North
goes South: Jenny North’s diary of the trip of a lifetime
to Antarctica….
Part 2
Welcome back as I continue with part 2 of the diary of my amazing
holiday to Antarctica.
You will see that this was no ordinary holiday and how our days
were fully occupied.
Day 5 Tuesday 8 January 2008
We receive the first of our ship’s news sheets, ‘Discovery
Today’. As anyone who has been on a cruise before knows, a
daily news and information paper is delivered to your cabin giving
details of the day’s programme.
Today we have free time.
We have a day in port, but need to be back on board by quarter to
five for the mandatory lifeboat drill before our scheduled departure
at 6pm. Moored alongside is another ship the Frans.
We learned that this was the cruise ship damaged at Discovery Bay
just before Christmas and was in dock finishing repairs.
I spent time discovering Ushuaia and learned a great deal about
the town and its ties with the UK through the whaling industry of
the early 20th century.
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| The pretty town of Ushuaia |
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| Jenny up close to an iceberg |
 Ready
to board the Zodiac |
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| The Zodiac by the iceberg, and below, the commemorative
logo on complimentary parka |
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| |
The town is very pretty with the mountains as a backdrop and everywhere
you looked there were huge swathes of lupins and gardens filled
with the lupins, together with roses and poppies – all very
English. I even saw dandelions!!
Back on board, I was able to enjoy the pleasant afternoon sun wandering
round and getting familiar with my surroundings ready to respond
to the safety drill and go to the muster station.
This was all done in a very orderly and relaxed manner, but of course
there were some passengers who ended up in the wrong place!
The Japanese passengers had their own separate drill (and interpreters)
and seemed to do everything we were told not to do!
At last 6pm came and we were ready to set sail. It was nearer 7pm
when we actually left as we had to wait for the Frans to be moved
out of the harbour entrance. Then we were away.
Out past the Beagle Channel en route for the crossing of the Drake
Passage. We had been warned that this part of the crossing could
be very rough, but as it happened, it was not too bad, although
a few passengers were a little green and had to go to see the ship’s
doctor.
A very good-looking young man, I was told!
Little did these passengers know what awaited them on the return
crossing…
After the evening meal, there was low-key entertainment and a trivia
quiz, which our team won. We were rewarded with, yes, Discovery
pens!! A most sought after commodity believe it or not. Following
this, it was a chance to meet all the entertainers and special guests.
Day 6 Wednesday 9 January 2008
A day at sea. The Drake Passage is the shortage crossing from Antarctica
to the rest of the world – some 400 miles wide - and forms
part of the southern Ocean and this is when we cross the Antarctic
Convergence, where technically speaking the Southern Ocean begins.
At this latitude there is no other land the whole way round the
earth. Although there is no obvious change in appearance, it is
at this point where there is a very noticeable sudden drop in the
water temperature. The convergence line is actually visible on satellite
imagery from outer space.
It is through the Drake Passage that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
flows, the world’s biggest ocean current flowing eastwards
at a rate of 153 million cubic metres per second. Roughly a thousand
times the flow of the Amazon.
Today we are introduced to the expedition team, the lecturers and
Zodiac drivers who will be responsible for getting us safely to
shore and back.
Also we meet a second Captain on board ship. The Ice Captain, a
man who is an expert at navigating through ice fields and icebergs.
Very reassuring.
Our first lecture follows, An Introduction to Southern Seabirds
by Paul Sagar, a New Zealander. A quick break for coffee and then
the next lecture by the expedition leader Peter Carey – A
Beginners Guide to Penguins.
Peter is another New Zealander, like so many of the experts and
passengers on board – we all reckoned that New Zealand must
have been empty.
At this point we began to see some of the Antarctic birds flying
round the ship.
Spotted were some of the common varieties such as the Cape, Blue
and Snow Petrels, but also sighted were some albatrosses and other
petrels rarely seen in this area. This caused great excitement,
especially among the experts.
Time for lunch.
More wonderful food. I am eating far too much so decide I will have
a good lunch, maybe skip the evening meal and if I am hungry later
have some supper.
