8. Neko Harbour and Paradise Bay 64.83° S, 62.55° W Colour On A Grey Day

Today would be the first day that we would actually set foot on the Antarctica mainland, all our other landing spots had been islands, not part of the mainland.
The day started out grey and would remain so, but the ice all around us had such deep colors that the grey weather actually enhanced the magic of this place.

 

Before setting foot on land we were warned about the very active glacier here, it is not uncommon for ice to crash into the water and we were advised to look for higher ground as soon as we heard or saw a piece of the glacier crashing into the water, and if we left our backpack that we would leave it at higher ground as well.

That turned out to be a good advice. When a piece of the glacier calved off, the resulting flood wave did not seem to be that big, but the force behind it cannot be underestimated. So I did run to higher ground and just remained watching, seeing the wave rocking the Bark Europa and the ice chunks in the bay.

Penguins (of course) where around us minding their own business and I got some insight into penguin psychology: A Gentoo was walking towards the shoreline when he suddenly saw me and our guide. He stopped at about 3 meters from us, apparently being puzzled what to do next. The guide told us to step one meter back, because a penguin is very one track minded and cannot factor in an unexpected huge two feeted animal standing in its route to his destination. So we stepped a meter back, which was enough for the penguin to continue.

After our landing here we continued to go to Paradise Bay. At Paradise Bay we made a zodiac tour marveling at the blue ice and the almost unbelievable reflecting water. When the first group was on our way I was filming from the Europa and had the incredible luck to see a part of the icewall crashing down just when I was filming.

We also encountered our first Leopard seal, resting on an icefloe. Leopard seals command respect, not only are they a top predator, they air a kind of confidence that you better not get too close. When it was our turn in the zodiac we decided to visit a remarkably blue iceberg.








When we were approaching suddenly we saw another Leopard seal swimming and that one showed a keen interest in us, approaching the zodiac and swimming around and under us. Though the temptation to get underwater shots was high, I had some doubts about the safety of doing that and did not try that.

After our tour we made short visit to the Argentinian base Almirante Brown, which seemed to be more a station built for political purposes than a proper reach station and remained at anchor overnight.
When we were anchored at night volunteers were always called for anchor watch, to check if the ship remains at its position, but in these places we also had to watch out for floating icebergs that might be on a collision course. This night I had volunteered and we had a busy night keeping the icebergs in check, there were a lot of them. Once we had to  wake up the captain to steer us away from an approaching iceberg the size of a few basketball fields. The night was cold but again an experience I will never forget.


This album here has pictures of Neko Harbour and Paradise Bay, Icebergs, Glaciers, Leopard Seals, Gentoo Penguins, the Bark Europa, Antarctic Shags and two scientific stations.
It has 99 pictures.

click here for the album


Some of the seals in this video where shot here:

9. Lemaire Channel and Penola Strait 65°15'17" S 64°17'56" W Icefields And Many Seals

I woke up a bit late, still feeling the cold night before, when we were approaching the Lemaire Channel, which is supposed to be the photographic highlight of the Antarctic Peninsula. When arriving a fierce storm was blowing (9 Bft.), the sky was ominous and it was made clear again that despite all the beauty, this is not an environment meant for us.

 After a while the wind was receding and we were looking at the entrance of the Penola Strait, a small channel between 1000 meter high straight mountains. However, the Strait looked to be blocked by ice.

This year the Europa had not managed yet to reach it's most southern destination, the Ukrainian base Vernadsky, with ice blocking the passage. In fact only two ships had managed it this season yet.
So we were all a bit anxious to see what would happen next.
With lookouts high in the mast and upfront at the stern the captain decided to give it a go.



What pictures do not show is sound. And the sound crossing these icefields with everything cracking around you is something not to forget. At a certain point the captain asked everyone to leave the deck in front to have a better view so that we could make a safe passage.

When the channel widened up again the weather changed entirely and it would turn out to be a beautiful sunny day. We encountered Crab Seals resting on floating icefloes, at first we thought we were lucky but they were literally everywhere. We also saw a penguin taking risks by just walking next to a Leopard Seal. Or he was suicidal or he did not know that he was not the top of the food chain.




Reaching our destination we met more dramatically shaped icebergs and with the sun blazing, the colors were again of unparalleled beauty.



This album here has pictures of the Lemaire Channel and Penola Strait, Icebergs, Glaciers, Icefloes, the Captain, Crabeater Seals, Leopard Seals, Porpoising Penguins and the Bark Europa.
It has 64 pictures.

click here for the album












This video was mainly filmed the last few days:

10. Argentine Islands, Vernadsky Base 65°15'17" S 64°17'56" W Skuas, The Wordy Hut and a Pub

In the afternoon we would first make a trip to Winter Island, part of the Argentine Islands, to visit the Wordy Hut, an old research station that is preserved and now part of  the Antarctica list of monuments.
We climbed a small hill for views on the entire bay and generally just baked in the sun, it was a lovely day. Some Skuas enjoyed the view as well apparently and were watching us relaxing on the snow.


