Day 14 February 5th

Day 14

Monday, February 5th

St. Andrews Bay, Gold Harbour, and Drygalski Fjord

Another early wake up call and we didn’t mind because it was going to be an exciting day! By 7:00 AM we were in a zodiac being transferred to St. Andrews Bay! It is the largest King colony of its kind on South Georgia. We are so excited that the weather cooperated! It is a stunning place. There are elephant seals, fur seals, and over 100,000 breeding pairs of King penguins! We had 2 hours, 15 minutes to explore the area. We needed to give the molting penguins 15 meters or about 49 feet and the others around 5 meters or about 16 feet. (A side note, all our distances, temperatures, and weights were given to us using the metric system. The Americans were the only ones who had to think about conversions!)

We would explore for a little bit and then sit at various times and the King penguins would come right up to us which was allowed. You weren’t allowed to approach them but they could approach you! It needed to be the penguin’s choice!

These King penguins are very curious about our little stuffed Tacky the penguin. As the penguins approached, Tacky was away! See the video below.

In this next video, listen to the pair of King penguins “talking”!

We feel that “a picture is worth a 1000 words”! So we will include some of our favorite photos from St. Andrews Bay.

Everywhere you look are King penguins and chicks.

Over 200,000 King penguins and this number doesn’t include the chicks!

Kings are all over the bay in every direction.

The King chicks are at various stages of fledgling.

This King chick appears to be wearing his tux! Its down feathers are almost gone!

With climate changes, the glacier has receded quite a bit in the last 30 years!

You will find fur seals and King penguins all along the banks of the glacial rivers!

It is quite a sight to see this many penguins along the river!

These elephant seals aren’t as big as the males which are out in the ocean feeding! Wow!

These elephant seals are SO big. Females can weigh 800-2000 pounds.

It was such a wonderful morning at St. Andrews Bay!

This afternoon was a trip to Gold Harbour. The weather was not like the morning sunshine. It was spitting rain most of the time that we were there. We had a little over an hour to wander around and enjoy all of the wildlife and beauty that surrounded us before boarding a zodiac and touring around the harbour.

On land we saw elephant seals, skua birds, fur seals, King penguins, gentoo penguins, and a lone Chinstrap penguin. We watched the King penguins kind of walk the Chinstrap into the water!

Gentoo penguins were on the beach and in the tussock grass.

When you compare how many penguins it takes to equal one elephant seal!

Two young male elephant seals practicing “fighting”.

There were a lot of King penguins at Gold harbour.

A part of nature and not one we care to experience but a baby chick has been killed by a skua bird and they soon will be tearing it to shreds. It is quite gruesome to see.

The picture below shows how curious the penguins are of humans and they aren’t afraid to get close to you!

After dinner, the captain navigated the ship down the Drygalski Fjord, which is 4-5 miles long. At the end is a beautiful glacier and more on each side of the ship. Despite the wind, rain, ice pellets and fog most of us were out on the docks to enjoy the beautiful landscape that surrounded us.

It was definitely a day filled with amazing scenery, exciting wildlife and full of adventures!

Day 13 February 4th

Day 13 February 4th

Hercules Bay, Grytviken, St. Andrew’s Bay, Godthul

We were up by 4:45 AM to begin a busy day! We were able to zodiac cruise Hercules Bay which we couldn’t do yesterday because of the wind.

This is where the colony of Macaroni penguins could be found! The Macaroni penguins were swimming all around the bay and many were up the mountainside. This was another penguin species to see in their natural habitat!

Hercules Bay is also home for some fur seals, elephant seals and a few King Penguins.

Our next stop was Grytviken. It is located in the King Edward Cove on the western shore of Cumberland East Bay. It was used as a whaling station for over 60 years.

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We did a historical tour of the area that explained how the whaling factory worked and then a tour explaining Shackleton’s connection to Grytviken. He died here and his grave is in the cemetery. We did an Irish whiskey toast to him at his gravesite and it was raining!

