Day 25 February 16th

Day 25

Friday, February 16th

Crossing the Drake Passage: Day 2

After breakfast this morning, we were given a bonus! We made good time through the Drake Passage so the Captain got permission from the keeper at the Chilean station to do a ship cruise of the area and so we sailed around Cape Horn! It is a beautiful sunny day! Many times it is very windy and there is fog in the area but we were fortunate today. In the distance you can see the lighthouse, station, and monument that is dedicated to the thousands of sailors lost on more than 800 ships that were wrecked sailing around this landmark!

Cape Horn Monument is on the left and the Lighthouse and station are on the right side.

After our morning out on the decks of the ship, we had several presentations from the expedition team. Jimmy did a talk about Orca whales. Then Sam did a presentation on “Southern Ocean Seabirds and Conservation”. He suggested that we explore the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) website.

Abbey conducted a disembarkation briefing. We can’t believe that our time together is almost over. 🙁

This afternoon the 16 kayak passengers met with our kayak guides, Tara and Todd for a champagne toast and a kayak slideshow that they put together for us! It was a nice way to end our paddling time.

During our daily debriefing, Ali, our expedition leader, presented a slideshow that highlighted our daily adventures! It was so much fun reliving every day of our Epic Antarctica trip. The pictures that passengers shared to the photo computers on board and pictures that Nicky, our onboard photographer took, we have access to and can download any pictures. This is great if you didn’t have a camera or had camera difficulties. Click on this link to see Ali’s final recap: Epic Antarctica Expedition Leader Final Recap 16 Feb 18 Ali’s visual slideshow ended with Farewell cocktails with the Captain. He said “you NOW know the difference between an expedition and a river cruise!”

During our farewell dinner all of the kitchen and hotel staff were introduced and dessert was a buffet of amazing chocolate confections! We wish we had taken pictures of the two tables filled with desserts! They even had some gluten free brownies, mousse, and chocolate rice krispie treats! While the desserts were being consumed, Nicky, the ship photographer, put together an awesome movie of our expedition trip. All of us appreciated her hard work! Tomorrow is our last morning on board the Ocean Adventurer which has been our home for three weeks!

Day 23 February, 14th

Day 23

Wednesday, February 14th Valentine’s Day

Cuverville Island, Melchior Islands, Farewell Celebration

We arrived at Cuverville Island which contains the largest gentoo penguin colony in the region. Cuverville is located in the Errera Channel. We were able to kayak, the winds and the weather cooperated! We circumnavigated the island in our kayaks. We experienced the island from the water level!

You could really smell the penguin guano from water level.

Just some of the penguins from the water.

Penguins and a fur seal from one side of the island.

As we paddled the backside of the island we saw humpback whales! They didn’t come close enough for a picture. We don’t have many pictures from paddling because our water camera had quit working and our point and shoot is long gone so the only photos we took are from our phone and we didn’t want to lose them! After our morning paddling experience was finished, we did have time to take a zodiac to the island and explore on our own!

Look at all that guano and of course the gentoo penguins! 🙂

A smaller penguin highway. The snow is almost gone from this part of the island!

“We’re starting to get our adult feathers!”

A pair of penguins coming close to the camera.

“I’ll just lay here ’til this molting phase is over!”

After all of us were back on the ship, the anchor was raised and we headed to the Melchior Islands. Such beauty surrounds us as we cruise to our next stop!

This was the board near the dining room that we checked daily for kayaking announcements!

We had lunch and this was going to be our last time to paddle!

These papers were hanging on our announcement board for us to mark if we were going to paddle when it was offered. On this particular kayak destination we didn’t get to paddle because of the wind! 🙁

At the Melchior Islands we were able to paddle around the Dallmann Bay while the rest of the passengers were on a zodiac tour. We were glad that we got to paddle here. The base pictures that you see below are of the Argentinian Base Melchior. It is a summer base that is rarely occupied but today the Argentinian flag is flying and the base is occupied!

Melchior Base which is owned by Argentina.

Below is the area where we paddled.

Below are some of the photos we took with our phones. It was a beautiful afternoon for our last paddle.

What a backdrop for the Ocean Adventurer!

“I need longer arms”! Our attempt at a selfie! 😉

How lucky we were to paddle with such a great group of people. A big thank you to our kayak guides: Todd, on the far left, and Tara, on the far right!

After returning from kayaking and the last of the zodiacs returned, we had a farewell toast to Antarctica on deck 5 aft.

The kayaks are placed on zodiacs.

Then they are hooked to a motorized lift that brings them to the ship.

Whoops, one kayak fell off the zodiac!

Champagne and hors d’oeuvres were served and Ali gave a toast.

Ali, our expedition leader!

Cheers to our Antarctic adventures. We made it!

After the farewell to Antarctica toast, our ship entered the Drake Passage! The ship began swaying. Many passengers did not feel well again. Those of us at dinner enjoyed a Valentine’s Day themed meal and the dining room was decorated too.

The dining room is decorated for Valentine’s Day!

Tonight’s activity was the Expedition Team hosting a charity auction!

Epic Antarctica Adventure- Day 20

Day 20

February 11th

Port Lockroy on Goudier Island, and Jougla Point, Lemaire Channel

We anchored near Port Lockroy on Goudier Island and Jugla Point. We dressed for our kayak excursion and went to the lounge to listen to the presentation by the representative of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. She explained what they are and that she is one of 4 spending the summer on Port Lockroy. As soon as she finished her talk, we headed to meet our kayak guides, Tara and Todd to go paddling!

