Day 20 Tuesday 10 February Hope Bay Antarctica

Overnight, Viking Octantis was heading towards Snow Hill Island.  This had been announced the previous afternoon and was very exciting news.  This was not the original itinerary.  We were heading way south to look for Emperor penguins !!  These elusive animals had generally not been viewed by the scientific staff.  This adjusted itinerary was to put the "expedition" into expedition cruising.

However, by morning - disappointing news (more so for the excited scientific staff).  We had been heading towards an enormous ice sheet.  Initially it was thought that Octantis could sail around this mass.  Unfortunately, overnight it was decided that this could not be done because of the speed at which the ice sheet was moving.  (The scientific staff were the most disappointed.)

It was still to be the most distance south that the Octantis had ever travelled ! (We were only seven miles short of crossing the Antarctic Circle.  No certificate for us this time !!)  We were reflecting on the many polar journeys we had read about where the explorer concerned was aiming for the furtherest south, only to be foiled by bad weather, being iced in for the winter, and death !!

The new itinerary was Hope Island.  Notable for housing the Argentine Esperanza Station and one of Antarctica's largest Adelie penguin colonies.  The bay is surrounded by rugged peaks and glaciers.

                        Rugged landscape from the Explorer's Lounge

                         Very icy decks

Stephen's breakfast - raspberry donut and Viking Toast (thick bread, dipped in custard, coated with crushed Cornflakes and then fried).  Tasted like a cinnamon bun.

Stephen was hoping to call the raspberry donut a serving of fruit for the day!

                                                    Viking Octantis in Hope Bay

                  Back of the boat (zodiac)

         On hearing the zodiac motors, the penguins on the beach scurried to higher ground.

                Lots of zodiacs jostling for space to examine the glacier formations

                Jagged edge of the glacier

                Wind action smoothed this edge of the glacier

Late afternoon, Viking Octantis sailed out of Hope Bay, past the Argentine Esperanza Antarctic Base.

Day 19 Monday 9 February Paulet Island Antarctica

Our ship was originally scheduled to go to Tay Head, but due to weather conditions, we ended up at Paulet Island.  Named after a Captain in the Royal Navy.  This small island is part of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group.  The island is made of lava flows, and there is a cinder cone with a small crater summit.  Geothermal activity keeps part of the island ice free.  The island supports a very large colony of Adelie penguins.

It was an action-packed day with a Special Operations Boat voyage in the morning, and a zodiac trip in the afternoon.  

What did we see?  Penguins, penguins and more penguins.

               First sight of Paulet Island

     

                Viking Octantis near Paulet Island 

                Lots of interesting ice formations 

               Penguins riding the ice floes 

              Thousands of noisy Adelie penguins along the shoreline

             Weddell seal asleep on an ice floe.  Which end is up ?  (Head is on the right.)

                                Adelie penguins

               Very cold in the zodiacs (minus 4 degrees C, and then the wind chill factor)

Day 18 Sunday 8 February Brown Bluff Antarctica

An absolutely spectacular day.  Our ship was in Brown Bluff, Antarctica.  This was to be our first landing on the continent of Antarctica itself.  The weather was quite surreal and gave our landscape an ethereal beauty.  It was overcast with flurries of snow. 

                                       Onboard the zodiac

There was lots of ice in the water where we were to land.  It looked like a giant slushy.  

The crew had to work really hard to get us ashore.  They had to keep the ice clear of the zodiac.  This meant standing in thigh-deep icy water with a large pick axe, chipping away at chunks of ice.

Along the shore line were thousands of Adelie and gentoo penguins.

The penguins were parading up and down the beach, or slipping and sliding over the ice as it bobbed around in the water.

You can't help but smile at penguins.

              Product placement for Sunny Cords glasses leash.

              We were really there.  Honest.  Flags don't lie.

We finished the day with a group dinner in the ship's private dining room.  This was all of the original Atacama Desert extension group.

Dessert anyone ?  Stephen's dessert (on the left) is black sesame ice cream!  Tasted a little like an Oreo cookie, with a hint of aniseed.

Day 17 Saturday 7 February South Atlantic Ocean

The ship continued its journey towards Antarctica.  Icy waters now with some large icebergs passing us by.

This large tabular iceberg appeared this morning.  This monster is 5 nautical miles long (about 9 land miles) and is about 400 metres deep.  This information came from the Captain, so presumably he had some instruments to validate these measurements.