David, our historian, led the toast to Shakleton.

Of course there were also seals and penguins!

We saw our first icebergs on our way to Grytviken and again on our way to St. Andrew’s Bay. The glaciers and mountains were unbelievably beautiful.

As we approached St. Andrew’s Bay the winds were as strong as a hurricane so we couldn’t go ashore. We will try again tomorrow morning. So instead of going to St. Andrew’s Bay we went to Godthul. We were suppose to kayak here but it was too windy. The zodiacs took us to the beach at Godthul and it was filled with gentoo penguins, fur seals, some elephant seals and a few king penguins.

The gentoo colony was up the hill so we climbed through the tussock grass.

There was also a lake at the top of the hill!

We found that climbing down the hill was more difficult than going up because we had to contend with these wind bursts that were crazy strong! We were told at the recap for the day that we had wind gusts of 60 knots which is about 69 MPH! It was definitely a day to hold onto your hat!

Day 12 February 3rd

At our 4:15 AM wake up call, Ali, our expedition leader, announced we wouldn’t be going to Prion Island. The wind was too strong and the zodiacs would be in danger. We were to kayak at our 2nd stop of the day and that wasn’t going to happen either. 🙁

On to plan B which was to move on to visit one of the former whaling stations at Stromness Harbour. Again the winds were gusting and we weren’t going to be able to land so the captain took the ship close to Leith Harbour and we were hoping the winds might die down over by Stromness.

“Over at Leith Harbour, the Captain maneuvered the ship as close as possible to give us a view of the old whaling station. With the sun out and blue skies it was an eerie but beautiful scene. This was the largest whaling station in South Georgia, operating for over 60 years. Established by the Christian Salvesen Company, it was given the name Leith after the Scottish hometown harbor of Salvesen.” (from our Voyage Journal)

Whaling Station in Leith Harbour

After a ship cruise at Leith, we headed back around the corner to Stromness.

We were hoping to be able to finally step foot on South Georgia. The wind was still gusting but had settled enough for the expedition team to send out a scout boat.

The expedition team quickly readied themselves. Conditions were suitable so off to shore we went! After three days being on the boat we were SO excited to have some time off of the boat on land, even if it was windy!

The sun stayed out but winds continued to blow. Katabatic gusts (wind caused by downward motion of cool air usually coming down the slopes of a mountain or glacier) would occasionally force everyone to stand their ground. All around us were young fur seal pups. We walked around them, still trying to give them as much space as possible or be growled at.

We enjoyed watching the seals rest and play. And we also enjoyed the King penguins that were around.

Stromness also had the remnants of a whaling station.

Stromness Harbour

Stromness former Whaling Station

After visiting Stromness, it was time for lunch. While at lunch, the ship headed to our next stop which was called Hercules Bay. At this bay we are to see Macaroni penguins. We pulled into the bay but the weather wasn’t on our side. The wind was too strong for the zodiacs. Needless to say we were disappointed. As we left the bay and out in open water, we saw quite a few macaroni penguins swimming in the water and passed a glacier.

Just after we had taken off all of our waterproof gear, an announcement was made that we were heading back to our first stop, Prion Island, that we couldn’t visit early this morning because of the wind!

Prion Island was beautiful. We climbed to see the Wandering albatross nests and birds.

A boardwalk was built to protect the erosion of the gully and the prion burrows.

Only 50 of us could be on the island at a time! The nests were at the end of the boardwalk.

Wandering Albatross on their nests!

The Wandering Albatross have the largest wingspan of any bird on the planet!

Their conservation status is vulnerable so we didn’t want to get close and disturb them.

We also saw many fur seals all around us. Quite a few were tucked into the tussock grass!

Fur seals can be found all through the tussuck grass!

The beach where we got off the zodiac was filled with King and Magellanic penguins as well as fur seals. It was something to experience.

