Reflections

Magellanic buddies.

And Gentoo buddies.

 One of 14 landings, in mostly calm conditions.

A sheathbill. 

Adelies on ice.

Commerson's dolphins.

On the march!

The blue eyed shag, or cormorant.

Can you spot the imposter?

A water logged King penguin chick. The feathers are not waterproof and he is probably chilled through.

A black browed albatross

Thanks guys!

Monday, November 25th.

I planned, researched and booked this trip last spring as what I euphemistically called my ‘graduation’ from school. After 27 years as an elementary school teacher in Toronto I decided to retire in June of 2019. I remember hearing from a principal I had about his newly retired buddies who would phone him at school on the first day from the golf course and bug him about still working. I wanted to do something special, more than phoning former colleagues who were still working. I have travelled extensively and have visited every continent except one. A few fellow travellers over the years have regaled me with stories of the Antarctic. So, it was only natural I cast my eyes south. I investigated what my favourite travel company, GAdventures, had to offer. They had several trips on their website. The longest one, three weeks, left from Uruguay once a year and only had a couple of berths available for this year’s voyage. It was expensive but considering where you were going and what was included seemed reasonable to me. I messaged my travelling companion John in England to see if he was interested and viola, it was in the works. We got Denise, my travel agent to book the trip and the flights. Then I decided since the tour ended in Ushuaia at the southern end of Patagonia, to do some travelling there as well. I booked another ten days there for John and I through a South American travel agency and we were good to go. We just had to wait six months!

Now it is over and I have been reflecting on the experience. Well in a nutshell it was probably the trip of a life time. The only other single trip that rivals it was the 54 day Ultimate Africa trip where John and I met in 2010, also run by GAdventures.

The whole experience was exemplary and incredibly well run. The ship, the Expedition, was not a luxury cruise ship. It was a converted car ferry used previously in the Arctic, but it was a functional, comfortable, well-appointed vessel and well equipped for a voyage such as this. It made us feel like we were on an adventure or an expedition rather than a luxury cruise. It felt exciting and slightly dangerous that we were heading out into the remote and frozen areas of the world in this relatively small ship. The crew enhanced that feeling with their stories.

Along with the 130 or so of us, were the incredible crew. They can be divided into three groups. There was the captain and his staff of officers, engineers and sailors who sailed the ship to all of our destinations and transported us from one site to another so we could experience as much as possible. There was the GAdventures staff that included 17 people. They included: geologists, naturalists, a glaciologist, an ornithologist, a marine mammal biologist, a professional mountain climber, an artist, a musician, Zodiac pilots, and kayak experts. Their experiences in polar environments, scientific knowledge and camaraderie were exemplary. Two of them had made over 100 trips each to the Antarctic and Scobie had spent 40 years of his life in this region doing a wide variety of things. And finally, there was the excellent ‘hotel’ staff, the waiters, bartenders, and cleaning crew.

We sailed a total of 4295 nautical miles (which are slightly longer than regular miles – don’t ask me why) or 4942 regular miles. The furthest south we got was 64 degrees at Cierva Cove.

We made 14 landings on the islands of the Southern Ocean, including the Falklands, South Georgia, the South Shetland Islands and the islands of the Antarctic Peninsula. We only missed one planned landing, at Gold Harbour on South Georgia. Given the remoteness and potential weather conditions, this was remarkable and believe me the crew remarked on it repeatedly. One staff member said ‘If you are looking for better conditions don’t come back!’ We were indeed very lucky with the number of landings, the weather conditions and the calmness of the sea.

I got a taste of sailing on the high seas out of sight of land for days with nothing but water all around, trailed by petrels and albatross with the occasional whale sighting. I had always thought of sailing across the Atlantic, now I know what that would be like.

I got to see first-hand the places where Ernest Shackelton and his crew landed. Elephant Island, Wild Point and South Georgia Island are all incredibly remote and isolated now, I can only imagine a hundred years ago without the means of communication we have now and the technological advances we have made in ships and clothing. We saw these places in relatively fair weather, again I cannot imagine being there during the winter storms and gales that they somehow survived.

I learned many things from the lectures, especially about the variety and species of mammals, birds, and plants. But also, about the sealing and whaling industries that were the first reasons that people ventured into the South Atlantic and how they almost decimated the mammals. I learned more about the Antarctic explorers who risked and often lost their lives in the search for new lands, treasure and adventure.

The wildlife viewing was spectacular and a big reason for my coming in the first place. We saw tens of thousands of penguins of six different species, the Rockhopper, the Magellanic, the Gentoo, the King, the Chipstrap and the Adelie. We saw elephant, Weddell, crabeater and leopard seals. We saw a wide variety of sea birds, including several species of albatross (the wandering and the royal being the largest of them all), petrels, skuas, fulmers, shethbills and the South Georgia yellow billed pintail duck and the rare most southerly song bird, the South Georgia pipit. We saw several species of whales, but ultimately, they are usually a distance away and all you see is their back, their blow and if you are lucky, their tail as they dive. I thought we might see lots of dolphins, but we only saw a couple of the beautiful Commerson’s dolphins as they swam past in front of our ship. Timing, as they say is everything, and being the first voyage of the Antarctic season we were there sadly before the arrival of the killer whales. And the penguins were in the process of nesting so we did not see chicks, except for last year’s King penguin chicks and wandering albatross chicks which have to over winter for their growth and had not yet fledged.

The landscapes and scenery were incredible and really have to be seen in person to really be appreciated. I got to walk on sea ice and on a piece of land of the Antarctic Peninsula.

My fellow passengers were a dynamic group of like-minded people. People with wanderlust and a love of nature and the great outdoors. Most of us were not big fans of cold weather, but in order to see and experience what we did, we put ourselves out there. Most weather is doable if you are kitted up properly and you know you have a nice warm ship to return to! I made several new friends whom I hope to see in the future, perhaps in the Arctic, but of course Bruce needs a special shout out. He tolerated a lot of nonsense from us and gave back an endless series of one-liners and jokes. He was a great cabin mate and a lot of fun.

And to have John along again on another of my adventures was excellent! Together we have now been to six of the seven continents. He needs to visit me in Australia to complete the list.

So, what’s next? Well a group of the passengers are planning a potential trip to the Arctic in 2021, John and I are talking about a trip to the ‘Stans’, but first Australia beckons. So thank you for following along, or dropping in and out. If you are so inclined please drop me a line on the blog. I would love to hear from you. Until next time!