In the evening we would make a visit to the Ukrainian base Vernadsky. This was formerly a British base were the hole in the ozone layer was first discovered. After the British decided to reduce their stations in Antarctica they sold the base to Ukraine for 1 pound. The other option would have been to dismantle the whole station, nothing is allowed to remain when it is not used anymore.


The station is famous for having the most southern pub in the world were homebrew wodka is being served.
The story concerning the pub is funny, when it was still British a load of wood had arrived to build a jetty for easier landings. However the crew decided for a better use and built a  pub instead.

However when we arrived, only the third ship this year, we heard that the pub had been closed down due to government orders, probably someone at home had decided this was not good publicity?

When we went to visit Vernadsky our zodiac ran aground at a submerged rock, it took us a while to get afloat again, and only then we saw that just behind our backs some Crabeater seals had been looking at our spectacle all the time.



This album here has pictures of the Argentine Islands, The Wordy Hut, Base Vernadsky, Skuas, Crabeater Seals and the Bark Europa.
It has 43 pictures.

click here for the album

11. Petermann Island 65°10'0" S 64°10'0" W Gentoo and Adelie Penguins

On the 19th of February we would first go a little bit more south to reach our most southern location at 65°16'9" S 64°16'17" W. After that we slowly sailed north again and our first stop would be Petermann Island, home of Adelie penguins, a species that we had not encountered before.



Those penguins start their breeding seasons a lot earlier though, this being more southern, the winter will also start earlier so they need to have an early start and most were already gone, but we managed to see a few.

A freshwater pool was a popular bathing spot for Skuas. It remains puzzling to see how penguins and those scavengers just stand close to each other at his pool but otherwise they are enemies.


We had several hours here to walk around on this ice covered island, once again I admired the stubbornness of penguins, seeing them climbing through the ice and rocks to go to their nesting place.

This album here has pictures of Petermann Island, Gentoo and Adelie Penguins, Skuas, Icebergs and the Bark Europa.
It has 57 pictures.

click here for the album







Penguins can be funny as we all know:

12. Penola Strait and Peltier Channel 65°10'0" S 64°6'60" W Back North Again

After our visit to Petermann Island we would head up north again, backtracking a bit of our route through the Penola Strait and Lemaire Channel to head up to Port Lockroy, passing through the Peltier Channel.

Circumstances were completely different from the day before. The sky was clear, the sea was smooth, it was great to see this again in this changed weather.



We were lucky enough to see more whales and in the afternoon the setting sun again showed us how magical this place can be.

This album here has pictures of The Lemaire Channel, Penola Strait and Peltier Channel, a whale and the Bark Europa.
It has 18 pictures.

click here for the album

13. Port Lockroy 64°49'24" S 63°28'53" W Last Steps On Antarctica

We had arrived in the evening of February 19th at Port Lockroy and would stay here for two nights. Because of this we would have a barbecue on board. Strong drinks were served with ice probably thousands of year old. This was probably the strangest place to have a barbecue, it got close to (or below) freezing soon, we were close to massive icewalls and on board of a ship that had grapes as decorations.



Of course, all waste remained on board. Nothing, really nothing is being left. All our waste remained on board until reaching Ushuaia again.


Port Lockroy had been a British reach station, nowadays it is more known for being a museum and hosting a mail office. It is also a popular stopover and so we met a few other tourist ships. The feeling of exploring Antarctica was somewhat less here, still the penguins all around us were charming as always.








On our second day before leaving again we made a morning walk on the ice at Dallman Bay to have a great panoramic view of the surroundings.

After our last visit, having posted our mail we returned to the boat, this had been our last steps on Antarctica, but we still had one more stop to go.

This album here has pictures of Port Lockroy and Dalmann Bay, many Gentoo Penguins, a whale skeleton and the Bark Europa.
It has 86 pictures.

click here for the album

14. Neumayer and Schollaert Channel 64°47'26" S 63°8'21" W An Ice Spinx and Whales In A Golden Sunset

In the afternoon of the 21st of February we sailed again northwards, through the Neumayer and Schollaert Channel. The last days we were really lucky with the weather and this was no exception.










We passed along many icebergs, one remarkably shaped like a sphinx.













At the end of the afternoon we heard a familar shout: "whales!"
A small group of Humpback whales were around giving us a proper farewell. Though they remained at a distance, it was a stunning sight with the golden light of th late afternoon.
When they seemed to have left and I returned to do some work at my netbook, the shouts came again. And this repeated itself several times until I finally had a kind of overload and decided to try to finish some sorting of my pictures. Of course that was when they started to jump...

This album here has pictures of the Neumayer and Schollaert Channel, Icebergs, Whales and the Bark Europa.
It has 31 pictures.

click here for the album