Earths end to antartica

27 Nov Familiarised ourselves with Ushuaia today and even celebrated Thanks-giving with 2 Alaskans. We visited the Quark offices (our Antarctic Expedition Company) and finalised our paperwork.

28 Nov Quiet day today, got our sea sickness tablets and hung around drinking coffee and watching the world go by.

29 Nov went to the local national park and did an 8km lake walk. That night we met up with our 2 Dutch lady friends, Rose and Stephanie in the Galway Irish bar and then on to the Dublin Irish bar.

30 Nov Checked out of our hostel and moved up the hill to the 4 star los Acebos hotel. This was part of our Antarctic trip where we were briefed, assembled and collected. We met most of our group and although they are mostly older than us, 45 – 60 is the most common age group, they seem to be a nice group.
The hotel is lovely and is fantastic luxury after 6 months of hostels and guesthouses with cable TV, power shower & with a comfy double bed to myself. Our room overlooked Ushuaia and the Beagle channel but the little things like fast internet, hearty breakfast and comfortable lounge chairs were so welcome. The quoted price for this place was $200 US per night! Don’t think I would stay again if I had to pay that.

01 Dec After a delayed checkout (we decided to sleep on and watch another movie) much to the delight of the hotel, we went into town and collected some thermal gear from the hire shop, bought a bottle of Jim Beam (for the cold Antarctic nights)and headed for M.V. Ocean Nova. It’s a small cruise ship at 72.8 metres in length and has 45 double cabins, It was certainly better than I expected. We got a 4 berth ensuite cabin to ourselves which was handy for putting our gear and stuff onto the extra beds. The staff seemed nice and helpful and the food was great too. We were all given sea sickness tablets as we were going to be entering the Drake Passage that night. The Drake Passage is around Cape Horn, the most southerly tip of the Americas….one of the roughest seas in the world.

02 Dec Zonked out on sea sickness tablets, every opportunity to sleep was taken. I had a fabulous buffet breakfast with my first feed of eggs and bacon in an age. There were lectures given throughout the day on Whales, digital photography, birds etc. I either didn’t go to them or slept through them while I was there. Our first glimpse of Antarctic wildlife was the occasional passing Whale and Albatross. The Drake Passage, according to the staff, is behaving itself but walking around is akin to being completely drunk in body and totally sober in mind. An older lady was sitting to lunch today and completely fell over with all the swaying from side to side. The look of horror on people’s faces when you are walking around with a boiling hot tea is hilarious.

03 Dec Our second full day at sea was similar to the first, I spent most of my time eating and sleeping. Towards the end of the day we reached the outer limits of Antarctica when we crossed through the South Shetland Islands (between Robert and Nelson Islands). After this point we saw our first iceberg. It was a big white Gorilla of a yolk and must have had a surface area of about 15 acres. After the South Shetlands we left the notorious Drake Passage and into the Bransfield Strait. The weather was worse here than the Drake, I was sitting down to lunch today and the swaying back and forth caused a leg of my chair to break. I didn’t collapse with it, but all around me there were plates, glasses and cutlery were chinking and falling. Even in bed I was sliding up and down banging my head off one end, scrunching my legs off the other and ‘up and down like a fiddlers elbow’ as my father used to say.

Later in the day we were summoned to the 2nd floor for boot fitting in preparation for our first landing tomorrow. It must have been hell for the early explorers having to contend with the cold, wet and the high seas… lack of fresh food and water compared to 100 years later as I sit and write in comfort at my cabin desk with a full belly, hot radiator at my feet and the only decisions I need to make is whether I will have a peppermint tea and go to bed or head up to the bar for a Jim Beam and Coke.