After our time was up for visiting Prion Island, we boarded our zodiac and we had a zodiac cruise around the island.

Kelp! It felt like we were cruising in a science fiction film!

Close up of the kelp.

South Georgia Pipit. It is endemic to South Georgia.

Day 9,10, and 11 January 31st, February 1st, and February 2nd

Days 9, 10, and 11

January 31st, February 1st, and February 2nd

Heading to South Georgia

The storm had passed so we headed toward South Georgia. Once we were away from the protection of the islands we noticed how rough the seas were and we were experiencing waves up to 26-30 feet! Heading west we were rocking side to side and forward and back! Many people were not feeling very well! The outer decks were closed! By mid morning the Captain decided to turn back for the protection of the Falkland Islands and wait until the swells had died down!

This really doesn’t capture how rough the seas were today!

Even though the waves were rough, the expedition team continued to give their presentations. If you were not feeling well, you could watch from your cabin on your TV so that was helpful for many passengers. I went to the presentations, Dave stayed in the room because he wasn’t feeling very well! DJ, our geologist on board, gave a talk on “An Introduction to Geology”. Later in the morning, Nicky, our ship’s photographer, gave a very informative talk about taking pictures in Antarctica and what settings would be beneficial for our cameras. Also, David, the historian, gave a talk about the history of South Georgia. We really appreciated the expedition’s presentations that informed us about what we would be experiencing and also did follow up presentations to give us more information about our experiences!

When the ship was back to the protection of the bay, our captain did a “drive by” of Berkeley Sound!

Going back to the bay gave the kitchen and dining room time to secure their dishes, bowls, pitchers, etc… Earlier they were crashing everywhere! We had to double check everything in our cabin because of the rocking of the ship!

February 1st was a gorgeous day with the sun shining brightly. It was a great day to be on the outside decks. However the boat was still rocking some. This video gives you an idea of the movement but it is nothing compared to yesterday and the night before!

We came inside to hear Miko’s presentation on “The Pinnipeds of South Georgia” and Sam’s talk about the “Southern Ocean Galapagos: Birds of South Georgia”.

After dinner, Tara, one of our kayak guides, gave a slideshow and talk about her kayaking trip around Svalbard. Her journey included polar bears and kayaking through ice! It took her and the 2 friends kayaking with her 72 days! She’s quite brave to tackle and conquer this feat!

A beautiful double rainbow as our second day at sea comes to an end.

Today is Friday, February 2nd, and it is our third day at sea as we approach South Georgia. The ship is still rocking quite a bit. It was cooler, cloudy and foggy. Some Orca whales were spotted. We didn’t get any pictures of them.

This morning we listened to the historian’s talk on Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica.

In the afternoon we cruised by Shag Rocks. These rock formations are isolated in the middle of nowhere. They are jagged, peaked islands that are estimated to be about 150 million years old! They are home to thousands of blue-eyed shags along with some other species of birds.

The ship’s bridge is open almost all of the time. It is fun to go there and sit and watch the captain and his crew work.

At our recap, Ali, our expedition leader, announced that we’d have a 4:15 AM wake up call to get ready for a 5 AM departure to Prion Island. We are looking forward to visiting this island because it is difficult to get a permit to go ashore. Only 50 people are allowed on the island at a time! It is a nesting area for the Wandering Albatross. Other wildlife thrives on this island too. Getting off the ship after three days is a bonus too!

Day 8 January 30th

Stanley, Falkland Islands

We were one of the first groups off the ship because we signed up to go to Gypsy Cove on Stanley. It’s about 4 miles from where we got off the zodiac. We rode a bus there and then trekked around the cove. On the beach was a group of magellanic penguins. We weren’t allowed to go down to the beach because there is a possibility that land mines left from the Falkland War of 1982 might wash ashore! So we photographed them from afar. Gypsy Cove is on the northwest corner of Yorke Bay and it is the best place for viewing shore birds and magellanic penguins on this island.

