Monday, February 27, 2012

Ushuaia 3-8°\37-47F Partly Cloudy

Buenos Aires 20-27°\67-85F Mostly sunny/evening thunderstorms

Photos

We were at Tierra del Fuego National Park by 9:30am with a plan to be at the airport by 11:30am. We saw a Fuegan red fox on the beach in the park, near the little pier post office. That was new. We took the standard photo at the sign for the end of Route 3. They took us to a former hotel in the park, which is a snack shop and museum now. I finally got a submarino! We heard about this Argentine special hot chocolate when we were in BA in 2008, but it was so hot then we couldn’t imagine having one. Today it was cold and windy, and it was on the snack shop menu. It was steamed milk with 2 sugars and a little submarine-shaped chocolate bar. You drop in the submarino and stir it in. Delicious! The museum was interesting. It was about the native peoples that lived in the area when white men discovered it. The Ona and the Yamana. Yamana is pronounced Shamana.

Our guide told us about 2 big cruise ships being denied the dock in Ushuaia while we were gone. She said it was because the Argentine government was upset again about the Malvinas (or Falklands) because Prince William is currently stationed there and those 2 ships had gone to Port Stanley before coming to Ushuaia, so they turned them away. What a nightmare, for the cruise lines, for the locals who live on tourism as well as for the cruise passengers who missed a port and who knows how it messed up their trips. Oh well, lucky for us we didn’t get in any trouble!

We were in the Ushuaia Airport by 11:30am and it took every minute of the 2 hours to get to the gate to almost immediately board. They weighed every bag this time around, including carry-ons. The good news is that we only had small hand luggage and so we got through all right. But, they were taking a lot of people’s carry-ons as checked baggage. The good news is they did not appear to be charging them overage charges; the bad news is that it was their carry-on for a reason. I hope all those folks got reunited with their luggage.

We got reunited with all of our checked luggage and our stored bag from Buenos Aires at the EZE airport, international terminal. We found a busy spot on the floor and repacked to the new luggage allowances and went straight to check in and through security. There was a terrible thunderstorm with pounding rain, lightening and booming thunder as we waited a couple of hours to board. We spent the last of our Argentine pesos on Havanna cookies and 2 bottles of water. The water we purchased inside security was confiscated after entering the Jetway to board the flight, as they again inspected carry-ons. No idea what is up with that! Havanna is a type of cookie, think like a Moon Pie, but with dulce de leche in the center instead of marshmallow. Delicious! There are shops all over BA, like Starbucks, but Havanna. That is how popular these cookies are. The funny thing is that I don't remember seeing any Havanna shops in 2008, nor hearing anything about them from our guide who talked a lot about popular foods and restaurants here. Is it possible all those shops opened since we were last here in 2008? That would be incredible!

Our flight landed in Atlanta on time. We had to clear immigration, which was a very long and slow moving line. It appeared that they were fingerprinting everyone that had arrived on the flight before ours. Then, we had to claim our luggage and submit a customs form and get cleared to continue on to our next flight. We turned our luggage back in and then we got in another long and very slow moving line to go through TSA security again, this time with a body scan before we could get a tram to our connecting flight’s terminal. What is up with that? We were never out of a secure flight area! We just made it in time for boarding again! We learned as we waited for zone 4 to be called that Delta had an equipment change and some people had lost their seats. When we turned over our boarding passes we learned that we had lost our seats. We went from 17 D & E to 32 D & E. That was ok with us anyway. Then the flight was delayed for about 45 minutes or so because the latch that locks the cockpit door was broken and had to be replaced. We were so exhausted. I think we mostly just dozed through the whole thing. We got to RDU and claimed our bags for the last time. We went out and got a cab for the short ride to Clay’s office to pick up his car and then drove home.

The only thing that had changed while we were gone was that gas went up 20 cents per gallon. Also, my hyacinths bloomed. I told Clay I had to have a nap as soon as we got settled in the house. I laid down about 10:30am and I didn’t get up until 5:30pm! I cooked a frozen pizza for supper and went back to bed by 8pm. I didn’t get up the next morning until 8am. I am not cut out for long flights!

Hopefully soon after we get home, I can begin getting these entries posted and some photos sorted and posted. Until then! Well, if you are reading this, then you know that I was very slow in getting photos up and blog entries posted. All I can say is sorry. I hope you have enjoyed reliving it here as much as we enjoyed the actual trip!

Photos

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sunrise 5:06  Sunset 21:32 Morning 6°\42.8F. Afternoon 6°\42.8F Overcast, early fog, rain

Photoo

True to his word the Captain lingered to show both sides of the ship Cape Horn in the fog, from what he said was his legal limit of 3 miles without a Chilean pilot. He said he planned to drift closer to cheat them, just because and he did. The closest I heard him say he got was 2.5 miles, but I would bet he was closer to 1.5 to 2 during breakfast right before he zipped off to the east to go pick up an Argentine pilot for the sail up the Beagle Channel.

