Travels in the Deep South - 2017 |
When
we visited the Falklands in 2005 we made the decision not to carry on further
south. The likelihood of encountering significant ice while sailing at 6+
knots was the major disincentive. Though Sunstone's hull is as strong
as a well-built GRP hull and might have coped if we reduced speed
significantly at night, we were concerned that the hull timber would be
irremediably scarred. Back
in November 2015 we bit the bullet and decided to book a trip on a small
cruise ship to South Georgia and the Antarctic peninsula. Because there is a
limit of 100 persons on the number allowed ashore in Antarctica at any one
time from one vessel, we purposely selected a vessel carrying no more than
that number of passengers. There are several companies operating in this
category. In the end, though it was slightly more expensive, we chose the National
Geographic Orion, operated by Lindblad. The association of the company
with National Geographic was attractive, as were the emphases on
photographic support and lots of information from well-qualified naturalists.
In addition the Orion is a slightly faster ship than some others and
so would spend more time at the various stops; we thought we probably had
enough sea time! When we came to book for the January/February 2017 trip, we
found that even 13 months ahead there was only one cabin left in the lower
price range. We booked it straight away along with our flights and an extra
excursion to hike the W track in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park. Two
weeks before we were due to head away, in a state of excited anticipation, we
received an email from Lindblad cancelling the trip. The Orion had
suffered engine problems on the immediately previous voyage and required
repairs. We went through a frantic process of cancellation and rescheduling.
Fortunately we were able to rebook for the Orion's November/December
2017 voyage, as well as all our other arrangements. Lindblad were in fact
extremely good about refunding all the cancellation and rebooking costs as
well as giving us a 20% discount on the new booking. We just had to wait 11
months. . . |
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Like most cruise ships doing Antarctic
voyages, the Orion departed from Ushuaia (far south in Argentina),
where we had arrived a couple of days before departure. It was a little
strange returning to a place by air that we had visited with Sunstone
a dozen years before. Though the main street of the city had become somewhat
more sophisticated, most of Ushuaia was as rough-and-ready as we remembered
it. We had a bit of gentle reminiscence visiting
the almost empty docks at the Afasyn, which had been packed and teeming with
activity when we last visited them on board Sunstone in 2005. On 29 November we boarded Orion and
set sail the same evening. Amazingly these small ships often have a
turn-around of only five or six hours between one group of passengers and the
next. Considering the problems of restocking, refuelling and refurbishing the
accommodation, all in a very remote port, we thought this remarkable. |
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After a passage through the Le Maire Straits
and a day and half at sea accompanied by flocks of albatross, giant petrels,
pintado petrels and many other sea birds, we reached our first stop in the
Falkland Islands at West Point Island. A pleasant hike across typical
Falkland moorland in beautiful weather took us to a huge rookery and nesting
site for black-browed albatross and rock-hopper penguins. The two coexist
happily, the rock-hoppers particularly grateful for the albatross as a
deterrent against the predations of skuas on their eggs. |
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After
a further stop in West Falklands to see the magellanic penguins in their
moorland burrows, we moved on to Stanley, the capital, which we had visited
in Sunstone in 2005. Little had changed in the town centre, despite
the far greater number of cruise ship visits. However, the island capital was
clearly larger, more populous and in more constant contact with the rest of
the world, both in terms of communications and supplies. Two things were
definitely unchanged. Stanley's character was still very much that of a
little chunk of England and it is still the Land Rover capital of the world. |
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We
had learned a good deal from locals about the Falklands War on our first
visit, but learned even more on our second. This view is from Mt Tumbledown
above Port Stanley; it was a position held by Argentine forces and assaulted,
then taken by the 2nd Scots Guards, with significant casualties on both
sides. Like so many armed conflicts the war led to little change, unnecessary
loss of life and considerable bitterness between two countries which had at
one time very friendly relations. |
Our
passage from Stanley to the north-western corner of South Georgia gave us a
moderate taste of Southern Ocean weather, without being really unpleasant. It
just made it a little harder to use the small onboard gym and we were not
unhappy to be aboard a 100 metre long vessel rather than our usual 12. We
were delighted when we learned from our briefings that we would be making a
large number of stops on the island. Though we were also keen to see
Antarctica, for us South Georgia was almost more important and more
interesting. |
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Despite having read and heard a good deal
about South Georgia we were still astonished by the scale of the place, both
in terms of the scenery and the plentiful wildlife. There were huge glaciers
and jagged peaks everywhere. The black sand beaches and moorland behind were
blanketed by king penguins interspersed with groups of fur seals dominated by
