Antarctica Jan. 2022

How the idea to go to Antarctica occurred!

During the summer of 2017, there was a total eclipse of the sun. Ryan and Jeff our two sons found a location in Oregon where they were able to view this phenomenon. Don and I were canoeing the Yukon River and we can’t say they we were at the right location to experience it.

The total eclipse? well we weren’t exactly impressed and in reality between the fog and the clouds it was hard to tell that it even happened. Plus where we were was not considered an ideal location to see it.

When we talked to Ryan upon our return to our home in Palmer, he mentioned that we should add an eclipse event to our list of things to do and by the way he said in 2021 there will be one in South America. Both he and Jeff were quite impressed and very enthused about the total eclipse. Ryan thought we should start planning and at least do some research of where the best location might be to see it. That event was so far away that it got buried in one of our lists. Fast forward to the spring of 2020. A friend posted photos on Facebook about a sailing trip she had done in Antarctica. When I looked up their website, I saw they had a trip that highlighted the fact that one could experience the eclipse of the sun in 2021 in Antarctica. For the fun of it I forwarded that to Ryan and he replied well it isn’t going to be a total eclipse , so not worth going there to experience it, however, the trip that begins in January 2022 looks interesting. He then said perhaps we should go and so would he and Beth, his partner. That began the plan to spend 25 days on a 60 foot sailboat exploring Antarctica. By June 2020, we made a commitment to go and sent the first payment. The planning begins! Like the song so far away, it was hard to realize what we had committed to doing. We had spent March- May 2020 in Finland where we got to experience the beginning of the world of Covid. We returned to the states late May. It was a different place when we had left. Covid seemed to be the main topic. We spent a week in San Diego with Ryan and Beth formulating what we would need to do to prepare for this adventure. At this point in time it seemed more like a dream than reality.

Preplanning for our Antarctica trip

By June of 2020 we have made our way back to Alaska and are beginning to realize the challenges of dealing with the pandemic. A thought that does cross our minds is the what if the borders are closed and we can’t fly to Argentina. That thought is quickly pushed aside as a lot of things can happen before our departure date. So we carry on with keeping a low profile and avoiding most people during the summer of 2020. We start making lists and seeking out more information about what we have committed to do. By mid Sept. we are packed and ready to go south for the winter. The border crossing wasn’t a breeze but eventually we were able to drive thru Canada. We were given strict warnings by the border guard that we would not be able to drive back to AK. unless Covid was more under control.

In October we rendezvous in Utah with Ryan our son and, his partner Beth and Jamie. Jamie and his wife, Julia are friends of Ryan and Beth and they have decided that they are going to sign up for the trip as well. We spend the days doing some canyoneering and hiking. Our evenings are spent discussing our thoughts about the trip.

Jamie, Ryan and Beth make it to the summit.

By December we are back in San Diego staying with Ryan and Beth. Our trip is now only a year away! Travel to South America at thist time is not looking good, but we figure that we have time on our side.

We have received our equipment list and begin to do some research of where we might find some of the items. Jamie and Julia are somewhat more organized and it is fun to talk to them about where they are finding some of the more specific items. Our plan is to look for items like muck boots when we return to Alaska. There doesn’t seem to be much of a demand for them in San Diego. We have been able to get some items thru the internet, but sizing is always challenging,

Year 2021 continues as we discover the joys of bike packing and do a long kayaking trip in Alaska. It seems though that a lot of our discussions are focused on the upcoming trip. We have decided to do a 6 day sailing course in San Diego with Ryan and Jeff. The sailing books are sent to us and we take them on our kayaking trip.

Leaning Sailing terminology is like learning a new language.

By mid July we have a zoom call with Daryll Day(the owner of the boat we will be using) and Anita Speier.(the business manager) They answer our questions and give us a heads up that the borders are still closed. We may be allowed into Chile, but we should wait on buying our airline tickets .

We receive an update from Anita in August that Argentina is making progress towards opening there borders. We have our fingers crossed.Then at the end of Sept. we get the email that we have been waiting for. The Argentina border will open Nov. 1st. There will be some regulations concerning Covid, but overall this is very good news.

Now things are moving quickly, Anita sends us the required paperwork early October and we make our lists. This trip is really going to happen, at least all operations are going in the right direction.

We take our sailing course on the mellow waters surrounding San Diego.

At least we know the basics. Don and I are the novice sailors in the group. It was a fun week with our sons. Although both Ryan and Jeff wouldn’t trust me at the helm without an observer!

The month of November and December finds us getting serious about checking off our lists.

The beds and tables become filled with gear that we think we will need.

So many decisions.

I have a challenge when I go to pack my sandals and realize that they have been too close to a heat source.;

Amazon pulls thru and within 24 hours I have a new pair.

Eventually our bags are packed, weighed and ready for departure.

Between the 4 of us we have 6 large duffles, 4 carry ons and 4 back packs. This should be interesting.

Our next big hurdle is getting a negative Covid test in order to get on the plane.We have been feeling pretty good about escaping the virus until we hear that Omicron is rearing its ugly head. From the sounds of it, we are in a hot spot. We have kept our contacts to a minimum and are hoping for the best.

The four of us drive to the testing center, roll down the window and present our noses. It is a good thing we don’t have to have our blood pressure taken. I think that we are all a bit nervous. Now we have a 24 hour wait to learn about the results. By the next day we check our emails more often than usual, waiting for the results. We passed! Within 48 hours we will be on our way to Argentina. The night before our departure we fill out the required paper work to board the flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Buenos Aires.

Can’t say we are going light weight for this trip!

Brett, a friend of Ryan and Beth’s has agreed to take us to the airport. In the morning we load the van and we are off! Ryan advised us to pay extra for more leg room and we are glad that we took his advice. It is Christmas Day and fortunately the airport isn’t packed. We find an area to avoid people and patiently with anticipation wait for the boarding call. Everyone on the plane respects the mask rule, which make a smooth ride to Dallas Fort Worth. There is a 5 hour wait at the airport before we will get to load on the flight to Buenos Aires. Another isolated spot is found and we pass the time waiting for the flight and people watching. Most of the restaurants are closed but after a few scouting trips, we are able to fill up on sandwiches and chips.

Finally we are on the flight that is going to take us to Buenos Aires. We have our temperatures taken and our covid test results checked. We are good to go on the ten hour flight. Needless to say getting comfortable for that length is challenging. We are served a good meal?? and then settle down with an array of movies to keep us entertained. We all seem to have spent some of the flight in a sleeping mode. The sun rises and several hours later the pilot announces the flight’s descent.

We are in Argentina!

Dec. 26

A lot has happened since we left San Diego and the adrenaline is keeping us moving. We feel fortunate to see all our baggage on the carousal. We make our way to immigration. Our paper work is checked and they welcome us to Argentina. We had made an arrangement for a transport company to take us from the airport to our hotel. We look for Beth’s name on a placard and smile when we see it. There are three cars waiting to take us to our destination for the night. Our drivers tell us that it is good that we have arrived on a Sunday. The trip on a weekday would take several hours, but today it is only 45 minutes to our hotel. We arrive to a small hotel that just has a name on the door. It is located between two cafes. We are staying in the tourist district of Palomar. Tomorrow we will be heading to a different airport and this area is closer to it.

We knock on the door and are welcomed in. The name of the hotel is the Finisterra Hotel Boutique.

We talk to the hotel clerk who tells us that our rooms are upstairs and it would probably be easiest if we just take what we need for the night and leave our baggage behind the desk. That was good advice as it was a narrow staircase leading to the second floor. The rooms are quite small, but the bed is comfortable and we look forward to using it soon. Due to Covid there is no food served here, but we are given some recommendations of nearby restaurants. We head out and soon find ourselves enjoying some South American Food.