After our visit here we rode a bus back into town and we explored some of the city sites and ate lunch at a little cafe. We purchased an internet card for $8.00 for 60 minutes but we found the internet service really wasn’t any better here than on the ship. We were disappointed and that’s when we gave up trying to post to the blog.

Lupine flowers

Whalebone Arch- built from the jawbone of 2 blue whales.

We made it back to the ship before it started raining really hard and the storm began in earnest. Our ship left Stanley to go to a protective bay to let the worst of the storm get by us. On our way we had a mandatory biosecurity screening. All of our gear that would be going on to shore in South Georgia needed to be inspected by the expedition team. Each of them had a vacuum cleaner to clean anything that might contaminate the ecosystem in South Georgia. It was very interesting to go through this process. After our gear was checked we also had to sign that our gear meets South Georgia’s strict environmental standards. More places to to enforce such restrictions!

Berkeley Sound was where we anchored to wait out the worst of the storm!

It was raining very hard and the wind was really strong. We were told to secure all items in our cabin and when moving around our cabin or the ship, we were to always have one hand on the ship. There was quite a lot of swaying. It was hard to not roll out of bed!

Day 7 January 29th

We arrived at West Point Island in the Western Falkland Islands. We boarded the zodiac for our first excursion since getting on the ship! Quark has a very efficient way of getting passengers off the ship quickly and fairly. We all signed up for a zodiac group. We are in the Worsley zodiac group and it happened to be the first to go ashore. Then the next excursion the groups are rotated so it is fair to all.

It was a sunny day so we were peeling off our parkas and wearing them like a backpack! We signed up to go with David as our leader to hike to the highest point on the island to see some incredible views. The hike was difficult wearing our muck boots and it was a warm day but we persevered and made it to the top!

After we were finished walking around and taking pictures, we started the trek down the hill and over to the rockhopper penguin and black-browed albatross colony! This was our first up close and personal interaction with the birds. We loved it! Of course we needed to keep our distance and respect their space!

The caretakers of the island were there and opened their home to all of us so we could have tea and a table full of pastries! There was gluten free items too!

We left West Point Island and our ship moved on to our afternoon destination which was Saunders Island. Once we dropped anchor, the zodiacs took us to shore where the beach was full of magellanic penguins! This was a wet landing so our muck boots were definitely needed. Of course, any time we boarded the zodiacs we were required to be wearing our muck boots, waterproof pants and coats! We also saw gentoo, rockhopper and king penguins! It was another sensory overload!

We all were in awe to be walking the beaches on both sides of the island with the penguins. It’s hard to believe what we experienced today between the 2 islands! During dinner we all were talking about what a fantastic day we had on West Point and Saunders Islands.

At this evenings recap and briefing we were told of a powerful storm that is heading our way! This evening our ship set sail for Stanley on the Eastern Falkland Islands. Stanley is a city with a population of about 2,050 residents.

Eighty percent of all the albatross can be found in the Falkland Islands. Their wing span is 7.87 feet. The babies we saw were about 5 weeks old. They were also panting because it was too warm for them. We would see these birds following the ship.

This evening we met our kayak guides to get all of our equipment and get measured for the pedals. All of our gear had to come back to our cabin. We were each given a dry suit, dish gloves, booties, kayak skirt, and a dry waterproof bag.

Day 6 January 28th

When our ship was out of the channel we noticed that the ship rocked quite a bit and it wasn’t even bad weather. We decided to put on the patch to prevent seasickness and we were very glad that we did because today was a day at sea as we head across the Scotia Sea to the Falkland Islands .

During the day we had a mandatory IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators) briefing. Ali, our expedition leader, explained the rules and regulations that the members have agreed upon to protect this remote and delicate area of the world. They have established safe and environmentally sound regulations and restrictions that we are to all follow! This briefing was followed by a mandatory zodiac meeting. They went over the proper way to get on and off the zodiac and also the sailor hold that you use and the proper way to wear our life vest. All of our stops on this voyage will be done by zodiacs so this was important information.

