Antarctica - Getting there is half the fun!

  Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Friday, February 29, 2008

Icebergs along Bransfield Strait

Antarctica has been on our 'hit list' and we finally made it! Friggin incredible! We spent 21 days visiting the Antarctica Peninsula, South Georgia Island and Falkland Islands and then spent a couple of days at Iguazu Falls. This entry covers the Beginning: Ushuaia, the Drake Passage and making sure we didn't get sick! 

We hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Welcome to Antarctica

  Antarctica had been on our "hit list" for a few years but we never thought that we'd really end up traveling there. However, after visiting cities and historical sites throughout Italy, the Mediterranean and Greek Islands last year Doris and I realized that the volume of people traveling outside their home country is increasing exponentially and that "off-season" crowds are rivaling the seasonal crowds. Whether this is the result of globalization or the internet or the aging of our travel population I don't know. But I do know that there are not many places left in the world that can still be called "remote".

Bransfield Strait along the Antarctic coast

Icebergs and penguins along the coast

Antarctica is still a remote location. But the number of travelers and ships visiting this remote area of the world has been increasing by 30% each of the past few years. The result is that close to 50,000 people will visit Antarctica during the 2007-2008 November to March summer months. Travel is possible only during these months when the temperatures are more tepid and the ice pack around the continent has melted.

These numbers are up from 13,000 visitors just five years ago. So we figured that now is the time to go, before Antarctica becomes just another crowded tourist destination. [Hopefully not, since there are regulations in place that limit the number of people at any landing to 100 (more about that later). On the other hand, there are cruise lines doing "sail-by" trips whereby ships with over 1,000 passengers sail near the Peninsula but don't make landings.]

In the picture below, our ship, the M/S andrea, is in front of the M/S Fram. The Fram can hold 318 passengers while the Andrea holds 100. Incidentally, a month prior to our departure the Fram drifted into a glacier and had to be escorted back to port. You can see some of the damage in the paint on the bow of the Fram.

Our ship (the one in front!)

El Fin del Mundo
We departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, a city nicknamed "El Fin del Mundo". It's the southernmost city in the world and about 16 flight hours from Miami. There are over 40 ships going to Antarctica during the season, with each ship making anywhere from one to ten trips. Most depart from either Ushuaia or Punta Arenas in Chile while a few depart from Australia or New Zealand.

El Fin del Mundo and beginning our trip!

We arrived two days early (highly recommended!) to acclimate and to make sure our luggage arrived on time, which it did! The next day we hired a driver and explored Tierra del Fuego National Park (in the southern area of Patagonia) and the glacial lakes and wilderness north of Ushuaia. It was a full and adventurous day.

Tierra del Fuego Natl Park, near Ushuaia

Southern End of Pan-Am Hwy. Goes to Alaska!

Lago Escondido, north of Ushuaia

Lupines blooming in Tierra del Fuego

The second day we visited the Ushuaia Prison Museum. The prison was built in the late 1800's and its history is chronicled through exhibits in the cell blocks. This was a maximum security prison for murderers and other hard-core convicts. The prisoners were used to build the streets, bridges, buildings and railroads in and around Ushuaia. The train that transported prisoners to a rock quarry outside the city is now a popular tourist ride inside the National Park. The prison was shut down in 1950 and has been a museum ever since.

Inside the Ushuaia prison

Sailing to Antarctica
That afternoon we boarded the ship at 4:00 p.m. After almost a year of anticipation, it was finally time to get on to Antarctica! Our expedition was on the M/S Andrea, a Norwegian cruise ship built in 1960 and renovated in 2003. The Andrea is ice-strengthened and is built to sail in Arctic and Antarctic waters. The ship is 285 feet long and holds 100 passengers. This is about as large a ship that is recommended if you want to get the maximum amount of landings and time on Antarctica. That's because tourism in Antarctica is regulated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and one of their regulations is that no more than 100 people are allowed on shore at the same time. In fact many of the ships traveling to Antarctica hold just 40 to 60 passengers.

Leaving Ushuaia at sundown

Finally! Off to Antarctica!