The first course is empanadas

Followed by a tortilla of potatoes and onions

Don checks out the wine menu and orders what he thinks is a glass of wine. The price seemed reasonable at four dollars. The waiter brings this..

And says that he hopes Don isn’t driving. Don only took a glass full and gave the rest of the bottle to the waiter.

We are learning the value of the American dollar. Most of the restaurants here take dollars and give an exchange rate of 200 to one.(called the blue dollar rate) We had gotten some pesos at the airport and were given 100 to 1(which is the bank rate) The whole meal for the four of us including drinks and a tip came to twenty dollars.

It is a beautiful sunny day and since we have done a lot of sitting in the last 24 hours we decide to go for a walk. There are several nice parks in the area surrounded by many apartment building.

Buenos Aires is the largest city in Argentina and the second largest in South America.

There are a lot of statues in this park.

Our next mission is to find a coffee store for Ryan and ice cream for Don and I. Glad to say that the mission was successful . Jet lag is setting in and we all agree that the best thing for us to do is to head back to our hotel and check out the beds.

Ushuaia

Dec. 27

Today we will take a 3 hour flight leaving from the Jorge Newbery Airport to the town of Ushuaia. We pack up our bags at the hotel and head out for a quick breakfast before returning back to the hotel to get the rest of our baggage. We decided to try Uber and order two different cars to take us to the airport. We are hoping that the vehicles will have enough room for all of our gear. It works out with having some luggage on our laps.

The airport is quite a bit smaller than the one we arrived to yesterday. It is also quite busy with people going on holidays. It seems that most people are going north so our gate isn’t overly crowded,

We have to pay for extra luggage. There isn’t a lot of English spoken here, so glad we know some Spanish. The plane is full and not as much leg room, but no worries as it is a relatively short flight compared to the one getting to Buenos Aires. When we land everyone claps and then in a very organized manner depart the plane. It is quite the contrast from flights we have been on previously.

We are fortunate to have a sunny day when we begin our descent into the airport.

Ushuaia is a town with the Andes as a backdrop. We plan to spend several days exploring the area before we board our sailboat to sail to Antarctica. We have arranged to pickup a rental car at the airport. We have to do a little searching, but eventually we connect and determine that it is going to take several trips to get to our Air B&B. Ryan and Beth take off, unload some bags and then come back to get us. We settle into our new home and get ready to go out to eat.

Very clean with some goodies left on the table for us.

Jamie and Julia are here as well and we make plans to meet them at a restaurant.

They arrived a week ago and spent it hiking.

We get to the restaurant about 9 which is the start of the Dinner hour here. By the time we leave the restaurant is just beginning to fill up. This is going to be an adjustment for us that normally have eaten by 6. Once again we discover the bargain of eating here with American dollars. The bill come to about $50.00 with tip for the six of us. We are looking forward to heading back to our Air B&B and get a good night of sleep. Ryan and Beth, plan to do some hiking tomorrow while Don and I opt to explore the town and do a local hike.

Dec 28 -Dec. 30

The next three days are devoted to exploring the town of Ushuaia and the surrounding area. We are glad to have the rental car. Ryan and Beth take the car to visit the Tierra Fuego National Park and do a hike.

Don and I opt to explore a hike that will take us up a trail behind the town.We pass several colorful homes and are enjoying all the flowers.

The view from near the top. We check out the calm waters of the Beagle Channel. On January 1, hopefully we will board our boat and start the Journey to Antarctic. We have been checking out the weather reports and there is a storm in the near future.

As we hike thru the forest we noticed that a lot of the Beech trees had a fungus growing on the bark.

Eventually it may kill the tree. It is called Indian Bread and at certain times of the year is edible.

We also explore the paths along the sea.

There are some large cruise ships here waiting to head south. We are excited that there will only be 9 of us on our boat.

The Southern Lapwing , a new bird for us

It wasn’t all fun these three days. Ryan has developed a cold and I got a bad case of food poisoning. A night of throwing up and ridding my body of all the stomach contents wasn’t pleasant. I spend the night in the bath tub. Ryan is worried about covid and I am hoping my illness is short lived.

The next day,Ryan begins to feel somewhat better and after taking an easy day at the Air B&B I am ready to go.

We have to take a Covid Test on the 31 st. If anyone of us gets a positive test, the trip will be cancelled. We try not to think about that scenario.

Dec. 31

We have received word from Voy, our captain to make our way to the boat where there will be dry suits to try on, a short orientation and what we have been looking forward to, the Covid Test!

At the dock we meet the Captain, Voy the first mate, Ewa, (Voy’s wife) and the last member of the crew Jim from Minnesota. Don, Ryan and I have brought our own dry suits. The rest of the crew have the fun of trying them on. We check out the boat which is docked on the other side of another boat.

It will be a bit of an obstacle course to get our gear on the boat tomorrow,

After trying on the dry suits, It is time for the covid test. A nurse arrives with our names on the test tubes and we line up for this fun activity, She tells us that we should have the results sometime today. She will send them to Voy who will relay the results to us. Voy tells us that he and Ewa have some more prep to do and gives us the time of 10 to show up tomorrow. He also tells us that there is a strong wind storm developing and that we may need to harbor in the channel tomorrow instead of heading out into the Drake Passage. Sounds like a good plan to us!

Before we go we take the group Photo

Voy, Jim, Jamie, Julia, Ryan, Donna, Beth, Don, Ewa

We come together with a variety of strengths and some of us ( Don, Donna and Jim) with a lack of ocean sailing experience.

Voy and Ewa are from Poland and have lots of sailing experience. They have just spent the last month leading a trip to Antarctica. The weather was quite stormy with very little sunny days. Not much we can do with the weather so plan to enjoy the trip for what ever it may bring.

We head back to our lodgings and hope that the results from the Covid test come quickly. Unfortunately they don’t and we wonder if there was a problem. We decide to hope for the best and pack up our bags. Beth texts Voy and he replies that he hasn’t received the results but will let us know when he does. Apparently he was too occupied with the prep work and forgot to let us know that all the results were negative. WHEW! Tomorrow the adventure begins.

Jan 1 -Time to Go sailing and Experience the Drake Passage

We spend the last night at the Air B&B listening to the gathering of the neighbors preparing to celebrate the coming of the New Year with making an Asado. (a roasted barbecue for a family gathering). Sleep really didn’t come easy due to the noise of the celebration and the anticipation of what tomorrow may bring. We still didn’t know the results of the covid test, but figured no news was hopefully good news.

We planned to be at the boat dock by 10. Since we had the only car we had made arrangements to pick up Jamie and Julia. Ryan and Beth became chauffeurs before needing to drop the car off at the airport and walking back. It was a rainy, cold and windy morning, The predicted storm was arriving. Voy confirms that our Covid Tests were all negative and we are good to go.

We borrowed some trailers and headed to the boat.

Our next task was getting all of our gear on to the boat. This involved carefully stepping onto another boat and then carrying the gear to our boat. It was a coordinated effort and happy to report nothing was dropped nor participants injured.

Ryan and Beth are ready for this adventure to begin.

Don and I are looking forward to spending time with Ryan! (Jeff our other son was not so sure that he could survive a month with his parents on a small boat) We will have to see what Ryan thinks.
We are curious to know where we are going to put all our gear, We soon find out when we select our berths.

There are 4 berths in the front cabin. Don and I are on the starboard side. I (Donna) have the upper bunk and Don the lower one. Jamie and Julia are our cabin mates. Our gear is stored either at the foot or head of our beds. There is also a lee cloth attached to the bunk which is used to keep us in our berth when we are in a rolling sea. Can’t wait to see that in practice!

