Despite going to bed early I had a restless night. The swaying of the ship as we crossed Bransfield Strait on our way to the Gerlache Strait demanded enough attention of my sub-conscious to wake me. The movement was noticeable, occurring in all directions, as we bounced along on the waves. Thankfully it was not violent enough to throw me out of my bunk and eventually, adjusting to the situation, I was lulled back to sleep. I have not yet experienced sea sickness, but apparently the ocean becomes more challenging at the end of the trip as we approach the island South Georgia Island and the Falklands, so I await that experience with curiosity. The wake up call over the ship’s loudspeaker by David, our expedition lead, included the information that there were whales off the bow of the ship, but quickly glancing out my porthole and noticing the surrounding fog I knew I had no hope of seeing them. Luckily it was only day one of the 16 day cruise so I knew there were going to be plenty of additional opportunities.

Breakfast was served buffet style at 8 am and with it came a briefing of the day’s activities. We were headed for Orne Harbor for an excursion after lunch. Thankfully our tour company, OneOcean, provides waterproof boots, bib overalls and an outer jacket which meant that it was not necessary to purchase such specialty equipment for a likely one time use. The morning was spent checking out and bio-securing our gear. There is a strict policy of non-contamination in place for visitors to the Antarctic. As such, any outer clothing that may potentially come in contact with the ground has to be inspected and vacuumed to prevent fibers, seeds, or any other alien organisms from taking root on the isolated continent. The preventive measures are fairly extreme, after each trip ashore the boots are routinely dipped in bio-cide to prevent even the possibility of cross-contamination from one part of Antarctica to another! Also during the morning we received our brief on wildlife protocols, hazards, and general instructions on shore operations.

The weather did not improve as the day continued. The visibility was very poor; we were moving through a fog bank that offered perhaps 100 feet of visibility around the ship. The wind was blowing strong enough that it was snowing horizontally making the decks of the ship slippery and dangerous- we were encouraged to stay indoors. I sat up in the lounge on the top deck to watch the fog roll by. Occasionally I would see small (relatively) chunks of ice float by. The bridge crew was proceeding with caution and we were moving very slowly. Soon after lunch we were informed that our afternoon excursion to Orne Bay was cancelled and instead we were proceeding south to hopefully find a better landing site. I amused myself by going to the bridge, where we were welcome to watch operations as long as we were quiet.

The bridge.

The bridge

The weather remained terrible for the rest of the day, the fog continuing to shroud the surrounding landscape and snow blowing thick enough that drifts formed on the decks. Not surprisingly we were not able to get off the boat, let alone see any of the reputed beautiful scenery we were passing by. At one point, while the captain was turning the boat, we were broadside to the wind and waves and as I walked unsteadily down the hallway to my stateroom I noticed that the deck had a noticeable tilt to it. I’m looking forward to the more demanding seas we can expect at the end of the trip as we sail towards South Georgia and the Falkland Islands!

The next day dawned clear and bright; the dense fog of the previous day was gone. Our expedition lead, David, decided that the sea and weather conditions were favorable for a landing. During the night we had arrived at Cuverville, an area where it was possible to land, roam around and see penguins. After donning all of our warm weather gear, trooping to the mud room on deck three to put on our rubber boots we formed a line at the gangway for zodiac loading. I was in the middle of the line, close to the gangway when I heard on the radio that the landing was too rough, the waves were surging making the transition from the zodiac to the rocks on shore too treacherous. The plan changed instantly to zodiac excursion mode. That meant we were going to drive along the shore line and around the bay in the zodiacs, searching for wildlife. The waves were still fairly challenging, limiting our speeds in order to avoid excessive splashing, but we had a lovely 90 minute tour. During our exploration we approached icebergs to view the many penguins and seals perched on them. The only downside was that my feet got really cold, resting against the metal floor of the zodiac.

We saw penguins in the water frequently. They kind of looked like ducks from a distance until they started moving.

Back on board, after doffing my boots and leaving them in the mud room, I went to my stateroom to shed the many layers I had donned to stay warm. We had some time before the next outing as the ship had to move us to our afternoon destination, Fournier Bay, a sheltered bay about three hours away. The hope was that the bay was sheltered enough to allow a landing, or at least another zodiac excursion. Lunch came and went and I spent an hour or so on the bridge watching our progress through the large windows that spanned the cabin. I had always wanted to see the bridge of the ship and it was great to be able to hang out and watch for wildlife. I ventured a few words of Russian with the officer on deck, asking some questions about the ship.

Arriving a Fournier Bay, and examining the sea conditions David made the decision to restrict our outing to a zodiac excursion due to the wave heights. I returned to my cabin to once again don the many layers, adding one extra layer based on my experience with the biting wind earlier in the day. The sky was gray and overcast. Littered on the surface of the ocean were irregular shapes and sizes of packed snow and ice. Looking out across the surface was like looking at a textured gray carpet, leaving the impression I could step out of the boat and walk to shore. With a paint brush soaked in red and oranges hues applied to the landscape, it would have been easy to imagine I might have been on Mars. The textures and geometry of the landscape around me reminding me of some of the pictures sent back by our rovers on the distant planet.

The bay was covered with ice and packed snow from the storm the previous day. It really did look like it was a carpet and you could get out of the zodiac and walk on it.

It was a stark, cold, desolate beauty, but it was beautiful. Color relief in shades of blue suddenly appeared as we passed an old, and thus very dense ice pack. Other than the wind and the soft hum of the zodiac motor, the only noise was the slush and clatter of the zodiac pushing through the carpet of ice cubes layering the surface. From time to time the zodiac would lurch a bit and the motor would sound like a blender as it chewed up small ice blocks that managed to get caught in the prop. As we zig-zagged around the bay we found seals sleeping on large ice bergs, penguins unconcernedly resting nearby. Apparently leopard seals do not hunt penguins except in the water. On land or ice a détente holds.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the bay and that was the perfect amount of time as I was just starting to feel cold. Back on the ship I changed yet again, warmed up, and headed up to the lounge on deck five for happy hour and to watch the scenery go by as we headed to tomorrow’s destination.