There was the launch of a weather balloon at about 9.00am.  There was some delay due to computer problems!  They had to restart it.  We were all huddled on the top deck.  It was very cold.  Only a few minutes without gloves on and your hands were numb and tingling.  There was Baileys and hot chocolate provided.  Unfortunately we did not find out about that until later.

The launch was quite exciting with the balloon quickly disappearing into the atmosphere.  Apparently it is completely biodegradable.

After dinner while sitting in the Living Room, Elephant Island appeared.  This remote, ice-covered island in the South Shetland Islands is off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.  It is famed for being the refuge of Ernest Shackleton's crew for four months while he was seeking help to rescue them.

Viking knickknacks in the Explorers' Lounge.

Day 16 Friday 6 February South Atlantic Ocean

 We have now left South Georgia Island.  The experience totally exceeded our expectations.

The next two days were spent sailing to Antarctica.  The open sea (Scotia Sea) was quite a bit rougher than what we had experienced so far.

View from our cabin window.  Seems all calm, but there is a deceptive, 

nauseating swell happening!

A mandatory IAATO briefing in the morning.  This organisation manages tourism to Antarctica.  It seems these talks about how to treat the environment with respect are very necessary.  We heard about one passenger while on Grytviken, when being approached by a persistent penquin, actually hit it on the head with the walking pole !!

Another biohazard check in the afternoon.  We lugged our boots, jackets and all other gear to the checking station.  Our boots did need a bit of extra attention.  There were some remnants of South Georgia in our boot treads!

That evening, we had dinner with our fellow travellers from the Atacama Extension.

   From left to right: Lyle, Susan, Fred, Ben, Nancy, Lauren, Jim, Stephen, Elizabeth, Laura.

Day 15 Thursday 5 February Gold Harbour South Georgia

The morning started with our ship in Royal Bay.  The weather seemed very promising with clear blue skies.  What we couldn't tell from inside the controlled atmosphere of the ship was the strength of the winds.  And strong they were.  Gusts up to 59 knots.  The limit for safety if out in zodiacs is 30 knots.  So we wait.

From the deck of the ship, we could see along the shoreline, what we thought were lots of white rocks.  On closer inspection with the binoculars, the white "rocks" were thousands of king penguins.  We should have twigged sooner as there was an interesting "whiff" in the air.

We spent the morning while waiting, watching several albatrosses circling our ship. 

By late morning, the decision was made to sail on to Gold Harbour.  Once there, it was all hands on deck.  All the zodiacs were going to be used to investigate the shoreline where we could see thousands of penguins, even from the deck of the ship.  There were apparently perhaps 35,000 nesting pairs.

Day 14 Wednesday 4 February Hercules Point South Georgia

We arrived at Fortuna Bay at about 8.00am. 

Fortuna Bay is the starting point for the Shackleton Walk, the last leg of an epic trek across South Georgia that would lead to the eventual rescue of all 22 members of the "Endurance's" remaining crew who were marooned on Elephant Island. 

This was to be a zodiac landing to look at the local wildlife.  All seemed well from our cabin window, even some sunshine.  However looks can be deceptive.  The crew had already been examining the landing conditions.  What we couldn't see from our cabin window were the strong gusty winds.  So strong that all landings were cancelled for the day.  It was decided to sail to another inlet at Hercules Point.

On the way, we had lunch at Mamsen's Cafe.  Stephen tried the lompe - a Norwegian hotdog.  It tasted the way it sounded.  We think the fancy design of sauce over the top is to distract from the flavour - which was so subtle, as to be completely absent.

While we had changed location, we were still to see fur seals, elephant seals and King penguins.  The bonus however was that Hercules Point was home to some Macaroni penguins.  These are flamboyant-looking penguins with dashing orange feathers above their eyes.  We also got to see gentoo penguins and a lone chinstrap penguin.  

We did not land, but a zodiac trip around the inlet showed us the wildlife.  We were lucky to have Christopher, the "birdman", pointing out the different species from our zodiac.

                                   Christopher, the "Birdman"

                    Penguins nesting up the cliff face

   Macaroni penguins - look for the orange feathers above their eyes.

       A Macaroni penguin.  Such a handsome fellow - and "he" knows it.  

He has Stephen's eyebrows !

                    We are seated at the back of the zodiac.