The galley is small. We learn that we all will get to share in cooking responsibilities.

Beth and Ryan have a stern double berth which is on the small side, Glad they like to be cozy. Jim is given a choice of either sleeping in a bed or rather a cubby hole with no windows behind the dining table or a berth right by the galley. We are all amazed that is even a choice. He easily picks the berth by the galley.

Not a bad place unless there is a lot of activity during cooking or when there is a lot of people getting sea sick and running by his bed. He did have a curtain he could draw, but the sound effects couldn’t be avoided. More about that later.

As we were getting settled Voy gave us a quick tour of the boat and where all the food was stored. Pretty much it was everywhere. The cans and packaged food were under seats and the sailboat floor.

By the middle of the trip we had a pretty good idea of where things were located. The fresh food and meat were located in the front of the boat where the sea water kept it cool.

Always good to have plenty of fresh food.We had apples that lasted the whole trip.

Before heading out to the deck where we will get our lifejackets and safety lines we are introduced to the watch and cooking schedule.

For the first part of the trip we each would have 3 hour watches. They are divided into 90 minutes blocks. I ended up being with Don for my first 90 minutes then Ryan would be with me the second 90. Once we arrived to Antarctica this would change depending if we were anchored or moving. The watches are around the clock.
We ended up cooking with the same person. Don and I were a team for this activity.

Once on deck we were given our lifejackets and a safety strap which would tie us to one of the cables when we were above deck. As predicted the storm is approaching and after doing a weather check and talking to several other sailboats Voy has decided that we will head down the Beagle Channel and find a protected harbor to spend the night rather than heading out to the Drake passage. We later learned that a sailboat which was 90 feet in length decided to head out and a large wave went over the stern of the boat and into the galley. They were all okay, but sounds like it was pretty tense for awhile.

Check out Ushuaia at the top of the map and the Antarctica peninsula at the bottom. The blue and purple shades are wind gusts between 40 and 70 mph. We agree with Voy that we should wait a day before crossing the Drake! This will give us an opportunity to get a feel for life on the boat before the Drake. I don’t think I thought about the Drake passage much before this trip, but after reading about it and seeing some photos, it has got my respect.I read that the Drake passage is one of the most famous waterways in the world. As well it is one of the most treacherous places for sailors and water vessels because of the strong currents that do not meet any resistance from a landmass. One can experience very strong winds and waves up to 40 feet plus. On the other hand sometimes one can even experience the Drake Lake which presents itself as a calm lake in the middle of the passage.

Finally the chores are done and we can head out sea. I pull the first watch and get to try my hand at steering the boat. For a lot of the trip we will be using the auto pilot, so instead of actually steering the boat we watch the gauges and the sails if sailing.

I am so focused while everyone else seems quite relaxed.

It seems quite calm in the Beagle Channel. The plan is to find a place to harbor in a bay tonight and then do some exploring tomorrow and hope the brunt of the storm will pass by before beginning our crossing. We set anchor about 9 and finally eat some food. Voy tells us that several of the large cruise ships have positive covid cases. They are not allowed to leave Ushuaia and some must quarantine. We breathe a sigh of relief that we were good to go. We have to take a covid test before returning to Ushuaia , but that is 3 weeks away. We will be our own bubble so should be good. The berths are calling and we are lulled to sleep by the gentle waves hitting the sides of the boat.

Jan. 2

The wind came up over night and the decision is made to spend the day here. After breakfast we are given a lesson on how to put the inflatable raft together.

It is like a puzzle to find the parts and then figure out how to put it together.

Finally it is time to lower it in the water. It takes two trips to take us to shore. Voy is going to stay on the boat and make sure the anchor holds as the wind continues to pick up. We are in a protected location, we can only imagine what it must be like outside the channel. Glad that we are not going to find out today.

Ewa takes us on a hike. After today we won’t be seeing any trees or the color green so we soak it in.

The forests protects us from the wind, but once we move into the open we feel the brunt of the wind.

We enjoy trying out a red berry that has an apple taste.

Ewa radios Voy that we are ready to return, he suggests picking us up and shuttling us to Puerto Harbeton where we can check out a working range and buy a hot drink. The ranch has been in operation since the 1800’s

There is a restaurant here, but due to covid they have limited services. It feels good to stretch our legs as soon we will be crossing the Drake passage which may be up to a 4 day voyage.

On the way back to the raft we stop and check out another new bird

The wind continues to pick up and it is quite a bumpy ride to the ship. It is good that Voy stayed on board as an anchor was dragged.

We took this photo of the boat from the hike that we did. Due to the protection of the bay we are getting some wind but not a lot of large waves. The plan is to leave tomorrow and we prepare ourselves for strong winds and big waves.

Our boat, the Spirit of Sydney is a 60 ft. aluminum hulled yacht that was built for a 1986 race around the road. In 1994 she was purchased and upgraded to become a boat that would take participants to Antarctica, which she did until last year 2021 when Antarctica was pretty much off limits due to Covid. On board we are carrying 2000L of fuel, and we have 400L of water storage plus a water maker. There are two wind generators, 1 diesel engine and 1 diesel generator. There are two cabin heaters. We have 1 zodiac raft, 2 life rafts and 4 sea kayaks.

Jan 3 and 4

Yesterday and today Ewa has been preparing food for our crossing. Once we are underway if the conditions that are predicted continue, it will be difficult to do any cooking. Voy has decided that we are going to head out later this afternoon. Little did we know what lies ahead. First though it is time to celebrate Jamie’s 40 th Birthday. His actual birth date is tomorrow, but it seems doubtful that we are going to be in a celebration mood.

This should be a birthday that he will remember.

We secure the kayaks and make sure everything is tied down. Ewa hands out crackers for us to put in our berth. We all have put patches behind our ears to help with sea sickness, Don, Ryan and I experimented with patches in San Diego when we went on a fishing boat. We have faith that they may help.

So far all smiles….but we are still in the Beagle Channel

Ryan is upright as well. Stay tuned this is not going to be for long

Then as we were leaving our protected channel, our enjoyment of the day quickly ended. It wasn’t long till the throes of sea sickness hit 5 out of 9 of us. The lucky four were Jamie and Jim (who hadn’t ever been on a sailboat and Eva and Voy (which was a good thing) The remainder of this day and the next for the five of us was a blur. Julia was the first one to start the heaving over the side of the boat quickly followed by Beth, Ryan and myself. Don held out a little longer but not by much.

Julia is in the lower bunk, She was only seen when she quickly made her way to the front of the boat. I decided that sleeping in the upper berth would be an impossible task as getting up and getting to the outside had to be a quick maneuver , so I took over Don’s berth., Don took up lying on the floor with a barf bag. Ryan and Beth were comatose in their bed as well

At one point there was three of us puking over the side of the boat . All hoping that the waves would not send us flying. We tried to make sure that we were attached to one of the cables for safety sake. At the time it didn’t seem very funny but later fortunately we could laugh about it.

The four non sea sickness folks took their turn at watches. Beth imagined that they experienced a monotony of huge seas, napping when they could, taking more of their share of watches and trying to stay out of the way of the wild-eyed sick members as they desperately tried to lean outside of the cockpit to vomit.

And this too shall pass….some of us really don’t know where went the days of Jan 3 and 4.

Jan 5. Don Beth and I , slowly started to emerge when the winds and waves started abating. We were told that the last couple of days the wind was over 45 Knots and the waves were averaging around 15 feet hitting us from all directions. The confused seas were a big part of getting so sea sick. Julia is still hanging out in bed and Ryan is slowing showing some improvement. The wind has died so much that we need to use the motor. Voy says that here is a slight concern of how much fuel we are using. That is an interesting statement, we hope for some wind, but not much. Some of us are able to join the watch schedule. The pattern goes like, do your watch and then go back to bed. Most of us are eating very little. Jim, however, has a great appetite and tells us later that he felt bad cooking and eating while the rest of us were in a survival mode. There is a lot of sleeping going as we recover from the rough seas.