We should be docked in Ushuaia before 4:30am tomorrow. Evidently, our group will be the first to disembark for our bus tour of the National Park before our 1:33pm flight AR1892 to EZE. In EZE, we should be transferred to the International Terminal and be reunited with all of our luggage before a 9:30pm departure back to the USA.

Today in the newsletter, there was this For the Logbook link, since Internet onboard is a joke, I will have to post it here to check it after we get home: blog.ponant.com/les-expeditions   I hope that works because they had an accented e in there that I don't have on my keyboard! Try this:

http://blog.ponant.com/2012/02/27/boreal-february-18th-27th-2012/

http://blog.ponant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Logbook-Boréal-AA-180212-EN.pdf

I am a little worried about flying with my ear already popped and deaf, but I will use my EarPlanes as always and hope for the best. Who knows maybe cabin pressurization will unpop it. I can hope! As the ENT asked, I will post the answer here also; flying was no better or no worse than without a popped ear. I credit the EarPlanes! FWIW, I buy and use the children's size. I should also mention that I have used store brand equivalents with equal success, so I think anything that works the same way will work, no matter the brand.





We watched The Adjustment Bureau and once we got inside the Beagle Channel, we went up to deck 6 Observation Lounge and watched Puerto Williams go by as well as a lot of whale blows. Clay caught the Argentine pilot boarding. We are mostly packed. We went to Le Boreal's Antarctica season final recap. All the naturalists except the one from Costa Rico are going home tomorrow just like us. Marcel is sailing on to Valparaiso tomorrow, then to Central America. Maybe since he is from Costa Rico, he is getting a cruise home. The Captain had told us the ship looked in such bad shape because in Ushuaia and Antarctica during their 4 month season, they are not allowed to do any scraping or do any cleaning. So, we had assumed they would want to sail off and do that immediately, and maybe they will but tomorrow starts another load of paying passengers traveling up the west coast of South America. We are docking in Ushuaia as I type this at 7pm. I think this means the ship will go ahead and get cleared early and disembarkation will go smoothly.

The ship was cleared by dinner time and that was when the announcement was made. It was too late for most people to go ashore for dinner, but there were plenty headed ashore after dinner. There is a casino in Ushuaia that does not open before 3pm. I don’t remember that being here in 2008. It snowed in Ushuaia while we were gone! We stayed in and finished our packing for suitcases in the hall after 10pm.

Luggage must be out by 4:30am at the latest. Breakfast tomorrow is at 6am. Pick up passports at 7:45am. Cabins vacated by 8am. No room service is available on disembarkation morning. Our disembarkation will be by 3 groups and they will happen as announced. We are to have a guided bus tour of the Tierra del Fuego National Park that ends at the Ushuaia Airport. Our flight AR1892 departs at 1:33pm. We arrive in EZE at 4:53pm, transfer to the international terminal and get back our left luggage. Our overnight flight home leaves at 9:33pm. This time we really don't expect to return to Usuhaia!

Photos

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Sunrise 4:13 Sunset 22:32. Morning 2°\35.6F. Afternoon 2°\35.6F  Partly cloudy

Smooth seas/gentle rolling swells from the north and west

Well, this is it, easy restful days and nights to prepare for the long endurance haul of airports and flights to get back home.

We and the Captain slept in. He said he threw a party for the naturalist staff since this is the end of their season and they go home with us when we leave. Evidently there was some heavy drinking and people were a little slow to get back to business. We had a good and fairly quiet breakfast. Clay tried to stay awake through a morning lecture, no luck. I watched Burlesque on the movie channel and then took my nap while Clay watched The Dilemma. We had already seen both. The only movies they are showing that we haven't seen are probably scary and that is why. I will post the list in case people are interested.

The Help

The Adjustment Bureau

The Blind Side

Eat Pray Love

The Lovely Bones

Rango

It's Complicated

Burlesque

Fast Five

Couples Retreat

Last Chance Harvey

The Dilemma

Captain America

The Tourist

Shutter Island

Just back from lunch. We had to go up to deck 6 because there was literally nothing today for me to eat in the main deck 2 restaurant. Everything came from the sea! They always have hamburgers on the pool deck and you can eat inside. There is still a hard place for me to get past between decks 5 and 6, but I paused just below the landing and waited it out and then made it on up. We are rocking back and forth, but it is a gentle and fairly regular rocking, so it is tolerable.

In the afternoon, we watched The Lovely Bones. It was slightly less disturbing as a film than as a novel.

There is nothing really going on for the rest of the day until 5:45pm when they are showing our cruise's DVD in the theater, followed by The Captain's Farewell Gala and crew presentation at 7, followed by the Gala Dinner at 8. We expect another fairly easy day tomorrow and that will be perfect.

