Antarctica Days 3-4
In order to prevent contamination of the pristine environment of Antarctica, this ship has developed strict protocols for cleaning of shoes when leaving and re-entering the ship. We step into two kinds of disinfectant baths with our boots in both directions and then boots are hand scrubbed in the water before climbing back into the zodiac when we return from often muddy, mucky, guano-splattered walks.
Yesterday morning, Pat and I volunteered to join the “citizen science” crew to assist in collecting phytoplankton samples from the water which project monitors phytoplankton levels as an indicator of health of the Antarctica ocean eco-system. The 8 of us in the zodiac learned about the environment from the head research scientist, an Argentinian biology professor dedicated to preserving this region. He spends the winters with his brother working at this isolated site, Cierva Cove.
The rocky shore near us is crowded with penguins, doing their hopping dance and jumping into the water to enjoy a swim and snack of small krill which they live on. The fog is so thick that we can not see the ship and our scientist leader and the zodiac driver do not know which direction to go so we are, in fact, briefly lost in Antarctica even with a form of gps to guide us home. We are not alone as another Zodiac, containing the photographers, led by the on-ship photography instructor, has been in tandem with us and we can see the importance of this safety check. Between the two vessels, the correct direction is located on the gps — and as we end up moving in circles looking for our way, we find a Leopard Seal, the deadly enemy of the penguins, lounging on an iceberg by itself. We circle it a few times to see it yawning and lifting its rear end and front flappers. This is a good end to our long outing into the grey but beautiful fog.
In the afternoon, after lunch, we are out again in less intense, but still encircling, fog, to visit Hydrurga Rocks, on another nearby island. Thousands of penguins, and even more uneven and slippery rocks, greeted us as we walked up the hill toward the overlook by a bay where fantastic shaped teal-blue icebergs sat in majesty. Nearby seals, penguins, and birds made their domination of this space quite visible. It was good exercise but a feat for those of us with unsteady gait to make it up and back, around the orange flags that are laid out for us as a path, without falling. By the time we are back on the ship, we are exhausted but perked up enough to thoroughly enjoy our dinner at the slightly fancier restaurant that can be reserved upstairs.
A word about the other 58 of our travelers with us: Pat and I decided that about 1/4 are from the U.S. and the rest mainly from Canada/Australia/UK with 5 young Chinese-speaking guests who have their own translator made available for them. The ages range from mid-twenties to mid-eighties with Pat and I on the upper end. We don’t dare bring up U.S. politics with anyone.
It is peaceful and relaxing here, although there is a great deal of energy, thought and time needed to get appropriately dressed to go outside on our zodiac excursions. Double layers of everything, thermal underwear, hat, scarf, gloves, inner ski pants, outer waterproof pants, our muck boots from our lockers downstairs and finally our life preserver to be worn at all times when outside. There is very little free time as our daily regimen is breakfast at 7:00 am, get dressed to be ready to go out by 8:30, lunch at 12:30, out again at 2:30 pm, recap and talk about following day at 6:15 with dinner to follow.
On the morning of our 4th Day, March 5, it is a little lighter outside as we head to Enterprise Island, one of the whaling ship stops until the beginning of the 19th century. It is amazing that men undertook such harsh and dangerous journeys that required incredibly hard work for probably meagre financial gain. The wreck of a metal whaling ship in a cove is a monument to those times – the whale oil on board caught on fire and ignited the whole vessel so that the entire crew had to abandon ship while the captain steered it into a cover where it still remains rusting above and below water. The crew miraculously survived and were rescued.
There is a group of hardy souls on board who go scuba diving every day (yes, in good wetsuits) and this shipwreck is a wonderful place of exploration for them, at least during the 30 minutes they can stay under water before the cold requires them to surface. There are also a group of kayakers on board who are out there on the water while we explore the land. The rest of us visit the shores on our zodiacs and feet.
Afternoon brings us another different experience of Antarctica — sunshine! The weather was perfect and views were magnificent as we landed on the main continent itself at Portal Point, which was the main site for the British expedition teams heading for the geophysical South Pole. We had spellbinding views toward glaciers and icebergs which changed and shifted by the moment as fog moved in and out of the area. Each moment the light caught the blue and white of the ice in a different angle. The sun also melted the top of the snow so that it was icy and slippery going up and downhill. I consider it a major success if I return to the ship after each outing without an injurious fall. The doctor on board must have a lot of experience with broken bones and bruised bodies.
It is this kind of weather and views which makes you understand why some people return again and again to Antarctica. We can not count on many more days like this — but we can hope.