We had an early start on day three having reached our destination, Mikkelsen Bay, overnight. Breakfast, which I skipped, was at 6:30 am with gangway ops starting as early as 7:15 am. The goal was to get everyone to shore for our first landing by 8 am spend a couple of hours there then return to the ship by 10 am because we had a long sail ahead of us to get to Deception Island, our second destination for the day. After having two excursions yesterday the crowd was starting to develop an operational rhythm. The zodiacs were deployed first, with their drivers and any required kayaks on board as well. Once on the water the kayaks get strung together on a rope to form a long chain for towing. The then empty zodiacs line up along side the ship to pick up passengers. One of the crew members, stationed at the top of the gangway, verifies each person’s life vest, checks them off the ship and sends them down the gangway to board the waiting zodiac. A typical zodiac will take 12 people before moving off to allow the next empty one to dock.
Today once in the zodiac we headed for our first landing, about a 10 minute ride from the ship. It was a smooth ride because we were in the sheltered area of a bay with fairly calm seas. Indeed the wind was light enough that it almost felt warm. The landing was pretty straightforward thanks to some well positioned flat rocks at the shoreline. Apparently landing sites in Antarctica are hard to come by and the cruise companies tend to use the same sites. When we arrived at our destination there were several apparently well traveled trails of packed snow carved out of the white landscape. We were cautioned to not leave the established trails at the risk falling into waist deep snow. The trails led to several different penguin rookeries on the island, one of which that was situated next to an abandon building. What looked like a freshly set trail, a spur off of one of the “people highways” led to an area where three large seals were sunning themselves, completely indifferent to the presence of the human crowd watching them from a distance.
There were not only “people highways” but also “penguin highways” marked clearly on the landscape. The penguins create their own trails over the snow leading from the rookeries to the water making it easier for them to traverse the many trips back and forth. The rules of the road in Antarctica dictate that people give way to penguins and indeed there were several times human traffic would stop to yield to the random penguin or two crossing the path. Even though the day was cloudy, I could see a dim, pale grey outline of the sun behind the thin layer that drifted across the sky. For the first time since coming south I had a shadow. The sunlight, weak though it was, made the landscape really bright and I was glad to be wearing a heavy duty set of sunglasses, a requirement in the Antarctic no matter what the lighting conditions because of the constant snow glare.
The sun was weak, hidden behind some thick clouds, but still welcome. It cast an eerie glow on the landscape.
The trails were slick from hundreds of rubber boots packing the snow into ice. Marching across them even armed with a set of poles I moved carefully. As I walked I could see in a few places where people had stepped off the path and sunk at least to their knees. Casual strolling around the Antarctic is not a good idea! I spent a pleasant morning walking around to the various rookeries and observing the penguins. For one moment I stopped along the path in between two of the rookeries where there were less people to simply just take in the immensity of the landscape. It felt like I was on an alien planet; nothing in the scene around me evoked memories of the more habitable environs of Earth that I was accustomed to, even the remote areas of the Himalayas that I visited earlier this year.
A small group of penguins hanging out in the snow near one of the rookeries.
The morning flew by quickly and soon we were back on the ship. The captain proceeded to depart the area at a pretty fast clip so that we could reach Deception Island by late afternoon. The fast speed, about 13 knots, combined with the swell of the open water that we were crossing, created some of the most exaggerated rocking that we have experienced to date. No sea sickness yet though, so I found it all rather fun- especially moving about the boat.
Deception Island is actually not an island. It is the top of a very large volcano that protrudes out of the water, forming a circular shaped piece of land that serves as an island. Because of a gap in part of the ridge of the volcano, called Neptune’s gate, ships can enter the caldera to find a relatively calm safe harbor. It is for this reason Deception Island was chosen as the site of a whaling settlement at the height of the Antarctic whaling activity. After a careful, slow passage through Neptune’s gate, avoiding the rock that passed only three meters within the hull of the Vavilov, we found ourselves moored close to the ruins of a whaling station, our targeted landing zone. The volcano still active, although without any overt activity for several decades, generates enough heat to create steam at the shoreline where the land and sea intersect. The afternoon was filled with activity. Part of the crowd chose to go on a two hour, five kilometer hike up to the ridge of the caldera to get a great view of the whole area, another part chose to go on a tour of the whaling village led by the ship’s historian and yet another group chose to wander around aimlessly, exploring.
Entrance to the caldera of the volcano.
