Antarctica Round Two
Ah to be back on the seas. Today I visited the Falkland
Islands, Carcass and Saunders Islands. It was a wet day, another first
experience. No one got wet on the last Antarctica trip but today it was raining
and the swells were so large we were getting soaked by the waves as we took the
zodiac boats to land. So that was a new experience to see if your stuff will
dry out before the next landing and having to resort to a second pair of
gloves. This boat is well equipped though and has an onboard shop to fill all
of those needs if you didn’t bring waterproof pants, gloves or bag. It was busy
after that first wet ride. It is well stocked in comparison to the last ships
store. But the last ship had better food. Amazing gourmet meals that were so
fresh and hot, this one works on mass production, good, but the other was
better. That doesn’t mean I have stopped eating the three course meals they put
in front of me at each meal, it just means they are going to have to roll me
off this ship at the end.
So the first dinner on the boat an expedition crew member
sat at my table. She is the wellness leader, yoga instructor, zodiac driver and
if you want help making healthy eating choices. Turns out her name is Sarah and
she is also from Peterborough. She was telling me that her grandparents saw an
article in the Peterborough Examiner about a girl named Sarah from Peterborough
going to Antarctica and how they were saying it could be her, but it wasn’t
her. I said that is funny because the article is about me and you are seeing me
as I return to Antarctica because the first trip that they mentioned in the
article was so good. So small world and crazy to think we are on the same ship
and then that we would sit at the same table. There are eight Canadian crew
members on this ship. They either like or dislike my Toronto Maple Leafs
headband.
Happy New Year! It was a good one spent in the middle of
nowhere, closest land mark, Shag rocks. There was a black and white themed
party and I took third place for my black dress covered in paper snowflakes and
a white paper crown. One girl on staff made a white tutu out of garbage bags
that from a distance looked like a real tutu and I thought why the heck does
she have a tutu on board? A good time was had by all.
Salisbury Bay on South Georgia was incredible. It is said
that there are 250 000 breeding pairs of King Penguins there and whatever the
estimation they are there on mass. It was stunning to see the hillside thick
with penguins. My photo for the
“landscape” contest was runner up with this photo of the penguin “landscape.”
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| Check out my stones, my heart is still racing. |
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| I am on the right in the red jacket. |
It has been days
since I have added to this. It was another case of being so busy on the ship
with site seeing, lectures, conversations, hat parties, barbq’s, yoga, whale
spotting and of course three course meals. The stories are numerous too
numerous for you probably, but it has been absolutely amazing. Each day I think
wow what an incredible day, it cannot get better than this, but then the next
day is even better and the day after that even better, each day was absolutely
incredible. Let me give you the Cole’s note version. Every day we saw whales at close range in the
zodiac boats (another first). It started one day with them being 15m away and I
was impressed, then 5m away, then another day Minkie whales swam right under
our boat 1m below the surface twice and circled in the area for 20 minutes
while we were watching Humpbacks at 5m away, again I thought ok this is
amazing, wow. But the next day and our last day in Antarctica proper I was
still screaming like a school girl, pretty cool after a month in Antarctica
when you are still screaming with glee on the last day. In the first ride of
the day a Minkie came right up and arched right beside the boat that was ahead
of us and left them and us in awe. Then that afternoon was another topper. I
was in the last boat that left the ship so it turned out there was only four of
us in it as opposed to 10 and we came across two Humpback whales “logging”
sleeping at the surface. It was wicked to be 5m away from them as they “slept”
and breathed. Then they just kept floating closer and closer until they were
within a meter of the boat and they blew and I was sprayed in the face with
water. The whole time our engine was off and if listening to them breath wasn’t
enough the ice and glaciers are calving all around us and you can hear the
sounds of the ice.
Not to be forgotten are the Orca whales we saw from the bow
of the ship, two adults with a calf in between them and 1m off the bow of the
ship. How about a barbq on the stern where it was so warm I wore a t-shirt for
part of the night and took first place at the hat party, winning a bottle of
Malbec red wine, my new favorite beverage.
I was able to find some tranquility and time alone and was
highly entertained by the incredibly social and fabulous staff and guests on
the ship. I took another polar plunge this time doing a full swim of the breast
stroke. There was a woman (75) and a man (81) each complete the polar plunge,
man I can only hope to being doing that at their age, good on them as the
Aussies say.
The chicks I saw
hatching three weeks earlier are now almost the size of their parents and covered
in fluffy fur. That was really cool to see them so big. Three of the landings
were repeats to my last trip and it was so neat to compare the species growth
in three weeks the change in the icebergs and the changes in the topography
with less snow on some glaciers and land.
Can you spot the difference? A lone Macaroni Penguin in the
mix of Chinstrap Penguins.
It was so nice to be completely disconnected for three weeks
with no internet. The best though was that no one had access to their cell
phones and text messaging. It was refreshing to be around over 200 people
(passengers and staff) not distracted by cell phones. I was reminded of this
this morning when someone in my hostel room’s phone made that annoying
vibration sound against the table indicating they had a message. Imagine people
not sneaking a peek at the dinner table and looking around the dining room
seeing people fully engaged in conversations, with no electronic distractions,
or having to say hello to someone as you passed them in the hall and not having
to look at people sneaking looks at their phones in the hope that someone has
messaged them or to “check the time.” This will probably never happen again. As
I type this there are two guys sitting across the way and one is engrossed in his
phone while the other sits there waiting watching him.
Not to be forgotten are the numerous types of seals that are
pretty cute to watch on icebergs and on land, even if they might want to chase
you on land, red wine on the bow as the sunsets, live music in the bar from
Scott from More Please, his CD is coming out in the fall and he is a fellow
Canadian watch for him touring through the Patch.
I arrived home to this lovely Antarctica cake made by Chloe who was shorter than me when I left but who is pretty excited to now be taller than me.
Until I return….if you get the chance, go to Antarctica. A
one word description; INCREDIBLE!
Someday I will add the videos, I still have to figure that out, so stay tuned.
Two links of tons of photos have been added so don't miss that there are two links.
