Day 14             Fri        11/21/08          Drake Passage

The calm conditions continued and we rolled along southward with just a moderate swell. We all put on Scopalimine patches but it is currently much calmer than the first few days south of Valpaiso when Dramamine was effective. Time will tell. Today was filled with lectures interspersed with some bird watching. In the afternoon the wind picked up and the temperature dropped as we got closer to Antarctica. The most exciting lecture provided details of the first three places we will attempt landings. Weather and ice conditions permitting, there will be one tomorrow and two on Sunday. We can hardly wait but we are concerned about how many layers of clothing we will need. As the evening wore on the swells increased until we were rolling quite a bit. The patches are working but stuff in our cabin keeps jumping on to the floor from shelves and desktops.

Day 15             Sat       11/22/08          Antarctica at Last

Today is the day we have been waiting for. We are scheduled for our first landing in Antarctica. The seas calmed down a bit overnight. The outside temperature is now down to 35 degrees. In the morning we attended two lectures, one on Fossils and one on Wintering in Antarctica. After lunch we suited up (thermal underwear, waterproof pants, shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters, windbreakers, mittens and hats). To our great surprise, it was so calm that we didn’t need much of this clothing. We were the first group called to the boats this time and we were ashore by 2:15. We landed on Aitcho Island at a gently sloping black sand beach.

Penguins were everywhere. Hundreds of  Gentoos and Chinstraps. Never have four people been so ecstatic walking around through snow and mud laced with penguin poop. The great surprise was a King Penguin standing in the midst of a Gentoo colony. This bird did not belong here but there he was. We walked across a couple of snowfields to get better looks at the different groups of penguins. We saw a few sitting on eggs. Many of the birds were still in the nest building stage and it was delightful to watch a penguin search for small rocks. pick them up and bring them back to the nest. Motionless on the beach slept a big sea lion, oblivious to the penguins walking to and from the ocean right under his nose. Our hour ashore flew by and soon it was time to get back on the launch and make room for other people on Aitcho Island. Once out of our heavy clothes, we relaxed and celebrating with a drink, reminiscing about this first fabulous shore landing in Antarctica. It’s hard to believe we get to do this seven or eight more times. We are truly fortunate. We have seen penguins in several different countries but never so many or so close.

Day 16             Sun      11/23/08          More Antarctica Landings

Today we are scheduled to stop at Neko Harbor and Cuverville Island. Neko is on the Antarctic mainland rather than an island so landing here is important to purists wanting to claim a visit to the sixth continent. We are currently at 64 degrees 50 minutes south latitude, about the southern hemisphere equivalent of Faibanks, AK. The days are very long with sunrise at 3 AM and sunset at 10:15 PM. Carl went out on deck at 7:30 to find a couple of inches of slush on deck and icebergs all around. We cruised deep into Andvord Bay, approaching Neko Harbor. We went ashore for an hour wandering around the edges of the Gentoo colony. It was a joyous hour and we hardly notice the smell of penguin poop anymore. During mid-day we cruised the Gerlatch channel heading for Cuverville Island. However, when we arrived we found the landing beach choked with ice. With a landing now impossible, the staff decided to take us on an iceberg tour. This part of the channel is shallow and many large icebergs run aground along the shore.

We took turns taking the landing boats on a 30 minute cruise among the bergs. Each berg was bigger and more beautiful than the last. It was a wonderful trip in spite of the snow, sleet, 15 knot wind and 30 degree temperature. Thirty minutes was just right. After dinner we were warming up with drinks in our cabin when the PA came on announcing Minke Whales to starboard (our side of the ship). We grabbed binoculars and the four us watched as a pair of Minkes swam back and forth, probably feeding.