Since we had signed up for kayaking, we had a mandatory kayak meeting. Only 16 people were able to kayak so we felt really privileged to participate in this program. Todd and Tara, our kayak guides, went over the process and safety and we all introduced ourselves and explained our kayak experiences.

David, an expedition team member, who is a historian, presented a slide show and talk on the history of the Falkland Islands.

We also were fitted with our muck boots! They are about knee high and keep you dry! These boots were mandatory footwear whenever we were in a zodiac.

Miko, a marine biologist, gave a presentation called “Stowaways and Marauders: The Curious Case of Island Ecology”.

Miko’s presentation was followed by a recap and briefing.

We found these presentations informative and were well done. The expedition team members did an exceptional job preparing us for what we would be seeing by explaining about the land, birds, marine life, icebergs, glaciers, and climate changes.

Our captain, Alexey Zakalashmyuk, and his officers arrived for the Captain’s Welcome Cocktails. They served a lot of delicious looking hors d’oeuvres and a variety of drinks.

Day 5 January 27th

We wouldn’t be boarding our ship until 4:00 PM so we visited Ushuaia’s national park, Tierra del Fuego. Our guide was very good and we learned a lot about the park during our tour. We had several stops inside the park. The first was the train station where you could take a 60 minute train ride through the park or stay on the bus. We chose not to ride the train and we were really glad we did because we got to visit this beautiful bay called Isla Redonda and there was a post office there! The postmaster would also stamp your passport for a small fee. We also visited a lake, the visitor center, a beaver dam and the river that runs through the park.

The train station

The post office!

Isla Redonda

the lake

View from the visitor center

river

our guide

Beaver Dam

End of the road!

After our tour of the park, we had lunch in town because we had a couple of hours before we checked in near the pier to board buses to take us to our ship, the Ocean Adventurer! We could hardly wait to see our ship which would be our home for the next 3 weeks!

Our ship!

Welcome aboard cocktails!

Our cabin!

The view out our cabin window!

We were very fortunate that we were upgraded to a suite by Quark! We had a lot more room than where we booked. It was a wonderful free bonus! Of course, once we unpacked, received our kayak equipment, the extra space was quickly filled! Something that was very unique to us is nobody had room keys! Our cabins were always unlocked unless we were in them and turned the deadbolt. It was nice to be able to walk to your room and just walk in. They had no trouble with anyone going into someone’s cabin uninvited.

We left port around 6:00 PM. The majority of us went on deck. We also had a briefing by our expedition leader, Ali, and she introduced the rest of the team and gave an overview of what to expect on ship and things to follow.

Ali, our expedition leader

The briefing she gave that included weather conditions.

Sailing out of the channel.

The whiteboard that would have daily information.

The bulletin board with more information.

The main lounge where we would meet daily for presentations and briefings!

The captain and his officers!

Day 4 January 26th

We were up really early for a 6:15 AM pickup for the Buenos Aires Domestic Airport. It would have been very helpful in this leg of the trip to be able to speak Spanish! We made it through checking our bags, security and finding our gate with a lot of symbol reading and guesses. Our flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia was 3 1/2 hours. Quark’s representative met a group of us at the airport and took us to our hotel.

After settling in quickly, we adventured into the center of town. The hilly roads reminded us of San Francisco. We walked from one end of the city to the other. The shops were filled with penguin merchandise. It was a good thing that Argentina had strict weight limits on luggage.

We got back to our hotel in time for a meeting with the Quark representative to go over our embarkation instructions for tomorrow afternoon! After the meeting Dave and I had dinner at a local restaurant that offered a gluten free menu. The food was delicious!