huge and very aggressive males guarding their harems. We were very interested to hear that despite
having been hunted to near extinction in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, the fur seal population on the island and in the surrounding seas
has rebounded to a very similar level as before hunting began. This and the
other prolific sea-based wildlife is a tribute to the continuing presence of
huge numbers of krill in these waters, as krill are the essential diet for
the vast majority of the creatures toward the bottom of the food chain in the
cool southern waters. |
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The king penguin chicks are familiarly known
as 'oakum boys' because of their brown down. When they shed these for proper
feathers and colouration, the moulting process often makes them look as
though they have had a poorly barbered Mohawk or mullet. The chicks are often
significantly fatter than their parents, who lose weight while feeding them. |
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Despite being two of a hundred humans all
dressed in orange parkas, there were still enough opportunities in the
hugeness of the landscape to get away and absorb its grandeur undisturbed. |
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The small dark blob which appears to be just
behind the skua's tail is in fact a new-born fur seal pup. The pink to its
right is the placenta, for which the skua is presumably awaiting a chance. The seal pups are undoubtedly cute-looking,
even when they are due in the long term to grow into one of the ferocious and
highly territorial males. |
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The story of Shackleton's remarkable journey
from Elephant Island to South Georgia and his trek across the island to
Stromness is too welll known to recount here. However, we did have the
opportunity to sample the last section of his trek from Fortuna Bay to
Stromness. Even in much more pleasant conditions than he experienced, the
hike over scree, up and down steep slopes, was not for the faint-hearted and
the view of Stromness can be little changed from Shackleton's day - though
there was no echo of the whistle he heard to indicate the end of his journey
and the start of the rescue of all his men back on Elephant Island. |
On the way down to Stromness we came across a
rookery of gentoo penguins. A few already had chicks, though it was early in
the season. Unusually gentoos often lay two eggs rather than one. However, we
were told that one is often smaller than the other and hatches first, this
hatchling being small, less likely to survive and more often taken by
predators as a kind of sacrifice for the later larger chick. Life can be
tough in the wild. |
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The former whaling station at Stromness is a
slowly mouldering ruin. There has been no attempt to preserve any part of it.
However, at the other major station, Grytviken, there are some attempts at
preservation and conservation. There is a wooden church, small museum,
souvenir shop and post office, as well as a gallery, developed by the
long-term caretakers and yachties (now living in New Zealand), Tim and
Pauline Carr. Shackleton's grave is also there and is
regularly doused with whisky by visitors toasting his achievements and
'mana'. There are also plenty of the very, very large male elephant seals. |
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There
was an unexpected highlight for us of our visit to Grytviken when we noticed Wanderer
III moored in the harbour. As many will know the boat was originally
owned and cruised by the Hiscocks, but has for some time been owned and
cruised extensively by Thies Matzen and Kicki Ericson. Though we had never
met them, we naturally knew of them; and they of us. Quite apart from their
exploits and writings they are also fellow Blue Water Medal recipients. We
sought them out and were lucky enough to spend a pleasant afternoon
exchanging experiences. They were spending the summer in South Georgia
helping with the de-ratting program, which remarkably has managed to rid the
whole island of the pests, allowing native birds to flourish again. |
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It is easy to ascribe human attributes to
animal behaviour as these photos show: a huge male elephant seal rising above
the crowd, a committee meeting of king penguin elders, an elephant seal pup
practising its yoga and a king penguin just checking on its egg. |
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The elephant seal pups were particularly
engaging. Given the opportunity they would cuddle up to and nuzzle almost
anything and anyone. This might appear to be particularly friendly, but in
fact had more to do with hunger. These pups were all old enough to have been
weaned by their mothers who had deserted them so that they might start
feeding themselves. In the meantime the pups were in search of anything which
might be a source of milk, including Vicky's boot and Ian's beard. |
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Toward the south-eastern end of the island
the scenery was particularly dramatic. This was enhanced by a single day of
quite heavy snow. We understood that there had been little snow the previous
winter, so this fall gave us a real taste of what we had expected South
Georgia to look like. In Larsen Fiord we were lucky to be able to
get out in the inflatable kayaks carried by the ship. Though these were not
the most wonderful vessels to paddle, they did allow us some more isolated
time on the water in the midst of very dramatic scenery. |
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We were particularly pleased and amazed at