Dinner wound up lasting until after 10pm because they did another crew presentation in the dining room before dessert. The meal was fixed as the Captain's Welcome was, which meant that they just brought out courses and you ate them or not. Since I think 2 or 3 of them were fish, followed by very rare steak with seared foie gras, I had a long, hungry night.

Drake Lake!

We are having a very different Drake Crossing on our return! Much better, plus we've all had time to get our sea legs.

In the theater, during the Captain's speech, my left ear popped and that was the end of hearing on that side. Updating, that I did not get that ear unpopped and hearing restored until a week later, after getting home, visiting the ENT and taking about 7 days’ worth of drugs. All better as I post this. That said I am still tied up ashore, meaning that you know how the water laps up a couple of feet and then back out a couple of feet right at the shore. I am doing that. That is what my ears’ balance center is telling me and has been telling me since we moored! I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad because Clay complained for over a week after we left Le Boreal that he still felt like he was on a ship. That’s the price you pay sometimes!

On the bed tonight, we had a tip envelope, a Gohagan feedback letter, and our disembarkation letter and luggage tags. It is time to go home.

The Captain said he would wake us up around 7am to see Cape Horn.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Sunrise 4:06 Sunset 10:30 Morning 0/32F  Afternoon 0\32F. Cloudy/snowing AM stiff SW wind

Clay's Photos

Debbie's Photos

Today felt like the very coldest day, but it was probably just the snow blasting into our faces!

This morning we sailed through Neptune's Bellows to Telefon Bay inside the caldera of Deception Island. It is a still active volcano. There is no wildlife living inside. There is some around the outside of the cone though. In fact, there were maybe hundreds of thousands of penguins all the way up a high cliffside just outside that entrance to the caldera. Inside it is such a protected harbor that it was used for whaling processing and scientific research until the last eruption in the late 1960's.

We were the first group ashore again. So we had to be up early to get breakfast at 6:30, watch the narrow entrance to slip into the caldera and then go ashore at 8am. It was a very different day. It was mostly black sand, cinders and stones with the white snow over it. It was very stark and lifeless, eerie. It was our easiest landing by far. The walk probably would not have been too bad uphill to view the most recent crater, but for a stiff, cold snowy wind pushing into our faces. The wind was so hard it would actually push you back or sideways from time to time. We did not walk past the first crater. The steeper walk to the next crater may have been easier because you took a left turn and had the wind at your back, but we were done!

At 11am, we started our sail out. The sun had emerged, partly cloudy skies but the wind must have stiffened because now the entire bay was covered in whitecaps. It wasn't like that for our zodiac trips ashore.

This is the shore stop where the geothermally heated waters are, as you may have figured. So, this is the stop for which we were instructed to bring swimsuits and water shoes. Now we weren't wild about that, but if we weren't prepared and missed an opportunity, we might feel bad, so we brought them. At last night's briefing, Nico did not mention it. So, when he opened for questions, those were all the questions and it became quite clear that he and his expedition staff did not do water adventures with passengers. In fact, he stated it was rarely possible and that in the case of cold water plunges, that it was now illegal. A few of the others piped up with the gist of if it wasn’t illegal that it ought to be because everyone was going to take photos of people in bathing suits that shouldn’t be wearing them and posting them on Facebook. I don’t know if any of this was true, or whether they just don’t like doing it and so they don’t. Well, it was probably true about Facebook, by which I assume they meant just posted on the Internet in general. In any event, there were a bunch of disappointed people, who had used precious luggage space and weight for no reason. It really didn’t matter to us, Clay used his swim trunks as treadmill shorts, my suit is no weight really and I wore my Mary Jane Crocs anyway.

The only thing listed in the program today that was not a meal or a landing was Relaxation with Sara in the Theater. Since it is only on deck 4 and we were sitting still, I decided to go. I was the only passenger who came! Now on other cruise lines we've sailed unless at least 3 passengers show up class is canceled. Sara carried right on and I got a private work over. She pretty much gave a mini-massage/chiropractic workout! She cracked my back on both sides and I felt great for the next couple of hours. By the time we returned from our last landing, I was having back spasms. Oh, well.  I plan to have Clay rub some Tiger's Balm in there before bedtime and hopefully that will fix it. In an update, my chronic hip pain has been gone ever since Sara’s laying on of the hands. I have no taken any anti-inflammatory drugs since we got home. It is a miracle!

No events during lunch which featured great big crab legs and fish soup. I ate more iceberg lettuce and pasta, plain since it came with mushroom cream sauce. Every day they have had 3 different salad dressings, I mean really different, I have never seen a single flavor repeated!