04 Dec Peering out of my cabin window this morning at 4am (now in the 24hr daylight zone) I watched a big iceberg pass by. It was windy, choppy and cold…..A beautiful summer’s day in Antarctica. By 8am we were dressed, ready and waiting to board the Zodiacs (French made, highly durable inflatable speedboats) to go ashore to Brown Bluff. It was cancelled at the last minute due to safety concerns and not helped by the fact that one of the staff dropped $4000 worth of camera equipment into the water on attempting to find a suitable landing site. It was decided that we would travel to a more sheltered spot further south. On our way we encountered an ice field and the captain decided to go through it. Our vessel ‘Ocean Nova’ has a double hull and is capable of light ice breaking. It was fantastic watching the ship go through the ice and crack it all up. It felt like something out of a Shackelton book as the boat twisted and turned looking for the easiest passage through. At some points we would stop with a huge thud, as a particular piece of ice didn’t break and we would reverse up and try another spot. At the back (I was running between the two) of the boat the ice was closing and freezing over about 20 metres behind us, I was ecstatic.
Eventually we got to Paulett Island, a penguin colony of 200,000 Adeile penguins. The island is a dormant volcano and we walked around the crater, which is now a lake, and over to the beach on the other side. It was nesting season and the females were sitting on their nests. Their mates were busy collecting stones and building a wall around the female as a wind break for the egg. It was so funny watching them steal stones from each other and they spent their days essentially moving stones around the dozen or so nests in their group. The juvenile penguins were not nesting or mating and had nothing much to do, so they would all walk around behind, alongside and in front of us wherever we went flapping their wings… so interested, happy and without any fear as they have no natural predators ( on land ) and don’t know danger. There were a few seals on the island too but not as interesting as the penguins.
Paulett island was where Nordenskjold (a famous early 1900’s Swedish explorer) expedition went wrong and they were stuck there for a year before rescue. We saw their little 2 room hut (minus the roof) where 29 crew members lived enduring incredible hardship and on a 12 month diet of penguin and seal. We got back to the boat and had a few whiskey and cokes with Johannes and Joerg (an Austrian lad and a mad 70 yr old German man). Johannes became known as ‘Beaver man’ owing to his fur hat that wrapped around his ears and we called 70 year old Joerg ‘ Uncle Albert’ due to his uncanny likeness to the character of the same name in ‘Only fools and horses’. We got Uncle Albert pissed and all this before dinner. Towards the end of a highly entertaining dinner, Orca whales (Killer whales) were spotted and we were treated to a family of 30 – 40 whales. They were apparently teaching their young to hunt and were tossing a penguin up in the air and at one stage it was thrown up in the air and bounced of the side of the ship. It was a bad day for the penguin but a fascinating whale watch. He was eaten within minutes and Antarctic hawks polished off the few remains on the water surface in no time.

05 Dec Our first port of call this morning was to Mikkleson harbour, a small island off the mainland. There is an Argentinean survival hut here if you get stranded but was in bad condition. The island was a whaling station and there are huge whale bones scattered around on the beaches. There were large colonies of Gentoo penguins and were quick to use all the creature comforts left behind as nesting sites including barrels, blocks, sheds etc. That afternoon we went to Cierva Cove where the first Antarctic landing took place in 1821. There is another Argentinean research base there but we weren’t allowed near it. The cove is particularly interesting as it attracts icebergs due its deep entry and traps them due to it shallow interior. Also known as Iceberg cemetery, we zodiac’d through some of them and marvelled at the endless sizes, shapes, features and colours.

06 Dec Up at 5am today (and sparing a thought for my sister Orna’s 40th birthday) to climb Spigot peak. We went ashore to the hillside and began our climb. The snow was so soft we were wading knee deep at times which was quiet energy consuming. At the top of the hill the views were amazing with endless Bays, Icebergs, snow capped mountain Peaks and chin strapped Penguins. Back to the boat for breakfast and an announcement was made that an adventure cruise ship (the ‘Ushuaia’ a similar vessel to ours) has run aground nearby and we were going there to see if we could be of any assistance. By the time we got there most of the crew, and all of the passengers, had been evacuated. The captain met with the expedition leader and we were told we may be required to tow the ‘Ushuaia’ off the rocks. The Chilean Navy wouldn’t do it because of oil spill implications and the company needed to get free before the waves broke up the ship. We didn’t get the necessary clearance to help the ‘Ushuaia’ but since heard that the Chilean navy helped them once all fuel was removed or burned off. We heard that the New York Times had run a story of a big spill and oil covered Penguins but this was not so.
Early afternoon we reached Danco Island, named after a Belgian Geo-Physicist who died here in 1897. Here we did a bigger climb and saw more Penguins and amazing views. In the late afternoon we went out again to a place called ‘Paradise bay’. Named by Whalers, its not quiet paradise but for them it was sheltered and easy to get in and out of. We did a small cruise in the zodiacs to see some more ice formations and wildlife etc. We stopped off at a place called ‘Almirante Brown’ an Argentinean Naval base, which was unoccupied at the time, and were told of the story about the base doctor who was put there for a year as part of his national service. At the end of the year he was told that he would have to stay another year as no replacement could be found. Cracking up he decided there would be no need for a base doctor if the base didn’t exist so he burned it down. Clever fellow. The story goes that he was taken from the island but did some jail/mental institute time afterwards.