one of the ship's policies which was to have an 'Open Bridge'. When we
originally read of this we assumed that it meant the bridge would be open
when underway in undemanding conditions. In fact the bridge was never closed;
it was possible to go up and visit even when the navigating officers were
involved in quite complex manoeuvres. Naturally we were very interested and
had a number of long conversations with the very professional and
knowledgeable watch-keeping officers, all of whom were Scandinavians except the
Captain, a German living in France when not at sea. |
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Even though we had one of the less expensive
cabins, it was, by our standards pretty luxurious and comfortable. The vast
majority of passengers were Americans around retirement age. However, there
were, surprisingly, a total of 10 Kiwis (above) as well as a smattering of
Australians and Canadians. Unusually for a cruise ship, the majority of the
passengers were reasonably fit, though very few used the tiny gym. We needed
to do so, as we had to stay fit for the hike we were due to take following
the cruise. |
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After a brief stop in the South Orkney
Islands to see the chinstrap penguins we continued on toward the Antarctic
Peninsula. On the way we skirted a very large tabular iceberg, 17 miles long
and 4 wide. To give some idea of scale, what the photo shows is an ice face
about ten stories high, which means that there is probably about 80-90
stories of ice under water. |
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Does
this look like Antarctica? Our first - and in fact only - stop on the 'frozen
continent' (other stops were on islands), looked oddly like something from a
desert in the USA or Australia. This is Browns Bluff. Fortunately the groups
of adelie penguins working themselves up to plunge off ice floes en masse
looked more suited to the Antarctic. The ebb and flow of the adelies as they
got up courage to take the plunge was amusing to watch, but a matter of life
and potential death, as there were unseen leopard seals waiting for a penguin
lunch. |
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This is more like the brochures! In sparkling
weather the crew brought out the sparkling wine to celebrate our reaching the
Antarctic continent itself. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Later the same day the Captain found some
'fast ice', two seasons-old and about two or three feet thick. He drove the
ice-strengthened hull well into this ice until the hull was embedded for
about three-quarters of its length. This allowed us down the accommodation
ladder to walk on the ice with snow shoes - and a life jacket, just in case! |
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While the ship was still firmly embedded in
the ice, passengers were invited to take 'The Polar Plunge'; water
temperature -1'C. The vast majority had the good sense to decline, but there
are always a few, not surprisingly including Vicky, who can't resist. Fortunately the ship's hot tub had been
activated to resuscitate the adventurous - or foolhardy. |
During the following days there was some
whale spotting, including some encounters with humpbacks at close range in the
Zodiac inflatables, which were used to take us ashore at each stop. The stops
were numerous and very expertly, as well as safely, handled by the crew even
when there was a swell running for beach landings. |
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With the solstice approaching there were some
wonderful late night vistas of scenes which looked truly antarctic; and
day-time cruising in the Zodiacs among weirdly shaped icebergs. |
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About three days before we were due to head away
from Antarctica back toward Ushuaia, the Expedition Leader broke the news
that one of the passengers was gravely ill. He was receiving treatment on
board, but it was pretty certain that he would have to be medivaced by air to
Punta Arenas in Chile. Fortunately by this time we had reached almost as far
south as we were likely to go in the Gerlach Strait. The evacuation would
have to take place from the only available airfield, on the South Shetland
Islands, where there are a number of bases. At the time the airfield was
closed because of ice on the runway, so we could head there by way of
Deception Island, a collapsed crater forming a natural harbour which had been
a whaling base. There was also a colossal colony of chinstrap penguins on the
outer black sand beach and across the island; this has been estimated, with
ariel photography, at 100,000 pairs! |
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Fortunately, by the time we reached the South
Shetland base, the weather had settled and the runway was clear for the
evacuation and in the calm conditions moving the patient by Zodiac to the shore
was a relatively safe and simple operation. We have only praise for the way the
Expedition Leader his staff and the ship's doctor handled the entire
operation with very little disruption of the cruise itself, while maintaining
the safety of the patient as their primary concern. This was very much in
keeping with the way in which everything was handled on the ship. We heard
subsequently that the patient made a full, if slow, recovery after essential
medical treatment in Chile. |
The Filipino 'hotel' staff were charming,
friendly and consistently cheerful as well as professional. Within hours they
appeared to know the name of virtually every passenger - as well as their
favourite drink and breakfast items. Beyond this, we were daily treated to both
formal lectures and more informal information briefings on geology, biology,
oceanography, wildlife and history. All delivered by highly qualified staff.
