Days 1-2
I am looking out our cabin verandah doors toward a calm sea where large turquoise-centered blocks of ice float by. Suddenly, there is a flash of a curved back and fins as a Minke whale breaches the water and then returns to the deep. Pat and I are in Antarctica on an Aurora Expedition ship, the Sylvia Earle, which is transporting 60 guests and about 80 staff on a voyage to our 7th continent at the Southern end of our planet.
My childhood friend Pat and I began our journey with an easy flight from San Francisco to Santiago, Chile, before flying 3.5 hours further south to Punta Arenas or “sandy point” and most southern of Chile’s towns. There, we recover for a day by visiting a museum providing us the basics of this area’s history as well as education about the local flora and fauna and then walk in lovely weather to its famous cemetery. We greatly enjoyed lunch at a small restaurant with one cook and a long line of waiting customers located in a local seafood market where we were the only (and only non-Spanish speaking) tourist visitors. One of the local women was waiting to order take-out soup for her 96 year old mother at home and we chatted through Google translate and exchanged hugs when we left. It is that kind of place.
We chose a voyage which begins with a flight from Punta Arenas to King George Island, one of the Southern Shetland Islands at the very edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, in order to avoid the dreaded rough-seas of the 2-day Drake’s Passage, at least in one direction. We have been worried if this flight would happen as we heard some passengers have to wait 1-2 or more days to get safe weather but we were exceptionally lucky, we were later told, and everything went smoothly, including our very easy flight South.
Our landing was on one of the most distant and barren airfields, a single short gravel runway, with nothing in sight but quick views of some of the nearby scientific research stations of various nations. My iPhone told me “Welcome to the Russian Federation” and then a few minutes later, “Welcome to China”. The Antarctic is considered a research location for all nations on earth who consider the land their buildings sit on as belonging to their own country.
From airfield by small minibus to the shore where we embark on our first Zodiac, oval rubber inflatable rafts with engines that in this case seat 8-10 people. Life jackets must be worn at all times onboard. And then onto our ship, Aurora Expedition’s Sylvia Earle built in 2022, and our small but very comfortable cabin with verandah. As we had to rise early in the morning, we are now ready for our buffet lunch, ship and itinerary orientation and finally to sleep. We will be having two outings a day by zodiac which will vary with weather so no definite locations can be guaranteed in advance.
Our first morning is spent on one of the South Shetland Islands, Barrientos, where we hike over bright green slippery algae and rocks and see hundreds of Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins, the most common kind in this area. It is foggy out with the sun only occasionally coming through to allow us to see some of the high mountains around us. We have all been given warm blue jackets with red hoods that keep us warm and we are loaned insulated waterproof muck boots for this journey. It feels good to walk but both Pat and I are very happy to have with us our hiking poles, which very few others have brought with them, although the ship has its own supply to borrow. It is beautiful although not altogether quiet as the penguins create quite a chorus of sounds and there is a strong aroma from the copious pink penguin droppings around us, coming from the pink krill the they eat.
In the afternoon, we visit Half Moon Island on another South Shetland Island which is a much more barren rocky environment, obviously beloved by both penguins and seals. We see many fur seals and a few Weddell seals which are very large and enjoy lounging on the rocks this time of year. The birds we have seen so far, for you ornithologists, are South Polar Skua, Antarctic Cormorants, Snowy Sheathbill and Wilson’s Storm petrel. Because this ship is less than half-full (we are 60 and it can carry 130 guests), we have the benefit of a number of naturalists and antarctic specialists to answer our questions.
We are exhausted after a good dinner and look forward to tomorrow.