Shortly after lunch, we arrived at Livingston Island for our final landing. We split 4 ways this time because there is plant life here and they want to try even more to minimize our impact. So, you would land at either Walker Bay and walk to Hannah Point to tender back to the ship, or the opposite. There were some pretty good sized swells coming here and we could hear them booming off the back of the marina as we waited. So it was a bit scary, but we were told to expect Chinstrap penguins, giant petrels, elephant seals and 2 nesting pairs of macaroni penguins. We saw all but the Macaronis, so it was the most variety of animals we had seen in one place with all the others there, like skua, Gentoo, fur seals and Giant Petrels. We saw a juvenile skua and a fluffy Giant Petrel chick. I got some video of a penguin feeding chase. We saw Elephant seals and fur seals fighting. I got video! Again, too bad no sound because they were really noisy! The seals were molting and it evidently makes them both lazy and testy.


It was interesting to see the tiny grasses and mosses, as well as the fossilized tree bits, which they say means trees once grew here.

We walked on the dry half of the island; we sailed by the side that was ice-packed! The sun returned with a vengeance this afternoon and would just about blind you even with the big special sunglasses. The wind however did not abate even a little, it was brutal. This was everyone's favorite landing! It was also our last. I am not usually a big fan of short cruises. But, I make an exception for Antarctica. This is a grueling, exhausting, physically challenging trip with some rough sailing and long flights before and after. I think I would just cry if I thought I had another week of this. I am glad of what I've seen and that I finally set foot on the Antarctic Continent. And you can stick a fork in me NOW 'cause I am done!



We plan an early night tonight and then over the next 2 days sailing back to Ushuaia we hope to watch some of their movies on demand. After we got back to the ship and before it departed Walker Bay, we went up to Deck 5 where they sell photos and a DVD of the trip that their photographers sell. All the pics they took of us were pretty awful, so no sale. But we are buying the DVD and 2 CDs of scenic photos and animals because they were very good and we have no idea if we've taken any good photos ourselves and we don't expect to do this again, so we're just going to eat the cost. The DVD is 60€. The photo CDs are 35€ and 45€. I don't know the cost of individual or group photos because we didn't order any.

Another set of shipboard notes. Wine, sodas and beer are included at lunch and dinner. Though they do have a charge for the minibar, at the bars and they try to sell wine packages. Bottled water has been complimentary throughout the ship and they keep a couple of 2 liter bottles stocked in the cabin. There is a cooler in the lobby of deck 3 that has smaller bottles of still water that you can help yourself to as well as in the fitness room.

I think that is it for today. It has been an incredible trip!

Clay's Photos

Debbie's Photos

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Sunrise 8:47 Sunset 00:005 Morning -2\28.4F  Afternoon -2\28.4F  Clear

Massive Photos!

Today is all about whales! We were able to sleep in this morning, since we were to do a shipboard whale watching cruise in Wilhelmina Bay. What a whale watching place it was! Clay got up first and went to the treadmill where he watched a pod of orcas. He was sorry he did not have his camera with him and I was asleep! I did see some tall black triangles, or orca fins, in the distance towards shore when I woke up but I did not get a photo either, as I had to go to the bathroom and when I got back they were gone. Too bad!

We tried to get to breakfast but there were 3 humpback whales right up against the back of the ship and we got distracted! One of them might have actually nosed the back of the ship at the marina! I got a pretty good video or two! The same 3 looked in the 2nd floor dining room windows at us as we sat there having breakfast. I think it was the best breakfast ever, with whales! We were able to get eggs cooked to order this morning as there were not many people in the main restaurant today. First morning that I haven't eaten oatmeal! They did not have bananas or chocolate croissants today. I also had some peanut butter toast, so after a lot of pasta I finally got some protein today.  It seems that if you need a no salt added diet, you mostly get offered plain pasta with oil and parmesan. I like that but it gets old. But, back to the whales. Two of them came right up to the window we were sitting beside and just stared in! One of them rolled over and Clay had his camera sitting on the table and he just shot as fast as he could. It is an incredible series of photos, even through the window.

After breakfast, 3 Humpback whales played at the front of the ship going back and forth under the ship. The Captain was out on the front deck and was so excited. Along with a bunch of staff. Nico was right out on the point of the ship with short sleeves and no socks! He must have ice for blood. I finally decided to just avoid the crowds and see what I could from the shelter of my own cabin and balcony. I think I got some pretty good video, but at least 3 times Humpbacks have stuck their snouts up right under my balcony and I have been so startled that I haven't even managed to lift my camera! As I sit at the table by my cabin window typing this I can hear whale blows and see the spray right outside and have to keep running out. I think I got some pretty good video of them. I am using Clay's old Olympus and it has a slow refresh speed so I have just started turning on the video and waiting to see what I can catch. It was amazing.