Not surprisingly for a vessel carrying the National Geographic badge, there
was a considerable emphasis on photography, with two professional
photographers on board to share their expertise with passengers of all levels
of ability and interest. For us as cruisers on a small boat, often in
wilderness areas, miles from any kind of support, the idea that the cruise
was an 'Expedition' seemed at times a little laughable. However, we were very
pleased with the determination of the the staff team to get us all ashore as
often as possible. This was frequently two or three times a day for several
hours, when ever the ship was anchored. Having spent what was for us a small fortune
on the cruise, we had approached it with some doubts as to whether it would
live up to its billing. In the event, we felt that if anything it exceeded
our expectations by a considerable margin. After a relatively gentle passage
north across the Drake Passage, we arrived in Ushuaia more than satisfied
with our experience of cruising in a ship - even if that experience is very
unlikely to be repeated! |
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These are five of the expedition staff, who
helped make the trip so interesting. They were heading off for a short holiday
after the cruise. From left to right: Jonathan, Andy, Nick, Robert and Tom. As
you can tell from his gray beard Tom has been making these trips for years,
none of which have dimmed his lively enthusiasm for the wildlife of the deep
south. |
Our arrival back in Ushuaia gave us a couple
of days of radical repacking and readjustment to adapt both our luggage and
our culinary expectations to our impending hike. In the midst of this we also
celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. There are no direct flights from Ushuaia to
Puerto Natales in Chile, where we were to join our hiking party. We were
booked to fly to El Calafate and then bus to Natales. It was just as well
that we decided to arrive very early at Ushuaia airport for our flight, as it
had mysteriously disappeared from the schedule. Fortunately a frenetic
conversation with airline officials got us aboard a flight which was just
about to leave. We were interested to find that we were in exactly the same
seats as those on our original booking and it was clear to us that we had
been rebooked at some point - but both the airline and Expedia had neglected
to let us know this esssential fact! |
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In Puerto Natales we met up with the rest of
hiking group for the W Track in the Torres del Paine National Park. From left
to right: Paz (our Chilean guide) Nicole, Alysha, Vicky, Tom, Nathan, Gavin.
All the others were about half our age and twice our fitness. Even though we
normally think of ourselves as pretty fit, we were generally the back-markers
each of the five days of the hike. |
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The primary and most well-known attraction of
the Torres del Paine are the remarkable granite towers, which rise from the
glacially carved mountains. Much of the rest of the park is light woodland
and moorland which surrounds the rocky highlands at the centre. The first day
of the W Track climbs steeply to view the towers, but much of the remainder
of the track skirts the heights across the moorland and along the shores of
Lake Nordenskjold. Though we are seen here with full packs, we
were fortunate that for parts of two days, we only had to carry a smaller
load leaving some of the weight at stops to which we were returning. Our ageing
joints were grateful! |
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This area is well known for its strong winds,
as we well knew from having made our way down the Chilean Canales further to
the west. On the second day of the hike the strong rachas scoured the
lake and the shores along which we walked. When gusts raise 'spray devils'
like those in the photo you can be pretty sure that there is 50 knots or more
of wind. In these conditions it was just as well that
light-weight Vicky was carrying a heavy pack, but it was still necessary at
times for her to hold on to Paz ahead and be held down by Tom behind, for
fear that she would simply blow away! Though the 'Towers' are the most famous of
the Parks rock formations, we found some others just as striking and
intriguing. |
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Each night we stayed in refugios,
which were very much like backpacker hostels. Mostly accommodation was in
bunkrooms with large communcal eating arrangements. For Christmas Eve the refugio
laid on a special, suitably convivial meal. |
By the end of the hike we were exhausted and
pleased that the last leg was on a boat which took us down Lake Grey, past a
beautiful glacier, to the road and a bus for the return drive to Puerto
Natales. Another all-day bus ride took us back to Ushuaia to catch a plane to
Buenos Aires and finally to Auckland. Whatever the tedium of some aspects of
travel, we were well pleased with our lengthy trip, full as it was of unique
experiences and memories, packed into a relatively short time. |
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