Jan 6

Don and I have recovered enough to get back on the watch schedule. At 1:30 am Don goes on watch. I join him at 2:30 am The seas are amazingly calm. We are experiencing the Drake Lake and it feels so peaceful. We haven’t seen any other boats since we left Ushuaia . We feel like we are a tiny little speck on this body of water. We are now in full summer of the Southern Hemisphere and there is light around the clock. It feels great to be outside and taking in the wide expense. We are probably over 300 nautical miles from Ushuaia when we sight the Black -browned Albatross. It follows our boat gliding from one side to the other. We also identify the Cape Petrel which is easily identified by its chequered dark brown and white pattern on its upper wings. There are also a couple of storm petrels that join us on our voyage. They are quite small and we are amazed that they are here so far from land.

Life is good as we can breathe deep and enjoy the much more manageable sea state. Later in the afternoon the wind picked up, but thankfully not a lot. We were able to raise the sail and turn the motor off. The sound of the wind hitting the sail and the waves hitting the side of the boat helps to make us forget the days of being oh so sea sick.We can only imagine the life of the early explorers who ventured crossing the Drake without weather forecasts and the aid of GPS. We are sobered by the fact that over 20,000 sailors lost their lives in the Drake Passage.

The early hours of the morning are so peaceful that Don and I stay up and take Ryan’s watch as he is sleeping so soundly.. The sun rise goes on for hours. We are joined for over an hour by Hourglass Dolphins that play in our bow wave. This was one early morning watch that was worth being on! Life on the boat is becoming more normal as we return to our watch schedule and begin to be able to eat food again.
If we can maintain our speed, we should sight land tomorrow. Voy has been in contact with his brother who gives us added information about wind and sea state. We are also tracking our voyage with an inreach. The confidence that we will see land tomorrow increases!

Land is Sighted. The exploration of Antarctica Begins!

January 7

After 96 hours and 550 nautical miles we sight land at 5 AM. We sailed towards the island only motoring when we had to sneak through a narrow passage. We are mostly tired, but so excited to go explore. First though we have a celebratory meal of pancakes and then a much needed nap with no boat rocking. We are the only boat anchored at Half Moon Island. One huge advantage of being on this smaller boat is that we can harbor where the larger cruise ships can’t After the nap we will put together the dingy and go ashore. We can hear and smell the penguin rookery.

It is a cold, snowy foggy morning when we arrived to Half Moon Island.

Fortunately by the time we headed to shore the sun had come out, but it wasn’t much above 32 degees

Voy gives us an orientation about observing penguins. We are not allowed to approach them, however, the penguins are quite curious and will often approach us. They are quite accustomed to being observed by humans as they get plenty of visitors from the cruise ships. Penquins also make what is known as a penguin highway. This is often a snow path to the water that they all follow. Today though there is more rocks than snow. We are warned to not step on the penguin highway or use it as a pathway. Before heading to the island we sanitize our boots, we will also do that when we get back on the boat. We will be visiting several colonies in the next couple of weeks and don’t want to spread disease between the different colonies.

Finally it is time to load up the dinghy and head to Half Moon Island. We are going to be on the look out for Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelaide penguins. We don’t have to go far as soon as we land on the rocky beach we are greeted by some chinstrap and gentoo penguins. The penguins are easy to tell apart. The chinstraps have a dark line that runs from the back of their cheek to under their chin.; The Gentoo are larger and have an orange bill.

We beach our dinghy and get ready to go exploring.

The penguins come to check us out before heading down to the water and diving in.

Just watching them waddle around is so entertaining. We are also amazed at how agile they are when they are making their way thru boulders.

The chinstrap penguins are very adept at moving up and over boulders.

We spend some time exploring the island. Voy tells us that Half Moon Island and our next island destination we will be able to walk on rocky terrain. After that as we head further south our hikes will mainly be on snow.

I have a feeling that seeing calving glaciers will be a daily occurrence .

We are excited to see an Adelaide Penguin. They are becoming less common as the other two species are taking over some of their breeding grounds.

These two chinstraps met on an obvious pathway. They greeted each other and continued on in opposite directions.

After spending several engaging hours it was time to return to the boat.

Near where we returned to get our boat we passed by this boat and could only wonder the history of why it was here,.

It felt good to stretch our legs and for all of us to see Penguins!

We headed back to the boat for the task of sorting food. We needed to see how the fresh food fared after the Drake Passage. It was a group effort to sift thru the boxes and reorganize them. Don and I were the dinner cooks and made a delicious beef stew with the help of Ryan. There are several really good cooks on the trip so eating well is going to be easy.

After we ate Voy pulled out the maps and showed us our tentative route. There are a lot of factors to consider as we look at our route. One of which is how much ice will be in the passages that we need to go thru. The other big factor is the weather. Most of the participants have been on longer expeditions and realize that these are factors that are out of our control. We are ready to go to bed and feel so relieved that we are done with the Drake Passage that is until we need to return to Ushuaia. Don’t want to think of that!

January 8

We awoke to a cold and foggy morning. It was time to find our heavy warm jackets. After a breakfast of eggs and veggies cooked by Don and I, it was time to pull the anchor and head to Deception Island about 40 nautical miles away. We raised the sails, but soon had to take them down as the wind died. On our way we passed by Bailey Head and Sewing Needle Rocks. Warm clothes feel good.

We were told that these rocks were a good navigational sign for the early sailors.

On route we were able to observe 5 whales as they swam by our boat.

In the early 1900’s when whaling was at its prime, this area was filled by whales. One report was about a sailor who counted over 300 whales from the ship deck.

Our home for the night is Pendulum bay which is located in Deception Island. Deception Island is a collapsed volcano that has since flooded. It is very protected. No complaints as the Drake Passage is still fresh in our minds. After setting the anchor we ready the kayaks and the dinghy. There are 4 kayaks so Don and I, Ryan and Beth load up into the kayaks and paddle about 2 nautical miles to the other side where we are going to see some hot springs. Several years ago, it was permissible to dig holes in the sand and let them fill with hot water. This was an area that cruise ships could anchor and the impact on the beach was too great. We are impressed that we are in Antarctica and watching steam rise from the water.

Time to exchange places with the kayakers and let the dinghy riders paddle back to the boat.

We get back to the boat about 10:00 pm and look forward to Beth and Ryan making dinner. It is after 11 when we finally head to our berths. It never gets dark, but dusk is from 11pm to 4 pm more or less.

Tomorrow there is wind in the forecast so the decision is make to enjoy this area for another day and take the opportunity to go hiking. We also are looking forward to checking out the Weddell Seals that look like huge boulders on a beach near us.

Jan.9

The radio is kept on all night in case an important message is broadcast. Last night though the message was comical. A voice came over the radio and said “Ryan you are needed and thanks for being adventurous.” Ryan jumps up and begins to put on warm clothes and then realizes that the message was meant for another boat. Before gearing up for a hike on the island, Ryan and Beth treat us to a great breakfast of meat, potatoes and veggies. On to the shore we go and get to see up close the Weddell Seal. It is described as a sausage shaped seal with a small head and short foreflippers.They are often seen just sleeping on the beach. Once on shore we get a good view of this mammal. They totally ignore us and the temptation is to see how close we can get. We know the rules and keep the proper distance.

They can be up to 10 feet in length . They survive the winter by using their teeth to keep a hole open in the ice. Older adults often have quite worn teeth.

And if you were patient enough like Julia, one was able to get a couple great photos.

