom with shower and a hanging locker…not so much different than Cups except the bed situation. The ship had a bar/ lounge, a dining room, a lecture hall with comfy chairs and a small ship’s library with a good Antarctic book selection. Bulletins and charts were posted throughout the ship, showing what activities were available and when and exactly what progress the ship had made. Meals were quite good. Breakfast and lunch were “help yourself” buffets with a good variety of offerings. Dinner was a sit-down affair, usually 3-4 courses and quite tasty. Additionally, “tea” was served daily at 4pm in the lounge with snacks available. Tea, coffee and fresh fruit was always available. We were honored to be chosen to sit at the Captain’s Table for the Captain’s Dinner event one evening. Our captain, Kenth Grankvist, was a Swede and had been ice piloting for 16 years in both the Arctic and Antarctic waters. A typical daily routine would include breakfast at 0730, followed by a morning briefing of what to expect ashore then a landing ashore. Back to the ship for lunch while the ship moved on, an afternoon landing, back to the ship for hot showers. A lecture was usually given around 5pm and sometimes another around 7pm. Dinner at 8pm with an end of day review in the lounge followed by a video appropriate to the Antarctic and always good. Full days, everyday…always interesting, always something different. |
| Our next landing was at the British station, Port Lockroy (French pronunciation of Lock-rwah). Located on Wiencke Island, this station is the most visited by tourists in all of Antarctica. Formerly the British Base A, it was set up in 1943-44 to monitor German ship movement as well as ward off Argentine claims to the area. It was manned continuously until 1962 then abandoned. It was restored in 1996 to its original “glory” and now serves as a self-financing museum and post office. We brought postcards from Argentina and had them hand- cancelled and mailed from here. They purportedly hand cancel over 40,000 pieces of mail per season to over 116 countries. They also maintain a small souvenir shop. The island is also home to a large Gentoo rookery. The penguins moved in after the station was built, but it appears they are not affected by the 10,000 tourists that tramp through during the season. Like the Wordie House, the museum is 1940-1950’s vintage furniture and equipment. David takes a look at the famous “Beastie”, an early apparatus for upper atmosphere study. |
| On the other side of Wiencke Island was Jougla Point where even more Gentoo penguins lived. We wandered around, never tiring of watching the penguins. There was also a composite blue whale skeleton reconstructed on shore to view. While here, the wind increased dramatically and the temperature dipped to below freezing. The skies were overcast and gray and snowflakes whirled through the air. |
| Antarctica’s native land animals are all invertebrates and they are all small. They are mostly insects including fleas, lice, mites and midges…most of which are parasites of seals and birds. The largest animal that permanently dwells on the continent is the wingless midge growing to just over 2.5” long. |
| Antarctica is called the “white continent”, but at times, all we saw were dazzling shades of blue. |
| Having a geologist aboard was interesting and she gave us much food for thought. We were familiar with the concept of “continental drift” and super continents, but didn’ t know exactly how Antarctica fit into the picture. The super continent “Gondwana” is shown left. It sounds incredible, but there is significant evidence from fossils that many plant and animal species in the shaded areas shown were shared by each of the previously connected land masses. Plant fossils found in Antarctica reveal that the continent once had a warm, ice-free climate with trees and other leafy plants. |
| Wandering Pole??? Not only do continents drift, the South Pole drifts as well. At least the magnetic South Pole does. Antarctica's wandering pole, officially called the south magnetic pole, moves at least 5 miles a year. |
| First to reach the South Pole was Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer. His expedition set off from Antarctica's Bay of Whales on Oct. 19, 1911, and reached the pole on Dec. 14, 1911. This, by the way, was a real achievement for the new country of Norway because until 1905, Norway was part of Sweden. |
| A female blue whale caught at Grytviken in the 1911-12 whaling season measured just under 110 feet… making it the largest animal ever recorded on earth! |
| We saw lots of whales beginning in the Drake Passage and throughout our cruise in the Antarctic waters. Though several species inhabit the area, we saw minkes, fins and humpbacks. |