I was part of the last group. We had permission to “free roam” as long as we did not disturb any of the scattered artifacts laying around the beach. Many of us ambled along the black volcanic rock beach, towards the curve of the caldera near Neptune’s gate. A path up and to the right at the end of the beach led up to a natural window in the rock, and while not as high as the ridge that was the ultimate goal of the hikers, was sufficient to afford an excellent view of the whole caldera. As a bonus, when I approached the beginning of the path to climb to the window, I found a small group of people photographing two seals, sleeping unconcerned by all of the human activity near them. Also, along the way I passed several penguins roaming around, randomly plunging into the bay, then emerging to walk along the shore for a bit, before splashing back into the water. It was a pleasant walk.
I spent some time at Neptune’s window enjoying the view and the solitude (I sat waiting for everyone to head back down the path). It is hard to describe the scale of the caldera. Looking down into the bay from my perch the ship seemed merely a toy in mother nature’s bathtub and my fellow passengers were only bright red and yellow specks moving against a black background. The volcano was simply huge! Finally I climbed down to the beach, passed the landing site and set off to explore the ruins of the whaling village. My goal was to reach the shell of an airline hanger that was on the far end of the settlement. I suspect I did get a five kilometer walk in even if it was not straight up and then straight down.
The caldera looking down from the short hike up the side I did. It is really hard to describe the immense scale of the landscape in the Antarctic!
We spent about three hours on the shoreline before having to head back to the ship. Some of the passengers decided to take the challenge of a “polar plunge” which was, of course, scheduled to be the last activity of the visit. Even though the wind had picked up and was quite strong, of the twenty-five or so who had indicated interest when asked earlier at lunch, twelve hearty individuals actually went through with it. The majority of us who declined the treat stood by in the brisk, bracing wind and watched as the crazy people shrugged out of their many layers down to their bathing suits. Picking their way carefully across the rocky beach they intrepidly immersed themselves in the 1.8 deg C water. It was a great spectator sport! Needless to say they emerged fairly rapidly and headed straight to their towels and clothing. The ship’s doc was nearby to ensure that people got as warm as possible before getting them back on ship and into the sauna.
With the old hanger in the background. There was a runway around here somewhere amazingly enough.
It was a great day full of icebergs, wildlife, and stark Antarctic scenery.
The next day had us heading for Paulit Island, home to thousands and thousands of penguins. We arrived at the island in the morning, earlier than anticipated, due to the fact that the expected ice pack was absent. Typically at this time of year the ship has to carefully navigate through an iceberg dense region to get to the island, but we had clear seas the whole time. The ship moored about 1000 yards off the shore and with binoculars I could easily see the plethora of penguins, tens upon tens of thousands of them, littered across the landscape like small black and white dots. Unfortunately the winds were too high, gusting over 50 km/hour, for us to launch the zodiacs so we were destined to observe the animals from a distance. After an hour or so David, in conference with the bridge crew, decided to head back south through the Antarctic sound to another potential landing site to see if the conditions there would be more favorable to deploy the zodiacs. Alas, the theme of the day was high wind. It remained constant and was so strong that it was quite tricky to even go on deck to take pictures. I don’t know what the wind chill was, but my glove-less hands could only take a minute or so of exposure before I had to return inside to warm up. I stationed myself on the bridge all morning and for the better part of the afternoon and using binoculars watched the wildlife go by as we progressed down the sound.
The steam along the water’s edge is from heat being supplied by the still active volcano. The water temperature was still a frigid 1.8C though!
Given that it is a big ocean it is remarkable how much activity we saw as we wandered through the sound. Especially cute was passing long, shallow rectangular icebergs, shaped like the top of large dining room tables, sitting level with the water, populated with penguins who appeared to be simply riding out the waves. Where they were going and why was a mystery. Sometimes we would pass larger icebergs also hosting a healthy penguin population but accompanied by a few lounging seals. As we approached Hope Bay, our next potential landing site, we passed by a huge penguin colony along the shore, larger than the group that we saw earlier at Paulit island. The colony was right next door to an Argentinian base so the human settlement clearly had no impact on the penguins. Unfortunately at Hope Bay again the winds were too strong to venture off the ship but we were compensated by the presence of a large pod of whales swimming in the area, noticeable because of their frequent spouts and tails appearing briefly at the surface. While it was disappointing not to be able to examine the penguin colonies closer, I really enjoyed the day, spending most of my time on the bridge, popping in and out to take pictures, as my tolerance for the brisk wind allowed.