Clay stayed out front and got some really amazing photos of those 3 Humpback whales examining the front of the ship. The Captain called it the ballet of the whales. They were dancing with each other and with us. It was really kind of eerie, like they were trying to communicate or something.

Everything, everywhere you look is incredible here. It is another blue sky, sunny day, crisp and cold with a little breeze and cloud cover today. We passed some fur seals on an iceberg; the Captain says they are not usually this far south. Oh, we are in Wilhelmina Bay. That is not on my map, but it should be in the vicinity of the Gerlache Strait, since we will cruise the Neumayer Channel this afternoon and go ashore at Port Lockroy this afternoon.

A lot of the alumni groups onboard have door decorations. I brought 4 strands of Mardi Gas beads with us, since it was this week. We hung them on our door-side mail holder. Last night someone stole 2 of the strands. During breakfast someone stole the last 2 strands. It just goes to show that having a massive amount of disposable income and a higher education will not buy you class or good manners, or even a law-abiding nature. It is another sad observation on human behavior and nature, isn't it?

Oh, I have a new motto. Nico, our expedition leader, showed a montage of videos of how not to get in and out of zodiac. At one point, showing the wrong way, he intoned in a thick French accent; “The dangeur comes from the sea.” It is my new motto, in accented English, replacing; Keep away from the water.

After lunch today, we returned to our cabin to find a midcruise comment card. I think we might have mentioned that our cabin, 327, stinks. We had previously spoken to our stewardess about it, she sprayed it and left both doors open to air it out that first night. No help. We complained at the Reception Desk and as far as we know nothing happened. So willing to go all the way, since the form was addressed to the hotel manager, I wrote once again about our cabin that smelled of decomposing krill. Well, within in minutes he was at our door. Came in and agreed with our assessment about the smell (though honestly it was only half as bad today as the day we moved in!) and offered to move us to another cabin while we went ashore. (He noted that Clay answered the door in his long johns!) We asked where and he said deck 6. We both immediately said no, that due to motion sickness we had to stay low and center and would just stay put. He asked to do some checking and get back to us. That was fine. Clay thought he saw him head forward where we had seen some of the workers aboard head toward the medical center at the very front. He came back and said the head housekeeper told him that to clean rotting organic matter out of the drapes and carpet would take more than 24 hours and that they needed us to vacate the cabin. He assured us we would stay on deck 3. Clay said again after he left that he thought he was moving us forward. So I went to find him to find out exactly where we were agreeing to move before they ousted us. He told me that they had a ship's employee in cabin 322 directly across the hall from us. He assured me it would be the same, just on the port side instead of starboard and not smelly. He was right, though from the glares I got from the confab going in in front of 322 when I returned to 327; I can say someone was none too happy. Well, what's done is done and I give credit to the hotel manager for taking quick and decisive action when he finally heard about our problem. It is unfortunate that our original complaint did not carry immediately up the chain of command because the stewardess knew the first day we walked in and came right back out complaining when she told us that the cabin had gotten wet on the previous cruise's return crossing.

So, we packed up everything except our hanging clothes and when we returned from our afternoon at Port Lockroy we got new key cards. We found the cabin identical except in smell.  There is only one balcony chair and there are 2 big iron braces across the balcony opening that we did not have before. Since the balcony is so enclosed with solid metal anyway we never sat in our chairs because we couldn't see out. So, that doesn't matter. The only other difference we might notice is that before when sailing we were in bed facing forward, now we'll be in bed facing aft. I hope that doesn't mess me up!

Today the Captain had us all don our parkas and report to the pool deck for a group photo. We expect they are selling that separate from the DVD they have been working throughout the trip!

I am feeling some better now, though I still have a fever and am producing massive amounts of yellow snot. Gross!

Port Lockroy has a Post Office and a gift shop and a museum. You could walk through and see how they lived in there fifty years ago. It would have been hard! And it would have been stinky, surrounded by a big Gentoo rookery.  We also took a zodiac cruise with a Champagne toast included. We saw a Weddell seal, much cuter than Leopard. It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last day in Antarctica, yet a few hard but beautiful days are plenty. This is too strenuous a trip for me to want it to be any longer. Clay had some problems with his camera not focusing today, so most of the Port Lockroy photos are mine.

This afternoon was not as cold as yesterday and it was not windy and there were intermittent clouds which was a nice atmospheric touch. We sailed by, I believe they said, Mount Francais, the highest point on the Antarctic Continent. It came and went from view in the clouds all afternoon, very impressive.

The phone rang twice late this afternoon to find out if the occupant of this cabin had returned from ashore. Clay just said yes the first time and hung up, before I reminded him, they might be looking for the previous occupant. He went to the Reception Desk to try to straighten that out with no luck. Minutes before we set sail, he answered the phone again and said yes, my wife is sitting right here, yes she came back onboard, she's in the cabin. Then, he hung up. I can't believe they just took his word for it! He thought that was hilarious, that he could have left me in Antarctica. At least it was at a manned, or womaned, stop! There were definitely worse places here that he could have abandoned me!

