Antarctica: Christmas in Paradise

We were able to sleep in on Tuesday. Until 7:00 a.m. :)

Earlier that morning, the ship had lifted anchor and headed down the Neumayer Channel, and then anchored again off of Useful Island. The kayakers were going to paddle around the island and then land to join the rest of the group.

We actually took a zodiac to the island first to get into the kayaks, and when we got there, we were treated to the sight of a Weddell seal basking on the rocks.

By the time we were all finally in our boats and on the water, the other passengers had begun a trek uphill to get what were supposedly amazing views of the area. (It's hard to tell in the picture below because of the size, but each little yellow dot is a Quark parka.)

As we started paddling, the sun was out and the conditions were reasonably calm.

Louise told us that after a short distance, we'd be rounding a corner of the island and then we'd hit water that was like glass for most of the time, but that at the very end we'd hit some headwinds and the water would be a little rougher. Then we rounded the corner...

And that was the GOOD section! As we continued on, we actually hit some pretty heavy swells to the point we had to make sure we were hitting them head on. By that point, even the penguins had disappeared—they were too smart to try to navigate through this stuff! :)

But we pushed through it and, when we got back to the island, we were rewarded with the sight of yet another seal.

We then headed back to the ship for lunch. In case you're wondering what happened to the kayaks when we were shuttled back, this was one of Jamie's many jobs—rounding them all up, loading them onto a zodiac, and transporting them back to the ship (where they'd be lifted by crane back onto the stern).

The catering staff had prepared a special Christmas lunch for us that had something like eight separate courses. I don't remember what all they were, except for a very tasty glass of vodka (nicely rimmed with crushed candy canes) with a scoop of lemon sherbet in it!

After lunch, we had a kayaking meeting to discuss the afternoon's plans. A lot of us were thinking about passing on paddling after the morning's adventure, but Jamie and Louise told us that Paradise Bay is always THE nicest, and easiest, paddle of the whole trip, so we all decided to (dry)suit up again!

However, before kayaking, we were going to go with everyone else to Almirante Brown, an Argentinean research station that's actually ON the Antarctic content. Up to that point, all our landings had been on islands, so this was one of the big highlights of the trip.

As you can see in the first shot, there was another long, uphill climb that we could do for a great vista, but I didn't have the energy to do it, plus I figured I'd totally kill my knees on the downhill. I didn't mind staying down with our fearless leaders.

And I got to use the time to take some more penguin pics (I just NEVER got bored of them!), like these of a gentoo with two eggs in his/her pouch.

By this point, the wind had picked up quite a bit and the water was much too rough for us to go kayaking in it. (Jamie and Louise told us this was the FIRST time that they had seen bad conditions at Paradise Bay! :) So instead we joined the other passengers to do a zodiac cruise around the bay.

THAT was a bit of a mistake. Once we knew we weren't going to be kayaking, we should have gone back to the ship to change into our parkas before heading out, because the dry suits are not at all insulated. They're fine for kayaking, because the paddling keeps you warm, but they're not made for cruising around the bay in windy conditions. We were all freezing by the end, which made it a little harder to enjoy the experience, although we still managed to be awed by such amazing sights as the Petzval Glacier.

And there were some other gorgeous icebergs along the way, and a rather cool/gross dead jellyfish floating in the water.

After the cruise, we headed back to the ship for dinner. After that, the campers were scheduled to head back to Almirante Brown to spend the night on the ice.

Now, before I arrived in Ushuaia, I had thought I had signed up for the camping option. In fact, I could have sworn my contact had told me that, unlike with the kayaking, there was no limit to the number of people who could camp (although I can't find any evidence of that now!). So I didn't know until I was there that I wasn't on the list. I was pretty disappointed, but I certainly wasn't going to let it ruin my trip. And, to be honest, after that zodiac cruise, I wasn't quite so disappointed anymore... :)

But then... A few of the scheduled campers had a change of heart because of the weather. Sarah (who had signed up for the trip too late to get a spot) and I asked Jamie, who was the camp master, if we could have their spots. At first he said no, because we hadn't been to the briefings, and it would be a problem collecting the tents and sleeping bags that had already been distributed, etc. etc. But we happened to be in the hall just as one of the couples was handing their equipment back to Jamie. We had both proven ourselves to be really enthusiastic throughout the trip so far (fortunately he knew us well because of the kayaking), so Jamie looked at us and asked if we could be ready in 15 minutes. Hell, yeah!

We raced back to our cabins and I think I packed just about every item of clothing in my backpack because I wasn't really sure how much I would need, and we joined the rest of the group at the top of the gangway. I was so psyched! (The whole cold/wind concern had completely fallen by the wayside by that point.)

This was some time between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m., and we were going to be picked up again at 5:00, so it wasn't like this was going to be a lengthy overnight stay, but we were definitely in it for the bragging rights! We headed back over to the continent and walked up to the spot where we would be pitching our tents.

The first thing we had to do was stamp down a 6-square-foot area of snow so we would have a flat spot to set up. Then we started pitching. Even though tents these days are designed to be practically idiot-proof to assemble, there were several strong gusts of wind that made it a challenge to get in one stake before another one would be pulled right up again. But we finally got it set up. (I thought I had taken a picture of us standing beside it, but I can't find one, so we must have just taken one with Sarah's camera.)

At that point, we went to pick up our sleeping bags when another huge gust of wind came up that immediately uprooted several people's tents. At that point, Jamie realized there was no point continuing, and he called back to the ship to have a Zodiac come pick us up. :(

Jamie told us that we wouldn't have another chance to camp, because it would mean changing the itinerary, which would affect the other passengers. We were pretty disappointed, of course, but in Antarctica, the weather rules! We went back to the ship and, while Jamie put the gear away, the rest of us convened back in the bar, at least knowing that we had been prepared to do it. But when Jamie joined us, he told us that Brandon was going to see if there was any way we'd be able to camp the next night, since he really didn't want us to miss the opportunity. So stay tuned...

One other cool thing happened while we were trying to set up the tents. We looked across the bay, and we could see two of the passengers on another piece of land by themselves. It was Boon and Alycia, who were a really nice couple from Singapore. Turns out that Boon had arranged to have Mariano drop them off there so he could propose to Alycia! And she said yes!! Nice.

Next installment: Some brash moments.

Comments

[Carla de Mos]

Hi Elizabeth,

I finally had a chance to sit down and read all your antartica entries. You provide the reader with a wonderful bird's eye view.

Since I am alergic to snow, I marvel your courage and appreciate your talent for photography as I probably will never see it in person.

Looking forward to the rest of it,
c