| The first whaling station in Antarctica was established in 1904 by an Argentine-Norwegian company which took 183 whales in its first season. Exploitation followed. In 1912-13, six land stations, 21 factory ships and 62 catcher boats killed and processed 10,760 whales. By 1930-31, the kill increased annually to over 40,000 and continued at this level for the next 20 years, almost annihilating the world whale population. In 1986, a world moratorium on commercial whale catching went into effect. Japan, however, still kills some 400 minke whales each year in the name of “research” and Norway still hunts and kills whales. Why whales? Whale oil was extensively used for lighting, lubrication and tanning in the early 20th century. The market expanded even more when a process was invented to turn it into margarine and soap. More efficient methods of killing and processing the whale made it even more profitable. The records from South Georgia Island, the main site of land-based whale processing operations, recorded a total of 175,250 whales from 1904 to 1965. Little wonder that so few whales exist today! |
| There are 6 species of seals found in the Antarctic. Included in our sightings of “pinnipeds” were crabeater, fur, Weddell, leopard and elephant seals. Sealers were the first to follow the explorers and were so thorough in their slaughter that they nearly annihilated seals altogether. An example in the South Shetland Islands, in only four summers between 1819-1923, the entire population of hundreds of thousands of seals was totally gone. Seals were hunted for their fur as well as the oil produced from their blubber. |
| About 1 in 800 fur seals are “blonde”. We spotted this one on Deception Island. |
| We watched as a snowy sheathbill kept pecking at this crabeater seal, annoying it until it tried to swat the bird. |
| Southern elephant seals…the world’s largest seals, lie like lumps on the beach. |
| We had several beautiful, blue- skied days and a couple of bad weather days which gave us a taste of what it could really be like. Even on sunny days, the water was at freezing temperature. One day it snowed heavily and we noted that the snowflakes landed on the water, but did not melt but rather accumulated on the surface, since they were a warmer temperature than the water. Of course, as grown adults on the Zodiacs, there was only one thing to do with all the snow….have a snowball fight…which we did. |
| Thick ice buries most of Antarctica. The continent's deepest ice is more than 10 times the height of the Sears Tower. The deepest ice core ever drilled in Antarctica produced ice estimated to be ~950,000 years old at its bottom. |
| We headed back north through the Neumayer Channel and the Lemaire Strait to the South Shetlands again. We landed at Hannah Point, Livingston Island, home to gentoo and chinstrap penguins as well as one pair of macaroni penguins, the only macaronis we saw during the entire trip. We walked along the beach to Walker Bay where a collection of local fossils and minerals had been collected and left on display on one of the flat rock tops. The visiting ships coordinate their landings so that no more than 100 people are ever ashore in one place at one time. From Livingston Island, a short trip to Deception Island…our last landing for the trip. A broken-ring shaped island, this excellent natural harbor was formed by a collapsed volcano cone. We entered the inner lagoon via a narrow, rock-strewn break in the volcano’s walls called Neptune’s Bellows, aka “Hell’s Gate” and “Dragon’s Mouth”. The rusting remains of “Southern Hunter”, a British whale catcher, lies along the side of the entrance, sunk New Year’s Eve 1957. Because of its volcanic origin, the beach at Deception is all black volcanic sand. We landed at Whaler’s Bay. |
| The remains of the whaling station are evident everywhere. Dilapidated wooden huts, large rusting tanks and boilers for processing whale oil and rotting boats dot the beach. |
| Antarctica is classified as a desert. It has less annual precipitation than the Sahara Desert! |
| A rotting, abandoned water boat used to bring fresh water to the whaling ships in the last century. |
| Remember, this was a volcanic caldera? Well, the sand below us was quite warm. In fact, once a pit was dug, the water which seeped inside warmed up to a balmy 80ºF. The intrepid among us (read that…young and foolish) all went dashing into the icy Southern Ocean for a dip and then returned to bask in the warm mud pit. We were content to watch and take photos. |
| We wondered if we would regret not having gone for a swim, but so far, no regrets! |
| The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the world’s largest current and flows at a rate of 5.5 billion cubic feet/second … about 1000 times the flow of the Amazon River. |
| Antarctic fiction began in 1605 with publication of Mundus Alter Et Idem (Another World and Yet the Same) by Bishop Joseph Hall. |
| Thoughts on visiting Antarctica…. Without a doubt, Antarctica is the most exotic place we have ever visited. It is "other worldly". Beautiful, cold, austere, serene, remote...it is each of these, all of these and so much more. Some thoughts...
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| Extra! Extra! Extra! The Little Red Ship sunk in Antarctic waters on November 23, 2007. Read the news story here. |