Julia stays back to watch the seals, while the rest of the crew take off on a hike.

It definitely feels like one is walking on an old volcano.

Beth, Ryan Don and I enjoy the ability to take a walk. Sounds like our next destinations will be snow covered.

Jim poses with our boat in the background.

Ryan, Beth and Jamie check out the summit while Jim, Don and I enjoy the rock formations on the beach.

Time to head back to the boat and enjoy a peaceful evening.

Jan. 10

The wind came up during the night, but we are quite protected at our anchorage. This morning we are heading over to Whalers Bay before we begin our sail to the Trinity Islands. Whalers Bay is a historic Site that compromises all pre 1970 remains on the shore. This includes artifacts and structural remains of an earlier whaling period from 1906-1912 associated with Chile. A Norwegian Whaling station from 1944-1969 and a period of British scientific and mapping activity from 1944-1969. There is a cemetery here containing 35 burials and a memorial to ten men lost at sea.

It is a chilly morning with snow falling as we head over to check out the buildings.

We can only imagine the activities here when whales were being processed.

This above write up was attached to one of the buildings

On the shore was an old wooden boat. It may be similar to the ones that Shackleton used on his expeditions here.

The gravesites caused us pause as we thought about how the men here survived or didn’t with the conditions they encountered.

One reason that this area was evacuated was due to the volcanic eruptions.

We hiked up to Neptunes window before boarding the boat to our next expedition.

We were going to be back into weather as we headed out under sail to Trinity Island. It would be a 60 nautical mile crossing. We encountered sideways snow. 6 foot seas and 40 kilometer guests. It wasn’t a fun voyage for some of us. We also started to see icebergs which added some challenges to our route.

Beth enjoyed steering around some of the icebergs.

Eventually made it to a protected area. Jamie, Ryan and Beth hop into the dinghy to do some exploring while dinner is made. They find a penguin rookery to check out tomorrow. All is well until the middle of the night when the tide and winds shift bringing icebergs toward the boat. I was awakened at 1:00 am to go up on deck for ice watch and was given a pole to ward off small chunks of ice. If larger icebergs approached it would be all hands on deck. We did have some large ones coming our way, but they got grounded before we needed to pull anchor and move out of their way.

Jan.11

Today started out as a blue-bird sky, no wind and the warmest day yet. It is going to be a great day to explore the area by kayak and dinghy. After breakfast Ryan, Beth ,Julia and Jim hopped into the kayaks to begin to explore the area.

The kayakers paddle past an iceberg and almost as on cue a group of penguins start hopping on to an iceberg one by one.

We are amazed at their agility. It is pretty steep as they use their bills to gain purchase.

I don’t think we will ever tire of observing penguins.

Don, Jamie, Ryan and I changed into kayaks while the kayakers headed back to the boat. We thought that we would meet up shortly with the boat as we paddled towards our next anchorage. It was a beautiful day and the scenery couldn’t be better. We stopped where we thought was the meeting place. We waited and waited some more. Meanwhile the first kayakers headed back to the boat and Voy suggested that they should go sledding.

The sledders got distracted having lots of fun and consequently there was a late rendezvous with the paddlers. Meanwhile the paddlers tried using the radio that was given to them only to discover that the batteries were dead. I needed to take a pee brake and unfortunately took on some water getting back into my boat. Nothing happened but….. When we finally saw the boat we were relieved but also a bit concerned as we talked about the what ifs. There was a group discussion and an agreement followed that once a plan is made it should be followed and all safety items (ie radios) should be checked before departing. We made it to the anchorage and Don and I made a shepherd pie. Thanks to Jeff for sending the recipe over the in reach. We are using the in reach for tracking and also to stay connected with the folks back in the states. We still have lots of light left and Voy suggests going to a nearby rookery.

PENGUINS

Having long days means the exploration never stops. We all feel that this maybe a once in a life time experience so sleep is low on the priority list unless sea sickness means the bed is a refuge. Voy suggests that we head over to a nearby rookery after dinner and there is a good possibility that we may see penguin babies. We are all in! Don decides to take a break and will join us later. We take the dinghy and motor over to Mikkelsen Harbor Rookery. As we get close the obvious smell of the penguin rookery fills our nostrils. We land close to an old wooden boat which is located next to a pile of whale bones. Once again we are in an area that was once teeming with sailors hunting whales.

Gentoos are very gregarious and rarely stray far from the breeding colony. We approach the penguins cautiously not wanting to intrude on the ones with young or sitting on eggs. They don’t seem to mind and go on with their loud chatter.

The penguin on the left is putting on a display with his neck extended.

The penguin nest is made out of small rocks. Male penguins make their rounds looking for an incubating female and attempt often successfully to steal a rock. They return the rock to their mate and do a bow. We saw this activity several times. It was quite comical.

And then there were the babies….no words needed here

The baby pecks the bill and the penguin regurgitates food into its young.

This bird called the Brown Skua is waiting for an opportunity to get a penguins egg for food.

Voy returns to the boat with the crew and I stayed behind to wait for Don on the island. Voy returns with Don. It was fun to share this place with him. The light and the penguin babies made this place magical. Finally as the temperature was dropping it was time to return to our boat. First though Voy had spotted an iceberg that looked to be grounded. He wanted me to hop on it and get my photo taken. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t flip, but just in case the directions were if you feel it moving run as fast as you can and leap into the water towards the dinghy. OK I said as I gingerly stepped onto the ice berg,

It was a great day with a variety of experiences.

Gearing up for the second half of the trip

Jan. 12

It was quite the day yesterday and we all fell into a deep sleep. Well some of us got to continue in the sleeping mode. About 1:00 am I hear Voy waking Don and telling him that he is needed on deck for ice watch. I just sink deep into my sleeping bag and quickly head back to sleep hoping that Don can push the ice chunks away from our boat. Turns out Don had a great watch, in fact as he was about ready to turn over his responsibilities to the next person, a pod of whales were sighted. Needless to say he didn’t bother to return to his berth. Another activity that occurred last night was a camping experience for Ryan and Beth. They returned with stories of calving glaciers and a cold wet night.

Yesterday had been a blue bird day, but today we are greeted by blowing snow and lots of ice to make our way thru the channels. There is no wind, but sailing thru this obstacle course of ice would be challenging. We will be motoring the whole way.

We take turns sitting up front to watch out for icebergs, some of which are mostly underwater.

It is a 45 nautical mile journey to our destination. With all the dodging of ice and no wind we don’t arrive till 5:00. Then the fun begins as we anchor up to an old whaling ship that has an interesting history.

Jamie climbs up on the wreckage and begins the process of tying off the boat. He moves slowly and cautiously as a misstep would be of dire consequences.

Once the boat is secured, Eva takes off in the dinghy to put out lines to keep the ice from ramming the boat.

This proves to be quite successful and hopefully will eliminate the need to do ice watches.

Tonight there is a rumor of a cribbage challenge. Voy has been watching Julia and Jamie play cribbage as an inside activity.

They may be hard to beat. Tonight’s tournament may be the first 7 way cribbage game ever played in the Antarctica or as far as that goes anywhere. After numerous games of elimination we have a winner and it is one who was a novice cribbage player.’

We have been curious about the ship wreck and learn the details. The whaling ship Gouvernoren was run aground in 1915 by the Norwegian captain. It was an intentional move as the ship had caught on fire and this was the only way to save the crew and the whale oil. It seems that the crew was saved, but not so sure about the whale oil. Apparently after a successful hunt a celebration had ensued that resulted in the fire. It makes for a great anchorage and should be a quiet night as we plan for an active day tomorrow.