The trip started calmly through the Beagle Channel the first evening. As soon as we reached open waters we were in the Drake Passage, a body of water known as the roughest seas in the world. It's a passage that's 500 miles wide between South America and the Antarctica Peninsula and the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans all try to squeeze through together. It can make for a rough sailing.

You hope to get "Drake's lake" and not a "Drake shake". As it turned out the Drake Passage was relatively mild for us and we thought we were home free as we passed through the "convergence" late on the second day. This is an area about 20-30 miles wide where the cold southern waters meet the northern warm waters and it acts as a barrier between these extremes. Once we passed south of the convergence we were in Antarctic waters and icebergs began appearing. Icebergs can not float north of the convergence and many types of sea life do not cross the convergence.

Sunset along Bransfield Strait

Bransfield Strait

Late evening on the coast

After passing the convergence, we entered the Bransfield Strait and immediately we could feel the difference. The weather and the seas began deteriorating. The temperature dropped, fog and clouds rolled in and the seas kicked up. We were entering an Antarctic storm. Force 12 weather is hurricane force winds with seas in excess of 35 feet. On one day during the trip we had Force 11 weather -- 60 mph winds with 35 foot seas.

Heavy swells - Rocking and Rolling!

Force 11 seas - Where's the bow of the ship??

In open waters, the ship would do some serious rocking and rolling, which became a standard scene through the trip. We found out that we prefer when a ship "pitches" rather than "rolls". A ship rocks front to back when it pitches and side to side when it rolls.

A challenge to stand or walk!

Everything is secured to the floorsor walls!!

One of the biggest challenges was taking a shower; try washing with one hand while holding onto a handrail with the other hand, soapy by this time. And then try drying with only one hand!

All Antarctic expeditions are led by an expedition team made up of a leader and in our case, eight guides. They are highly knowledgeable in areas like nature, marine biology, geology, history, ornithology and archeology. There was very little about the Antarctic that they did not know among them. The key to a successful expedition are the guides and ours did not disappoint.

Our expedition staff

Dolphins swimming with the ship

During sea days the expedition staff gave several one-hour lectures throughout the day. The rest of the day was open: you could watch and photograph the Antarctic landscape and seabirds from the cold and windy deck, spend time with fellow passengers, take a break with a book, a movie or a nap, or sort and edit the images you've photographed so far! A lot of people came on deck whenever whales or dolphins were sighted. Sea days were full days. The images of birds, dolphins and whales were taken from the deck of the ship.

Humpback Whale

Great Petral

Black-browed Albatross

Wandering Albatross

Zodiacs and Landings
For landings everyone dresses in the standard 'landing outfit' - knee-high waterproof boots, waterproof pants, two or three (or more) layers of clothing, winter hat, waterproof gloves, the red parka issued to us at the beginning of the trip, and a yellow life vest. It's hard to get lost with these colors!

Landings are done with rubber zodiac rafts. Ships anchor about a quarter mile offshore and then the passengers make a short hop from the ship's gangway to the zodiac. The ship has a mandatory rule that two crew members help the passengers on and off the zodiacs. This is a good thing in the choppy seas! To help protect the Antarctic environment all passengers walk through a pan of disinfectant just prior to boarding the zodiacs and then walk through the disinfectant upon return to the ship.

About to land on the beach

Rules are followed on the zodiacs, or else!!

A typical beach landing

The zodiacs land on the beach or onto rocks and the knee-high boots come in handy since you generally wade through ankle or calf deep water to get to the beach. It's a process that becomes more routine as the expedition goes on.

Coming up in future newsletters
We hope you enjoyed the expedition so far. We'll share our adventures on the Antarctic Peninsula with you in trip report #2. These were amazing, incredible and inspiring days. Stay tuned!
Cliff and Doris

*** Explore the outdoors and enjoy our natural lands. When you visit, remember to "pack it in and pack it out" -- don't litter and don't damage anything. Leave the area as it was when you arrived and our natural lands will remain a memorable and rewarding experience for everyone.***