07 Dec Did 2 landings today, the first onto the mainland to a place called Neko harbour for more views and penguins. We climbed another hill for a view and whilst we were up there an avalanche started on a mountain across the bay. It was amazing to watch and the dust clouds were 100 times the size of our ship. Later on we went to an island called ‘Useful Island’. The views were incredible, but the winds started to pick up so we decided to head back to ship. The zodiac trip from shore to ship was rough with big waves, great craic.

08 Dec Our last day at Antarctica before our 3 day voyage back to Ushuaia, Argentina. We made 2 landings again today, the first to ‘Deception Island’ so named as it has an appearance of a regular island but it has the shape of a ring donut with a small bite out of it. This enables ships to enter the centre of the island and get shelter from the high seas. The island was created by a huge volcanic eruption which spewed out 330 sq km of rock on that occasion. There are a few more volcano stacks on the island so we went for a hike around the island to look at them. Before we left the island we had an opportunity to do our Polar plunge. With an air temp of -10 degrees Celsius and a water temp of +1 degree Celsius it was going to be cold. So without further ado we stripped down to our swimming togs and ran in. To complete the Polar plunge challenge you must completely submerse yourself in the water, do 2 swim strokes and not leave the water for 10 seconds. Having met the task we roared with a mix of pain and exhilaration and ran out of the water like two bullets on caffeine to a cheering crowd. Joerg, our 70 yr old German friend went in twice. Mad as a hatter he is.
That afternoon we went to Barrientos Island and saw more penguins and seals but the rock formations took my breath away. As I came over the hill and saw what was on the other side I thought instantly of the Jules Verne book ‘A Journey to the centre of the Earth’ Volcanic plug stacks, Rock sea castles, sickle shaped bays and inlets, seals, whale bones and penguins. It was incredible and all capped off by Fiachra’s (my brother) trademark nude photograph with gaping penguins and fabulous snow clad mountain ranges providing the equally impressive backdrop.

09 Dec We are now fully underway on our non-stop 3 day sea voyage back to port. We are crossing the Drake Passage and the seas are much heavier than our crossing last week. The swells have been measured at over 10 metres (approx 30ft), winds reached 40 knots (45mph) and moving about the ship has become quite the bruising exercise. Last night I made myself a cup of peppermint tea before bed. Having taken 2 steps and losing all balance I ran across the Lounge floor sideways falling over 3 chairs and a table whilst covering everything in my path in boiling hot water. Thank God my path was clear of all valuables and humans.
During the day we were preparing our entries for the ships photo competition. Realising from the start that our hardware (i.e. Cameras) were not nearly as good as the bazooka type super cameras that other guests had we had to adopt the old Irish adage ‘Mun a bhfuileann tu laidir, caithiadh tu a bhfeidh glic’ (If your not big, you gotta be smart). So we concentrated on funny, unusual, tongue in cheek shots and a few of the expedition leaders (of course they are going to be the ones choosing).
Before I tell the next story, may I explain that on board you are not allowed drink your own alcohol in the Lounge area. Only alcohol bought in the ships Lounge bar may be consumed there. The Phillipino barman, Samuel, told us that there would be a $100 fine if we are caught with our own stuff. Of course we all laughed at this preposterous notion so every night we smuggled in the Jim Beam whiskey and ordered 2 glasses with lots of ice and 1 can of coke. He knew well what we were at but could never catch us in the act.

We tried to take a potentially legendry photo by ordering the usual coke and glasses at the bar with me posing for a photo with Samuel but at the same time an exposed bottle of Jim Beam sticking out of the back of my trousers (out of his view of course). The first photo failed as my jumper slipped over the bottle and covered it, I went back up to the bar with my Coke and glasses (essential to be in the photo) and told Samuel that the photo was blurred and could we take it again. He agreed and this time the bottle fell out and onto the ground with a big chink. Sam was behind the bar and I was in front of it so he couldn’t see it but he knew what it was. I stood in his way and kicked the bottle away and Fiachra picked it up before he could see it. Of course all the other guests (fellow smugglers) were either in on it or had watched the spectacle and were in bellows of laughter. All night he watched us like a hawk but we still got our whiskey into the glasses with helpful guests walking by and stopping at the right spot pretending to be admiring the view. It was a week long running joke as our group all drank Coke at night and were the most pissed at the end. He told us we were not allowed drink our alcohol but we told him we didn’t drink, It was like being back at school.

10 Dec Today is our last full day and finished our crossing of the Drake Passage and into the Beagle channel. We had a few lectures today about Antarctic related stuff and had the Captains dinner. After dinner we had the photo competition. A thousand photos were submitted and we got 10 of ours into a 170 photos shortlist, but no winners. Fiachras nude shot got a great reception when shown on the big screen but staff omitted it from being eligible for the competition.