Jan. 13

The plan for today is to explore the area. Don, Jim and I head out in the kayaks to circumnavigate the island. Jim has spent many hours in a canoe and is quite comfortable on the water, kayaking is a new experience. After several pointers he has an efficient stroke. The morning is quite foggy and we head out and then look back to see our boat nestled next to the shipwreck.

We truly are in the Antarctica as the surrounding area is of rock and ice.

While the 3 of us are on the water the younger part of the expedition go off to explore the snow covered land.

They soon were lost to us as the fog hid them from view.

This is the view that we saw as we checked out the horizon.

It feels good to take a day off from traveling to just enjoy the environment. We often have to do a reality check to say that we are really here and immersed!

Happy to report that our voyage was successful and we made it back to the boat. We did see a rather large iceberg calve and then flip over. Glad that we had given it a wide berth, and note to self that icebergs deserve our respect. We know from past knowledge that often only a third of the iceberg is exposed above the surface of the ocean. Some of these icebergs are huge!

We return to the boat for some nourishment before Voy takes Don and I to an area that we can go hiking. The early hikers take over the kayaks and head out to go around the island.

Don and I enjoy our hike and the snow falling down around us.

On the way down to meet Voy we pass a relic of the past.

Don gets his turn at iceberg standing.

I have a feeling we are in the minority of Antartica iceberg standers!

When we return to our boat we see another sailboat approaching our anchorage. They are not familiar with the area and are headed to a shallow section. Voy reaches them on the radio and has prevented an accident from happening. They ask to tie off to our boat which Voy gives permission.

The boat, Life Explorer is slightly shorter than our boat, has greater free board, less lines on deck and the quietest engine that any one of us has heard. The boat is owned by 4 gentlemen from Italy and Switzerland that get together every year and sail for a month or two. This is the first time they have been in Antarctica and they seem to be on a big learning curve, I have a feeling that we will be seeing more of them. We move tomorrow!

Jan 14

Today we are heading to Cuverville Island which is about 24 nautical miles away. Our challenge today will be finding our way thru all of the ice. first though we have to unmoor from the ship wreck. Beth gets the honors of climbing aboard to untie the lines.

We also separate from the Life Explorer. They asked us when we plan to head out and we have a feeling that they are going to follow us which turned out to be accurate.

Words can’t describe the beauty of todays voyage. Every direction that we looked we were awed by the scenery.

There was a lot of ice in the passage that we were taking to day. Often a person was at the bow helping the person steering ,by telling them which way they should go to avoid the ice bergs. At one point Voy requested Ewa to climb the mast to get even a better view. She put on a climbing harness and with a spinnaker halyard attached she made it way to the top of the mast where she had a bird’s eye view of the route. This looked like fun so we all took turns going up top.

From the top one got a great view of the surroundings. We were all excited when a shout from above said look over there on that iceberg, I see a Leopard Seal! we stopped the boat and were able to get closer to this mammal that has the most frightening demeanor of any Antarctica animal. There has only been one documented attack of a human and we were happy to not add to the story.

The Leopard seal’s favorite meal is a penguin. When a penguin is captured it flays its catch from side to side bashing it against the water to remove the skin from its flesh. Today the seal was quite docile just basking in the sun.

Today some of the icebergs were the largest that we have seen. They had different hues of blue and we never tired of observing them

It was definitely a great day to take photos.

and just keep looking!

We finally arrived to our destination about 4pm and set the anchor plus a stern line to help us from swinging. Now it was time to have lunch. We are all seated around the table enjoying our meal when we hear a large bang on the side of the hull. We look out the window and see an iceberg about 3/4 the length of the boat crashing into the side. We quickly make our way up to the deck and with poles in hand try to maneuver it from the boat.

We are successful only after Ewa hops into the dinghy and nudges the berg full throttle. Looks like we might have ice watch tonight.

Back to the cabin to finish our lunch and decide what the next activities are going to be. Don, Ryan, Beth and I decide to take the kayaks out and check out the enormous icebergs. They seem to be grounded but there is a bit of breath holding as we paddle past them.

Our plan is to go check out Orne Island and if possible land and check out a rookery. Once we get past the icebergs, the wind picks up and with some tidal current happening we forgo the landing and just paddle around the island. Meanwhile Jamie and Julie head off to a closer penguin rookery with the dinghy. When we return to the boat we switch places and Beth, Ryan and I go check out the rookery.

We are impressed with the penguin highways. Some places are so deep that one can only see the penguin’s head as it makes its way to the water.

We see a lot of penguins sitting on rock nests, but no babies.

There is continued traffic on the pathways as they head to the water for food.

Finally about 10pm we are ready to retire to our bed.

And soon hope to be asleep like this seal.

First though we have to do some organization in order to find our berth!

At least we know the general area where all of our stuff may be found.

Jan.15 ..1 day and a weeks worth of activities

Jan. 15

Being crazy busy today was an understatement. It all began about 4;30am when there was a shout from the deck that we were surrounded by whales. Everyone quickly put on warm clothes and for the next hour or so we were treated to observing whales. A warm breakfast followed and then Jim, Don and I headed out for an early morning kayak. The conditions were flat calm and serious clear. We passed by a cruise ship that had arrived and set anchor during the night.

Their activity for the cruise ship this morning must have been zooming participants to the penguin rookery that we had visited last night. It seemed somewhat chaotic as people were loading and unloading continuously. It made us quite happy to have visited this rookery last night where we were a party of 3. Soon though they were out of sight and it felt like we were back to being a very small group.

We passed by a rookery on the other side of the island. We were impressed with the ability of the penguins to make their way up cliff sides. Some have quite the climbing skills to get up so high.

Meanwhile the three of us are awestruck by the beauty of this spot. The reflections of the snow, rock and ice were photo worthy.

As we were kayaking, the remaining crew members moved the boat closer to Dunco Island. Their fun began when they headed up a mountain with their sleds.

If they had been penguins, they could have used the penguins highway,

There was quite a maze of trails to get to the top. The hikers had to make their own and got to posthole which made for some slow hiking.

The sledders said it was worth it as it was a very long and fast ride to the bottom.

Meanwhile the penguins just carry on their life of going to the ocean, feeding and heading back up to their nests.

We all joined up back on the beach and watched a group of penguins that were quite interested in checking Ryan out.

No rules were broken as the penguins did all of the approaching.

The Snowy Sheathbill is checking out its shadow. The sheathbill is known for cleaning up the penguin colonies. They can be seen waddling thru rookeries and and cleaning up penguin scat. They are also quite curious and will walk right up to you. They do not have webbed feet so they avoid getting in the water.

With kayaking and sledding complete it is time to move to our next destination. We are headed to Paradise Bay. We soon discover that it is going to be a very slow passage as we are encountering lots of ice.

We take turns being in the bow of the boat to push the ice away.

During our voyage today we hear Pan-Pan come over the radio. We listen intently and discover that it is a tsunami warning. There has been an earthquake and it may effect us. Fortunately there wasn’t but it did make us realize that we are on our own and we have no control over the elements.

We finally set anchor and Ryan and Jamie decide that today would be a good day to take on the polar plunge challenge. The sun is out so they prep for this activity by putting on their speedos.

The challenge is over and it was a very rapid retreat back to the ladder.

Now it is time to get ready for the next activity. We are going to camp on the Antarctica Peninsula!

We gather our warm gear, tents and sleeping bags. Dinner is eaten and we are off!. A spot is chosen that will have some lingering sunlight. Ryan, Beth, Jamie and Julia are the first boatload to head to the camping spot. It takes about 45 minutes to arrive to the site and upon arriving the first challenge is getting off the boat and making your way up the rather steep snow bank. Some steps are made to make it easier to get the gear to a flatter area. The first group scopes out some places for the four tents and by the time we arrive they have started to stomp out tent platforms. This activity is slowed as one needs to gaze at the surrounding area.