Dinner tonight was good for me. The waiter immediately came and told me that the entire menu tonight was low sodium! I am full and ready for bed. We have a big full final day planned in Antarctica.  We have scenic cruising starting at 7am to enter the caldera at Deception Island, ashore at 8am. Lunch and sail to Hannah Point. Tomorrow we are on the lookout for orcas, which we have not officially spotted, though Clay and I are both certain we did not miss their enormous dorsal fins this morning, and elephant seals and Chinstrap penguins.

Massive Photos

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sunrise 8:41. Sunset 00:04. Morning -1\30.2F  Afternoon -1\30.2F  Clear

Photos

This morning we make our first Continental Antarctic landing in Paradise at the Argentine base Alte. Brown. This afternoon we are scheduled for Couverville Island. Since we had no briefing, we have no idea what to expect.

So, we heard ashore that this will be our only continental landing. No idea if that is true. (Yes, it turned out that it was in fact true.)

It is another glorious day. The skies are clear blue and the air is crystal clear and right at freezing with absolutely no breeze. We cruised Paradise Bay for an hour in the zodiac and then landed at Almirante Brown Argentine Station with its Gentoo rookery.

We saw leopard seals, sheathbill birds, and blue shag cormorants, in addition to the Gentoo penguins. It was a cold morning. We saw 2 small sailboats in the bay this morning. That is just crazy! We drew the last 2 seats on one side and I was right next to the outboard motor. I did not like that. Too close to the water (with leopard seals!) and too noisy and the exhaust was awful.

When we got back aboard, the shop was open and Clay finally went in to find nothing for him. Since this is the last sailing of the Antarctic season for Le Boreal, pickings were slim. I got a fleece hoodie with Antarctica and Le Boreal on it. It was expensive at 60€, but not really compared to the 39€ t-shirts.

Some more shipboard comments. Our cabin stinks so badly! This is a very quiet ship. We have neighbors on either side, but we never hear them unless we are all out on the balconies at the same time. I am still not sure how I like the split bathroom. I don't like having to open and close 2 doors to wash my hands after using the toilet. We keep our sliding door closed over the glass wall to the shower. A good thing because they bring the zodiacs up and down right outside our balcony!

Lunch today is BBQ. I do not really like the food on this ship. I don't know how much of that is me and how much is the food... Last night the choices were shrimp or lamb. You could have a hamburger, but I had already had that at lunch. Once I tell them I need no sodium, my choices are reduced even more. I am eating a lot of bread and the good news is chocolate croissants every day! Oh, and the desserts and ice creams are good. In fact, every day they have had floating islands! I eat that every day. I love that stuff. Also, they serve a lot of iceberg lettuce, so I have had a lot of that. I like it. (In a related postscript, I had lost 7 pounds by the time we got home. That is good news!)

We are waiting to be called for our afternoon landing around 4pm. We are going to a large rookery on Couverville Island. It has gotten really cloudy, windy and much colder. Pretty much like yesterday.

I don't remember if I mentioned that our cruise is only the 2nd time this season they had gotten through the Lemaire Channel. I guess ours was a close thing last night coming back through to the north.

It was very rough, grey and cold this afternoon. There was about a 3 foot high chop and Clay and I drew the front 2 seats in the zodiac. Bad luck, right? We zoomed, getting soaked for about a half mile, and then I saw a smooth spot on the sea that was a different color and pointed and yelled to Clay to take out his camera. We had a few minutes close encounter with 3 humpback whales! Yeah! We really could have gone back to the ship then, but instead we went ashore to our largest Gentoo rookery yet. Between the front blowing in, the stench and the cold and my cold/flu, I had a terrible headache. We planned to stay less than our allotted 2 hours. They said there was an albino chick at one end of the beach and we wanted to see that so we walked down there, but when we arrived the naturalist stationed there said he had lost him He walked around checking with binoculars but eventually just apologized for the myth. We walked back towards the other end and by the time we got a turn in a return zodiac we had been ashore for 1.5 hours.

A few more shipboard notes. Clay says they have had popcorn in the Main Lounge every afternoon. Now I have not had any but still, that is good. I think my problem is that it always really crowded in there with the most awful woman vocalist just caterwauling into a microphone. I can't take it! Le Boreal has a really great shower with great water pressure and plenty of hot water. There is a small clothesline in there that actually dries clothes because they have a vent in the ceiling inside the shower stall. Excellent.

Another shipboard feature that is nice is that they have a sign up every evening for 1 or 2 tables of 6 each evening to dine with naturalists onboard. We haven't done it, but it is a nice touch.

All the photos are Clay's except the last couple of mine at Brown Base and a video of Gentoo penguins at Cuverville Island.