We went kayaking all around Port Lockroy and Goudier Island. The winds were light and we only had a small wind chop. From the kayaks we spotted gentoo penguins, Antarctic fur seal, snowy sheathbill, blue-eyed shag, south polar skua, brown skua, Weddell seal, and the Wilson’s storm petrel. Goudier Island, also known as Port Lockroy, was the site for the original Base A. It has been refurbished with a museum and gift shop. We explored the geological features on the backside of Goudier Island. We continued around the island and crossed over to Jougla Point where we observed some nesting shags and soon to be fledgling Gentoo penguins.

P1010056 — Port Lockroy is in the background. It was the site of the original Base A.

P1010053 When we finished our paddling, we headed to shore to explore the museum and mail our postcards.

When we visited the museum at Port Lockroy it was very interesting. The former base was renovated and opened as a monument and museum in 1996. Below are some pictures from the museum.

It also has the Penguin Post Office that the summer team manages and hand stamps. As far as we know it is the southernmost post office.

This is where you mail your letters and postcards.

Port Lockroy museum and post office is operated by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust. There are 4 women that run the museum and post office during the summer season, from November to March. They have no running water. They get to take a shower when a ship makes an excursion to the island! There is also no central heating, no phone signal, and no means of communication with the world other that VHF radio and satellite phones for emergencies. And no darkness either, it is pretty much 24 hours a day of daylight. You also don’t have electricity that comes from a power station and no flushing toilet, it is a camping type toilet. They also have a gentoo colony that lives all around them so they need to clean the penguin poo off the pathways while following the strict Antarctic Treaty to ensure strict guidelines on the care of the environment are adhered to!

It was slippery climbing these rocks up to the museum.

We tried to keep our distance from the penguins but they would join us on the paths!

Part of the colony that was off limits to us! Penguins only!

The building behind the penguins, is the living quarters for the 4 women who ran the museum and post office.

“I’m too tired to worry about these visitors!

After lunch we cruised through the Lemaire Channel. The sun wasn’t shining but the views were stunning! The Lemaire Channel is 7 miles long by 1 mile wide!

Looking ahead at the channel, it doesn’t look like our ship will fit!

This seal doesn’t care as he rests on some ice!

The ship dropped anchor at Pleneau Bay which is located at the southern end of the Lemaire Channel. This area is filled with stunning icebergs. These large icebergs get blown in here, they run aground and slowly break up. The pictures below show just a few of the icebergs and the surrounding area! We were awestruck by the beauty! We had difficulty choosing just a “few” of the various icebergs and surroundings pictures that we took!

We spent our time at Pleneau Bay paddling through brash ice and being surrounded by swimming penguins that were feeding on krill.

We also saw a leopard seal resting on some ice. We didn’t disturb him.

P1120102 — We loaded into our kayak from the zodiac!

P1120128 — We’re all getting ready to head into the brash ice!

TEW-Kayaking-5641 — Tara, one of our kayak guides, leading us into the ice!

P1120132 — Our expedition leader, Ali, and our ship doctor, Christy, brought us Bailey’s and hot chocolate! Yummy!

At one point while we were all surrounded by the brash ice, Todd had us all put down our paddles and listen to the ice. We heard “snap, crackle, and pop”! It was quite a sensory overload!

While paddling in the bay, our point and shoot camera, came loose and fell into the water! We were sad about its loss but it was an older camera and had served us well. We also had downloaded everything on the card before going kayaking this afternoon. Life is too short to worry about the small stuff! Even though we lost the camera, this was one of our favorite paddles! It started to snow as we were out there which just added to the magic of this surreal environment. It was incredibly beautiful, peaceful, relaxing, and pristine environment. We can’t think of enough adjectives to describe our surroundings!

Our dinner today was a BBQ on the aft deck. It was snowing and the views were stunning! A minke whale was playing around the ship and even breached! It was quite entertaining.

After dinner, Mike, our glaciologist, did a presentation about his time in Antarctica working at one of the Australian research stations. We decided after his talk that spending a winter in Antarctica takes a special type of person! We don’t qualify!

What an exhilarating today! We slept very well.

Epic Antarctica Adventure- Day 18

Friday, February 9th

Whales, Portal Point, and Hydrurga Rocks

We were awakened by Ali, our expedition team leader, at 5:30 AM because we were surrounded by at least 25 humpback whales! It was incredible!

Every direction around our ship, we saw humpback whales!

We could hear them because it was very quiet on the decks.

One of the pods of whales that we observed.

Humpback whales and this spectacular backdrop!

Watch these videos and have your volume on and you can hear the humpback whales!

The weather cooperated and we were able to kayak this morning around Portal Point which was our first Antarctic continental landing!

P1000953 — A beautiful morning for kayaking!

P1000978 — Todd, one of our kayak guides, is giving us information about this crabeater seal.

P1000974 — A crabeater seal relaxing on the iceberg.

P1000987 — We kayaked through the brash ice!

When we were finished kayaking this morning, we boarded a zodiac and walked around the continent of Antarctica.

Our first continental landing on Antarctica.

The pictures below are unedited and no filters. In fact, every picture in our blog have had no editing at all. Antarctica’s landscape is just amazing!

After lunch we arrived at Hydrurga Rocks and we did a second kayak trip. We paddled all around the rocks and we also got to zodiac to the rocks and explore the chinstrap penguins! Our underwater camera did a decent job giving you our view from the water.

Kayaking around Hydrurga Rocks

Tara, our other kayak guide, is giving information about the Chinstrap penguins that we are seeing on the rocks.

The pictures below were taking when we were exploring on the rocks and watching the chinstrap penguin colony, shag colony, fur seals, and weddell seals!