Its a group effort to stomp out areas for our tents.

We have used this tent in the Arctic and now we can say it also has been to Antarctica.

Ryan and Beth bury snow anchors for their tent.

One last look, before we head to our tents!

This day has been filled with memories.

Jan. 16 No time for sleep!

It was a chilly night as the temps plunged after the sun went down. Don and I had grabbed some extra blankets and with our 40 below down jackets and sleeping bags we were rather comfortable. Julia on the other hand with a sleeping bag rated well below zero couldn’t get warm.

The snow had firmed up during the night so it was quite easy to head up the hill behind our tents next morning.

We couldn’t have done this walk yesterday or we would have been walking in snow above our knees.

I am sure that this place will be in the top ten places that we have camped.

A couple of penguins watched our departure.

It was back to the boat where we hung up our tents to dry and have breakfast. After Don and I made apple pancakes, Ryan, Beth ,Jamie and Julia head off in the kayaks. It was the calmest day that we have experienced. Jim, Don and I are taken by dinghy to Brown Base which is owned by Argentina. No one is here yet so we can explore around the outside of the base and walk up the hill behind the base.

Once the base is manned it will be off limits to visitors. The penguins have taken over the surrounding area and the odor is not pleasant.

Between the smell and the noise, I think it would be difficult to get much sleep.

The hike behind the base was worthwhile to take in the views of Paradise Bay.

We had carried our sleds up to the top with us and it was a fun ride down.

Voy picked us up in the dinghy and we headed back to the boat where we would have some lunch and then go kayaking. First though we found an iceberg for Jim to take his turn of iceberg standing.

On the way back to the boat we are able to get close to an Arctic Shag rookery. The adults are busy feeding their young which appear to be as large as the adults.

In the water shags are sometimes mistaken for penguins.

Don,Jim and I take our turn with the the kayaks and take advantage of the afternoon sun.

Its fun to make our way thru the small chunks of ice.

We hear a whale and then see it just sleeping on the surface and occasionally breathing.

Back to the boat where we put away our now dry camping gear. Voy makes a quick decision to head to our next anchorage right now! The plan this morning was to spend the night here. Just need to go with the flow. We quickly tie down the kayaks and pull anchor. We will eat dinner en route. There has been a lot of ice in the passages and the current and wind have opened up a route. We are soon underway and taking in the surrounding views. This is a very popular section of the cruise ship routes. So far this year there has been too much ice for the Lemarie channel to be used so we plan to take another channel and hope to be able to make it to Port Lockroy. About 10:00pm we see the Lamarie channel in the distance. There is plenty of ice blocking the channel so we head north and transit thru a smaller channel. The peaks of the mountains are impressive.

We are all on deck bundled up to keep warm.

Everyone is tired, but the views are stimulating.

Jamie shades his eyes from the sun which is low on the horizon.

This is our view as we set anchor.

By midnight we have secured the boat and we are finally ready to head to our berths!

Jan. 17 Another busy day with so many activities

Another clear morning as we checked out the surrounding area. In the distance we see Port Lockroy. Port Lockroy is a British base and in 1994 was recognized for its historical importance and designated as Historic Site and Monument No 61.There is a post office here as well as a gift shop. Today it was closed so we won’t be visiting. One of the jobs of the people working here are counting the number of penguins and their chicks on the island. They also regulate the number of ships and visitors to the area. It was obvious that the penguins were quite used to visitors.

Our plan for the morning was just to take a ride in the dinghy and observe the penguins from the water, but when we saw the chicks we decided to observe them on shore. It was another fascinating morning as we got to see numerous chicks and their proud parents.

A lot of the penguins had two chicks in their nests.

They seemed to always be under the eye of one of the parents. One would go hunting while the other one stayed with their young,

They live in harmony with the Wendell Seal.

They were quite intrigued with Jim as they circled around him. We thought that Jim must have the talent of a penguin whisperer.

These two Antarctica Shags were nestled between the penguins. It didn’t look like the most comfortable nest.

By mid morning it was time to move on as a storm was approaching and Voy wanted to get to a very protected area. We are beginning our journey back to Ushuaia and this is our last protected anchorage. This next anchorage will be in the Melchior Islands. We left Port Lockroy about 10 am. It was a beautiful clear blue sky.

There was some wind but overall the joinery to our anchorage was rather pleasant.

Some of us enjoyed the weather from the cockpit while others took advantage of getting some sleep.

Voy knew that our anchorage would be very protected and that we would also need to put out lines to the shore so that our boat would not swing. When we arrived about 4 pm we began the task of making out boat secured. Anchors went down and several lines went to large boulders along the shore.

Task completed and boat is secured. Just as we were finishing the last lines, the boat Life explorer motors in. Voy was somewhat surprised to see them as they had not indicated that they were coming here. This is a rather small anchorage and having two boats in close proximity could cause problems if the wind picks up. Life Explorer followed our example and set out lines to the shore to secure their boat as well. They also put out a lot of fenders alongside their boat in case it got close to our boat. Hope that doesn’t happen.

The next activity was taking a hike up a hill close to the boat. Our clear skies had given way to clouds and one could feel that the weather was changing. It was quite the slog to the top as the snow was quite soft and we would sink in as we climbed.

It was hard to tell where the top actually was.

We also knew that we did not want to get close to the edge as there was a steep drop off with crevasses.

Not sure if we made it to the top, but this was as far as we were going to go.

We had some great views of the two boats in the anchorage and of the next bay.

Clouds are moving in… the calm before the storm

We all had lots of fun sliding down the mountain.

When we arrived back to the boat Voy was ready to take us on to our next activity. We were going to go check out an Argentinian Refuge House. This is a building that is opened to the public and has survival supplies.

This was the sign on the door.

Inside were several rooms with beds and supplies.

There was a note describing the supplies.

It made us realize what a small part of Antarctica we had visited.

On the way back to our boat we passed by several chinstrap penguins that were having quite the conversation.

And a seal that was showing off their flexibility.

We also were blessed by seeing several whales. It was another very full day in Antarctica! We don’t have to worry about ice watches tonight. Soon though we will be back to around the clock watches so we are all trying to get some good rest before the Drake Passage. Jamie, Julia, Ryan and Beth stay up after a very late dinner and enjoy a game of cards as well as drinking some wine. Don, Jim and I are already in bed and enjoying the land of dreams.

Jan. 18 A Rest Day and a prep day for our journey back to Ushuaia

This is the last day we will be spending on the Antarctica Peninsula. Tomorrow if the weather permits we will set our bow to the North. In the morning Voy and I head out to check out the Wendell Seals. Yesterday we saw quite a few lounging on the beach when we went to the Argentina refugee. There were back on the rocky beach today so we landed and got to watch them just hanging out.

One seal gave us the eye, but shortly afterward went back to sleep.

There were about 7 of them just enjoying the sunny day.

It was also a good day to see some Chin Strap Penguins. It almost seemed that they were saying safe travels on your return back to South America

Upon returning to the ship, Ryan and Beth wanted me to get some photos of them playing volleyball. They had spent the morning taking a hike back up the mountain that we had climbed yesterday and thought that it would be fun to get some photos of them playing volleyball.

I doubt if there are many people that have gotten to play volley ball here.

Jim, lulia and Jamie spent a good amount of time in the kitchen preparing food for the Drake. Once enroute it will be difficult to spend time in the kitchen. Voy gave the recommendation not to eat or eat very little while in the passage. I think that I am going to try that method.

Meanwhile the sun is out and there is time for another Polar Plunge. Don, Jim and I decide that we are going to pass on that activity but will happily take photos of the younger crew members.