In Buenos Aires

Day 2 & 3

January 24th and 25th

Our flight from Columbus to Atlanta was on time. The flight leaving Atlanta for Buenos Aires was completely full and departed close to the departure time. However, we were 3 hours late landing because of heavy air traffic and winds in Buenos Aires. Air Traffic Control said that it would be a hour before we could land. The pilots decided we would need fuel so we were diverted to Uruguay! We sat there for quite a while trying to get the fuel. Once we had refueled, we took off for a 35 minute flight back to Buenos Aires!

We felt sorry for our driver who came to the airport twice! We were only about 150 miles from Buenos Aires when we took our little side trip! Hector, our driver, was a good sport and dropped us off at our hotel. It is a beautiful hotel and our room is very spacious but we weren’t in it very much at all. We were happy to be able to check in immediately and one of the first things we did was to shower and change clothes. You feel pretty gross after 32 hours!

Once we felt refreshed we had some lunch! The hotel has a beautiful outdoor space with a restaurant. We chose to sit outside in the warm sunshine!

While enjoying our lunch, Kay wanted to take a picture looking out from the patio and showing the blue skies. Well, she took her phone out of her purse and it wouldn’t unlock or accept her passcode! She knew she had it right and even checked on her secure password site just in case she was wrong because it had been over 36 hours with only about a couple hours of sleep. A very, very long story short, the phone is useless. We talked to the front desk about an Apple Store nearby. They marked the closest on the map. We ended up going to two and each is an authorized Apple resale store, not an actual store where they would fix my phone for free or replace it because it is still under warranty! What an unwanted adventure! We did a restore hoping to fix what we think is a software issue but to continue with setting up the phone after the restore, the phone needs an authorization code which they send to one of her other Apple devices which are at home! What a royal pain but you learn to just go with the flow! We got back to the hotel in time to get ready to a Dinner/Tango show.

We went to the Rojo Hotel for their Rojo Dinner and Tango show. It was fantastic!

Buenos Aires time zone is 2 hours ahead so when the show ended we were thrilled that our driver was there to pick us up and drop us off at the hotel. We crashed not too long after our return.

Thursday morning after a short but much needed night’s sleep we were up and out for a 4 hour private tour of Buenos Aires. Our driver was Hector who had picked us up at the airport and our English speaking guide was a young woman named Nayla Gallo. We enjoyed her sharing and history of Buenos Aires. She is a guide full time.

Just a few of our highlights included:

Floralis Genérica which is a sculpture made of steel and aluminum

The Recoleta Cemetery contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Peron, presidents of Argentina, the founder of the Argentine Navy, and many more.

We visited the El Ateneo Bookstore. This was a beautiful and famous South American book store because it was a theater that was converted into the bookstore. The stage is a cafe. Where you would have purchased concessions for the theater, that is now where you check out. We found it very interesting that there are many bookstores are in Buenos Aires and that is because taxes are very high on tablets and Kindles!

We walked around the neighborhood of La Boca. It is known for its colorful houses. El Caminto is the cobblestone street in the center of La Boca.

Later in the afternoon we visited The Colon Theater and the tour was well worth the time. We had another excellent guide! It is famous around the world. It has exceptional acoustics and performers do not need to wear a mic. They boast that there isn’t a bad seat in the place.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed every minute exploring and learning more about Buenos Aires. This post just touched the surface of what we experienced today. Tomorrow we leave for Ushuaia and say goodbye to Buenos Aires!

Category: Epic Antarctica Trip

Day 14 February 5th

Day 14

Monday, February 5th

St. Andrews Bay, Gold Harbour, and Drygalski Fjord

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Day 13 February 4th

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Day 12 February 3rd

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Day 9,10, and 11 January 31st, February 1st, and February 2nd

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Day 8 January 30th

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Day 7 January 29th

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Day 6 January 28th

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Day 5 January 27th

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Day 4 January 26th

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In Buenos Aires

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Day 14

Monday, February 5th

St. Andrews Bay, Gold Harbour, and Drygalski Fjord

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