Oh what a bad decision.
No sooner had I made this decision and had my ‘good’
lunch, I returned to my cabin to find an invitation to dine at the
Captain’s Table that evening. With a five-hour interval, I
thought maybe I would just about be able to manage to eat a meal.
After all how could I turn down such an invitation?
The afternoon lecture was by another New Zealander, Sarah Mager
on the geography & geology of Antarctica, followed by the mandatory
briefing for our first Antarctic landing.
How the landings were organised, how long we would have on shore
and the dos and don’ts of being transported in the Zodiacs.
All very commonsense really, but it is amazing at some of the questions
people will ask.
Evening and it’s the Captain’s cocktail party. A formal
affair.
We are all dressed up in our finery and the ship is still crossing
the Drake Passage and I can assure you it is very difficult trying
to balance in high-heeled shoes. It gives you a decided disadvantage
when trying to walk a straight line.
Anyway the evening was a very pleasant, we all had to have our photo
taken with the Captain as we arrived, then champagne and canapes
were served until dinner was announced.
Then those, like myself, who were dining at the Captain’s
table were ushered to a bar where more champagne and canapes were
served. And then we were escorted to a lovely spiral staircase in
the reception area where a group photo was taken and only then were
we allowed into dinner – a small five course affair. My heart
sank, how could I possibly eat all that? Well, I did manage a little
of each course much to my relief.
It was about this time that I realised word was getting around the
ship that I had won the cruise in a competition and this was maybe
one of the reasons I had been invited to dine at the Captain’s
table.
Day 7 Thursday 10 January 2008
Hurray - today we get our first ride in the Zodiacs, although we
are not going ashore anywhere. We are to have a tour round a couple
of small icebergs.
First though we have another lecture, this time by an American Tim
Baughman who is an expert on Antarctic explorers and talked today
about Shackleton and the Endurance.
We are now sailing past Deception Island. We cannot enter as they
still have to find out exactly how the Frans lost power and drifted
into the ice shelf, so we had to view from afar.
However we did sight our first whale, a humpback, and also many
Chinstrap penguins surfing through the sea.
It is difficult to see them at first, but once you know how to spot
them, it becomes a lot easier to anticipate sighting the penguins.
The whales are a totally different ball game and unless you are
there looking and see the ‘blow’ signalling whales it
is very difficult to see any at all. We are also now seeing many
icebergs.
Cameras are in abundance and hundreds of pictures taken.
We eventually arrive in McFarlane Strait and drop anchor. All the
passengers are allocated coloured discs which denote when they will
be going for the trip in the Zodiac.
I have a red coloured disc and we are to be last out today. The
reds will subsequently move up the pecking order and eventually
become No.1.
When it is time to board the Zodiac, the cold weather clothes are
layered on, including wet-proof trousers and Wellington boots. Everyone
on the cruise has also been given a red parka to keep, complete
with commemorative logo and these are used for all landings and
deck side activities.
Nevertheless, I still wore two hats and two pairs of gloves to keep
warm – the outside temperature being about 2-3 degrees C but
the wind and close proximity to the freezing water in the Zodiac
makes it feel quite chilly.
We then go down to the boarding steps after having our life jackets
put on. We are ready to go!
What an experience!
These icebergs are the most iridescent blue, smooth and rounded.
This is because as some point they have rolled over in the sea.
We stay out for about 30 minutes touring round two ‘small’
icebergs with penguins leaping in and out of the water. Some passengers
out earlier were lucky enough to have a Minke whale pass close to
their Zodiac. No such luck for ours though.
Back on board, gear off and it’s up to the Lido restaurant
for tea, yes more food. The chefs on board (nearly all Malay, except
for the head chef who was born in the UK but now lives in, yes you
guessed, New Zealand) made the most wonderful scones complete with
clotted cream. And if you really wanted to, you could eat near enough
another full meal!
Evening was informal with a show in the theatre.
By now we are getting used to the long evenings, sunset being at
23.28 and sunrise at 4.51 am, but it never really got dark the whole
night. It was a good job there were heavy curtains in the cabin.
Part
three
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