Ryan and Jamie are game to go again so on the count of 3 Julia and Beth get to experience the Plunge with them.

There was definitely a race to get back to the ladder.

The remainder of the day was organizing our gear and making sure everything was well stowed. We had a relatively early dinner and were soon sleeping.

Jan. 19-24 The Voyage to Ushuaia including going around Cape Horn

Jan 19

We were up early this morning, hoping to leave by 9am. The skies were overcast and the the winds were constant at 20 knots with 35 knot gusts.

The weather was changing as the clouds rolled in. We would have a little protection from the Melchior islands, but eventually we would be out in the Drake Passage.

The lines were neatly rolled as we pulled up the anchors.

The dinghy is used for the last time to collect the lines that we had place on shores around boulders.

And then brought on board to be dismantled.

It is calm in our protected bay, but that is soon to change.

As we head out to open seas Don crouches low and uses his jack line to move from the bow to the cockpit. Time to get our sea legs back. It has been nice to be in protected waters for the last couple of weeks. Last night we talked about our feelings of going back to Ushuaia. We have a better understanding of what to expect in the Drake, but most of us are not excited about the upcoming journey. The wind for the next couple of days is going to be against us.
I have the first watch but it is very short as the schedule is already determined and when the clock says 11, I hand over the wheel to Don. Steering is difficult as there is a lot of ice in the water. It necessitates for two of us to be on both sides of the boat looking for the best passage thru the chunks of ice. Eventually the passage is clear and we are able to raise a sail. Both Julia and Ryan have taken to their bunks. It is likely that we won’t see them up on deck for a couple of days. With Ryan and Julia out of the rotation watches, we have decided to go on two hour solo watches. I have drawn the watches between 6:30-8:30 am and 6:30-8:30pm. I like those hours and can fulfill my responsibilities. Before we started out on the sail to Ushuaia we have all put patches on our ears hoping to lessen sea sickness. Don and Ryan have also added an anti nausea med. It makes them even more sleepy. I was feeling okay till I went below to my bunk. I ended up throwing up, but since I hadn’t eaten anything there wasn’t much to get rid of. Happy to report that was the only time on the return trip to experience that. We slowly make progress as we head to the west, knowing that the wind is going to force us more North and East later. We are hoping to round Cape Horn, but won’t know for several days if we will be able due to the weather systems. With the wind and waves hitting the boat, the only comfortable place to be in the boat when not on watch is mostly to be in your bunk.

We spend a lot of time in this position.

This is where we can find Julia. She was only seen when going to the bathroom.

And then there was Ryan and Beth. Beth is up for her watches but Ryan not so. Photo is blurry but you get the idea.

Jan 20

The wind is 20-25 knots from the west and the seas are between 6 to 8 foot swells with 2 -4 feet waves on the top. The ride is quite rolly as the waves come over the bow of the boat and then we rock back and forth. We have enough wind to sail for a bit without the motor. Our boat speed is between 5 and 7 knots. We have some problems with the lines on the Genoa sail as it snaps and it is necessary to bring it down. Overnight it is very cloudy and foggy with little visibility. We turn on the radar to see if there are any other ships in the area.

Jan 21 Northbound Crossing Day 3

The winds have died from yesterday. They average between 15-17 knots alls day. We set a course at 10 degrees. We have the main sail up at first reef and the small jib. We try to keep the sails full as possible. The day started with 200 foot visibility, but cleared by afternoon.

Getting my sea legs back and feeling so much better than the first time we sailed the Drake Passage.

The radar is on tonight and we can see ships rounding Cape Horn. We have been enroute for 62. 5 hours and have traveled 430 nautical miles. The autopilot is set for 001 ,we are heading north! There is a strong wind event to the west of us which we hope to avoid by staying on the edge of it.

Jan. 22 Northbound Crossing Day #4

The day started out with winds in the early morning around 20 gusting to 30. the wind shifts as much as 30 degrees making for harder sailing. The seas have swells around 6 feet. We turn the motor off around 3 am and just use the sails. As the wind shifted we drop one of the sails and turn on the engine. It starts overheating. Fortunately it was a simple fix. Voy cleared the strainer and the cool water returned to circulating and cooling the engine. We realize once again that we rely on each other to get safely back to land. By evening the sea is much calmer and the winds have dropped to around 15 knots from the North. There is a beautiful sunset as the seas calm even more.

Beth begins her watch at 10:30 pm and notes when she finishes 2 hours later, it is dark on cloudy nights but on a clear night there is still a little light on the horizon.

Jan. 23 Northbound Crossing Day 5

It was very calm this morning and there were no complaints from the crew. The winds were 10 knots or less and there was only a 2 to 3 foot swell. The period between the waves was very long so the waves were almost unnoticeable. Everyone was on deck when we rounded Cape Horn at 7:30am. Although there was a debate which point was Cape Horn.

As we round the point, it is tradition to toast Neptune by pouring some whiskey into the sea. Jamie and Jim then drink some of it. The rest of the crew, drinks some bubbly hard cider.

For the rest of the day we work our way East to the mouth of the Beagle Channel. We plan to be in Ushuaia early to mid day tomorrow.

Jan. 24 - Day 6 of the return trip.

we make it to Beagle channel and were looking forward to a calmer ride back to Ushuaia, but that was not to be. Right after midnight the winds picked up to gusts around 35 knots. The waves were as big as the ones we had crossing the Drake. During one of my last watches I noticed a crab pot. During our sailing course we had been taught to avoid them! I alerted Voy who was surprised to see it as the season was over. He figured that it had been lost and was drifting. It would have been bad to get tangled in the rope. One more thing to watch out for. As the wind picked up and the waves increased, we were told by Voy and Ewa to stay in our bunks and they would take the boat back to the port. At one point seal grass got caught in the propeller. It was necessary to stop the boat to remove it. Once the motor stopped the boat started rolling heavily and anything that wasn’t secured went flying. By 6 am it had calmed some and the winds were down to the low 20’s. We were all awake and headed up to the cockpit where Voy was waiting to do our Covid Tests. If there was anyone who tested positive(highly unlikely) we would need to quarantine until we were all negative.

Don thought that he could avoid the Q tip, but alas the Kleenex over the nose didn’t work

Finally all the tests were done and the results all negative.

The call was made to the port captain who welcomed us back to Ushuaia where there was a space for us to dock. As we motored for the last time we approached the dock where we had left 25 days ago. As we looked out in the harbor we noticed 5 large cruise ships anchored. We later learned that some of the clients had a positive covid test and the entire ship was quarantined. Once again we were so thankful that we had all made it to the start of our journey to Antarctica without a positive covid test.

Ewa, our first mate checks out our landing spot.

I imagine that she is feeling a sense of relief to get all of us safely back to shore.

Ryan is definitely ready to land and put his feet on ground that isn’t moving.

Voy takes the helm and soon we are at the dock.

Voy gives us tasks to do to secure the boat. After that is showers that don’t move at the boat house.

Our boat is the one with the yellow kayaks.

As the clouds lift, we see a new layer of snow on the mountains.

Ryan, Beth, Jamie and Julie decide to book a room at a hotel where Ryan and Julia who have been the sickest hope to recover more easily. Don, Jim and I opt to spend one more night on the boat. We all meet up for an evening meal together where we are still in a process of realizing what we have just done. This is going to take some time!

We meet up with Ryan and Beth on the 25th to spend the day with them and to eat at a very nice Restaurant called the Kalma Resto. It is quite reasonable with the exchange rate. After having to cook all our meals, it is so nice to be served and not have to do dishes. We re organize our gear and send most of it back with Ryan and Beth who are heading back to the states to go to work. Don and I are heading off for a couple of month to do some exploring in Argentina and Chile.