The end of our round the world tour was a visit to the ice continent of Antarctica. We are sailing with on the French ship Le Boreal, which is carrying around 200 guests, a crew and several naturists who also give some lectures whilst we sail to and from Antarctica, and are on hand when we are ashore.
Day 1: Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego national park
After a very early start 3am! 😦 We took our flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world. The flight into the airport is through snowcapped mountains with the cruise ships visible in the harbor. The whole flight is full of people who will be on the same cruise as us, so lots of Australians, Americans, and also some from Hong Kong. After checking we have our luggage it is onto a bus and onto a restaurant for traditional Patagonian Lamb.
After lunch we had the option to either stay in town, and make our own way to the ship, or to continue with the coach to the Tierra del Fuego national park which we did. The national park, shared with Chile, sits at the southern end of the Andes, going from north of Lake Kami in the Beauvoir range south to the coast of the Beagle Channel. We had the chance to visit the most southerly mainland post office and send a post card and get a stamp in our passports, and visit many of the viewing points in the park including the end of the Ruta 3 which starts in Buenos Aires.
Day 2 and 3 : Drake Passage
Between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica lays the body of water called the Drake Passage. Named after the 16th century English sailor Sir Francis Drake who found the connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans when he was blown south in 1578.
The Drake’s Passage can be one of the roughest sea crossings you can find on a cruise ship, and our crossing lived up to its reputation. With 78knots of gusting wind, and 12m waves it certainly made for a rather choppy crossing with almost all passengers avoiding breakfast, lunch and dinner on the first day! The second day was calmer and by lunch time we were able to enjoy some food 🙂
Weather forecast for Day 1 from our captain… The red area is described as being “horrible” whilst the white areas indicate flat seas. We were heading for the orange part of the chart.
Our first sighting of an iceberg.
Day 4 : Gourdin Island
Each day we have two excursions, which can either be a landing or a zodiac cruise. For our first trip in Antarctica we were off to Gourdin Island the home of an Adelie Penguin colony with the possibility of a short hike up the hill for the first sighting of the Antarctic mainland.
Day 4: Brown Bluff
Our second trip of the day after sailing along the Antarctic sound is a trip to the mainland. So Rene can finally now say he has put foot on all the continents of the world. There can be either 4, 5, 6 or 7 continents depending on how you count them.
Brown Bluff is the location of an extinct volcano, and a Gentoo Penguin colony.
Day 5 : Wilhelmina Bay Zodiac cruise
This morning we sailed into Wilhelmina bay where we found our sister ship L’Austral. With blue skies again, we waited our turn to board our Zodiac boat for a cruise around the bay watching penguins, whales and seals swimming in the water. We also were treated to a landing on a sheet of sea ice.
Day 5 : Cuverville Island
This time we were off to a Gentoo penguin colony. The adult penguins are currently malting, so there are feathers everywhere, which are picked up in the wind.
Day 6 : Port Lockroy
Port Lockroy is the location of a former British Antarctic Station and now houses a museum and post office. The estimated delivery time of our postcards we sent was 3 months, so I think for once we will beat our postcards home 🙂
Day 6 : Lemaire Channel and Pleneau Bay
The Lemaire Channel is counted amongst one of the 3 greatest sea passages in the world (next to Trollfjord and Geiranger), and with blue skies and the tops of the mountains visible it is easy to see why this is true.
Pleaneau Island sits at the end of the channel, and gives its name to the bay. Here due to the shallow waters of the bay, icebergs drift into the bay and get stuck creating an iceberg playground. Here we had a 1.5hour zodiac cruise around the icebergs, complete with a glass of Champagne, and a display by a minky whale feeding in the bay.
Day 7 : Neko Bay
Once again the sun was out this morning, and with no breeze in the bay the mountains were reflecting in the dark Antarctic sea waters. The views from the top of the short hike were fantastic across the bay.
Day 7 : Paradise Bay Zodiac cruise
Back out in the zodiacs again, this time in Paradise bay, here we were treated to a show by a seal trying to get up onto an ice sheet to rest. Also here large glaciers carve into the sea, and so we saw and heard and then felt the waves from where a large piece of glacier ice crashed into the sea.
Day 8 : Deception Island
For Rene it was an early morning start as he joined the group hiking over the rim of the volcano from Baily Head to Whalers Bay, but he did get to see a huge penguin colony and the sunrise. Meanwhile all of us who stayed on the ship, sailed through Nelson’s Bellows into the crater of Deception Island and took a zodiac over to whalers bay. Here you have the remains of a British base, and some old buildings from when the island was used as a whaling station. The volcano last erupted in 1970, and is still considered an active volcano. The top 1-2 cm of water in the bay is heated to around 20oC, so a few people from the ship took the opportunity to go for a hot/cold dip, as the temperature of the water under this warm water is the more usual 1 oC 🙂
Day 8 : Half Moon Island
Our last excursion in Antarctica was to Half Moon Island, on one side of the island we hiked up to the highest point on the island, and slid back down to the sea on the snow. The other half of the island is home to a chinstrap penguin colony. Deciding that I did not quite have enough pictures of penguins yet, I went to take a few more 😉
A truly fantastic experience on the ice continent!
Round the World 2012 / 2013 