Photos

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Sunrise 8:41. Sunset 00:16. Morning -1°\30.2F. Afternoon 1°\33.8F    Clear

Clay's Photos

Debbie's Photos

Avalanche Photos

We are in Antarctica!!! It is amazing... It is freezing... You would think that wouldn't be a surprise, but it is. The sun is hot and dazzling. We have seen whales, seals, penguins, birds and crazy ice! It is incredible beyond words and I am sure there is no way that our photos can actually capture the vast expanse of it. It is a world of black and white and all the blues that you can imagine! Prepare yourself for an avalanche of photos! Clay and I both took a whole bunch!

In the bad news category, I caught a cold or flu last Tuesday night. We went to a free preview screening and it was a full house. A sick, feverish, coughing Asian woman sat next to me and there were no other empty seats by that time, so we stayed. I mean that she and her husband were from Asia. They were reading newspapers written in strange characters! He spoke English to us, but I don’t think she spoke English at all. I have no idea why since she spoke no English and she was clearly ill and it was a free screening that she did not just stay home! And you guessed it by now, I have a fever and congestion and a cough and sore throat. I am trying to stay away from others, but it is small ship!

In the good news category, our first view of Antarctica was Smith Island of the South Shetland Islands with a huge and unusual iceberg in front of it. We headed straight past it for the Gerlache Strait and sailed through it overnight. We arrived at the entrance to the Lemaire Channel at sunrise this morning. It was so scenic sailing last night that I hardly got any sleep for looking out the window repeatedly all night before our sunrise wakeup. I find it hard to believe it can get better! But, it does!

We drew 1st group this morning and had a zodiac cruise in Pleneau Bay with a landing in Port Charcot. Not only that, but we drew the 1st 2 seats on either side of the zodiac! We had some great and unobstructed views and got totally spoiled! We had an experience in the zodiac that our driver said he had never seen and it was some kind of roving frenzy of crabeater seals. There must have been dozens to a hundred of them, just churning up the water, traveling around Pleneau Bay amongst the icebergs. It was crazy! I was a little scared because it looked like the crabeater seals were trying to run away from something. Something that maybe wanted to eat them and might eat us instead. But, no harm or damage that we saw or heard about. Still it was strange and exciting. I did get some video, but again I am sorry that it has no sound.

This was a beautiful spot and we saw Gentoo penguins mostly. There was a random Adelie, a random crabeater seal, and a skua or 2. Port Charcot is the spot where a Frenchman overwintered in Antarctica. 

The 2nd group is ashore now. Lunch should be soon and we are famished after missing breakfast to watch the sunrise entry to the Lemaire Channel and our time outdoors and ashore. Walking on the rough ice is strenuous and tricky. I slipped in guano and landed on my left knee on smooth rock. That is going to leave a mark. This afternoon, the plan is to sail south to Yalour Island and walk ashore to an Adelie penguin rookery as conditions allow.

We sailed south along the Antarctic Peninsula for a few hours. We sailed through eerie ice fields. It made a weird Rice Krispies sound as we sailed through it. The Captain told us that we had gotten south of Petermann Island and it was time to turn around and head back north. We got to 65°17.8' at the southernmost point and then turned around and sailed back. Several people really wanted to get as far as the Antarctic Circle and were disappointed, but looking at the sea ice, there was no way we could have gone much further south.

We did stop at Yalour Island briefly to give everyone an opportunity to go ashore. It was a very small island with only maybe a few hundred Adelies. The landing was extremely precarious and footing was tricky. The rocks were all fragmented and uneven. I got vertigo looking down to find footing on those cracked rocks and asked if I could step aside and let the others pass and then go back. But 2 of Expedition staff grabbed me under the elbows and moved me on forward. I had to go almost halfway to the top of the slope in slippery ice before I could find a place to stand out of the way. I pretty much did it with my hands on the ground. (This and slipping in guano, is when you are happy for waterproof mittens!) Once there was a break in arrivals, I made my way back to the rocks and told the guy I had vertigo and I needed to go off that island. I think he felt bad then about forcing me on before, and he and others were very nice about taking care of me. He parked me sitting with my feet in the water at the zodiac landing point and took my camera off me and made me take off my sunglasses so he could document my presence on Yalour Island for me. That was nice and I hope he didn't feel too bad about it. I understand that the expedition team doesn't want anyone to miss anything, just because they are having some difficulties and they will all do whatever they can to help every person safely do all that they can do. I appreciate that. Meanwhile, the surf kept lapping higher and higher and all I could think about was: The dangeur comes from the sea. I was about to give myself a heart attack. Then a lone Adelie penguin put on a show for me and I filmed him jumping in the water, but then didn't watch him swim over to my rock and when he jumped out next to me I was really surprised. Everyone got a good laugh that I was sitting there so sad that the penguin put on a show for me and I missed half of it.

On the zodiac ride back, Clay & I rode with the 2 Duke Marine biologists and they asked the zodiac driver to take us to photograph the leopard seals that were between Yalour Island and the ship. He did and we all got some good photos, I think. Later in our trip, Nico and some of the other expedition team got underwater photos of a Leopard seal catching and eating a penguin. Actually he has the first of that series of photos posted here, on page 8. According to the biologists we were riding with, Leopard seals are the top of the food chain here. They look it! It looks like their head is hinged like a crocodiles and that they could bite off your torso from the top of your head! Yikes! They were scary to me.

We have dinner at 7:30pm tonight and the briefing for tomorrow at 9:15pm, so right now we have no idea what tomorrow holds. Today was just glorious weather, blue skies, no breeze, calm seas and cold crystalline air. It would be nice if that lasts. They asked in a newsletter to drop any postcards we want posted from Port Lockroy, Antarctica at the reception desk. We did and they told us it costs 2€ each to mail them. Yikes! We hope everyone gets their cards. (As I edit and post this from home over a week later, we have not received the card we mailed to ourselves! I know it is Antarctica, but 2€? I guess I was expecting extreme air mail!)

They had a signup sheet for stargazing. They would have your cabin number and permission to wake you when it was good opportunity. I signed us up, of course! When the phone rang at 1:30 this morning with news it was clear and get on a parka and come on up, I did answer the phone, but then we just went back to sleep. Again, glad we have done Southern hemisphere shipboard stargazing before.

Shipboard comments. Our cabin, 327, stinks! I mean stinks like a penguin rookery!  Stinks like it was wet and mildewed and then someone sprayed Pine-Sol over it.  We complained and we got more stinking spray and our balcony door left standing open, all to no avail.  It still reeks in here. 

The food has been disappointing, though I am happy for the so far daily chocolate croissants.  The selection is very limited, the food is just not very appealing or tasty somehow and service is perfunctory. We have not eaten in the upstairs buffet restaurant yet because it has been closed off nightly for various alumni groups’ private functions. Oh well, it is disappointing that a French ship can't knock our culinary socks off, but then we didn't come for the food.

In our cruising past, ships have been quick to hand out sea sick remedies and leave barf bags out when the outer decks are closed due to high seas. We haven’t noticed anything like that on Le Boreal. The reception desk always has a bowl of apples out, but that is all we’ve seen. Clay did ask for crackers and a green apple for me when I was in bed the first day. He got some kind of inedible Styrofoam slabs and an apple, not green. Perhaps if you called room service for food suitable for a sea sick person to nibble on, or asked at the front desk for meclizine, you might have gotten what you needed, but since we had everything with us that we actually needed for sea sickness, we didn’t pursue it.

Today is Mardi Gas, but you'd never know it by us. I am still running a fever and feel just generally awful. Clay says he is not sick but he is coughing a lot with a raspy voice. We were wondering if we'd be able to stay up for the 9:15pm briefing when the Captain announced that Nico had canceled it. Then he got on the intercom about 6 more times over the next half hour raving about the beauty of the sunset as we reentered the Lemaire Channel heading back north.



It was beautiful and we were taking pictures from the balcony. The he started going on about a cloud of snow drifting down on the port side. We had heard the booms of glacier calving all morning but never saw one. Clay really wanted to see one and when the Captain announced that everyone should get to an outside deck to witness this, Clay got his parka, hat, and camera and went. I was undressing for bed and stayed in the cabin. Clay had not been gone long when the ship sharply tipped to the starboard and we moved very close to the cliff face. I could hear people screaming and then the ship listed back sharply to port and then back to starboard. I was being propelled back and forth across the cabin when I grabbed the balcony door handle and held on.

That was when the snow cloud descended from above in a vortex onto our balcony and it was all I could do to hold the door closed. Visibility went down to nothing! When the cloud cleared there was about an inch of snow on our balcony. Clay came back in shortly after covered in snow.

There had been about 30 people on the outside deck of 3 just off the lobby taking pictures when the avalanche happened. Clay said they stampeded the door and 2 got left behind. He said he was not at the rail, but tucked up against the bulkhead, so he just stayed put. The lobby got pretty well trashed and their crystal sculpture has some broken bits. It was some real excitement, but it seemed like maybe there were injuries. I was still going to bed. In fact, I was sound asleep when the Captain came on the intercom and ordered everyone to present themselves to the Main Lounge with key card to take roll. I was not the only one there in the cabin's bathrobe and slippers! We haven't heard what exactly the toll was of the Lemaire avalanche but we went straight back to bed. We are in the 2nd landing tomorrow morning. So we're looking forward to a good long sleep that is much needed.

Clay's Photos

Debbie's Photos


Avalanche Photos