Montevideo

Jan 31, Thurs

We left Ushuaia and flew to Buenos Aires, then to Montevideo on Wednesday, arriving in time to have a late dinner before bedtime.  Actually, in Uruguay the normal dinner hour starts between 8 & 9 pm so for them it was not late.  This may take some getting used to!

That big wooden door is the entrance to our hotel. 

Our local guide, Vincent, talked non stop from the airport to our hotel. The name of the city means mountain (Monte) of six (VI) east to west (de - oe).  I didn’t catch what the six was for just that it was a Roman Numeral. It is summer time warm (75).  There are 3.5 million people in all of Uruguay and 1.4 million in the city. Immigration is important, tourism is the second largest industry and beef is the national food as there are more cows in Uruguay than there are people!

Uruguay celebrates Carnival 40 days before Lent so we have arrived just in time to catch the parades, music and plays.  We’ll do that later this week.

This morning we got the grand tour of the city and Vincent never stopped talking (did I mention that already?) We got all of Uruguay’s history, dates of Independence, leaders, presidents, demonstrations and more dates that I cannot recall already and will never remember.

There are statues of the leaders in beautiful squares surrounded by massive buildings.  Most squares have a church, a government building and a fountain or statue.  We went inside the Santeria de la Catedral but only saw the outside of the church that looks like Notre Dame in Paris.  We passed by the Teatro Solis - The Opera House, the Executive Palace, the Congressional Palace, and some ornate hotels.  We had a HUGE lunch of beef (of course) at the Montevideo Agricola Market and then drove through up scale neighborhoods, past the president’s house and into their National Park.  Our last stop was on the 24th floor of the Municipal Building to view the panoramic city. 

Back in Ushuaia

Jan 29, Tues

We disembarked from the Hebridean Sky at 8:30 this morning and shortly after that checked into the Hotel Lennox.  After settling into our room we started walking, and we walked a lot!

Most of the day was spent exploring the Ushuaia Jail and Military Prison Museum. In 1896 prisoners we sent to this area to begin the establishment of a prison for second-time offenders and to possibly start a penal colony like they did in Australia. By 1920 the prison was mostly completed and housed over 600 inmates who had built the structure out of block and stone.  To do so they had to build a railroad to haul lumber and rocks to the building site.  The prison has 5 arms radiating out from one central court and is two stories high.  Today each arm has a different themed museum such as a Maritime museum filled with model ships that sailed these seas, an art gallery, a jail house history wing and an Antarctic Museum. Between the arms is a reproduction of one of the original lighthouses on the Beagle Channel and two train engines. The model ships were all created by one navel modeler and cover 50 years of sailing.  The H.M.S. Beagle was Darwin’s ship.

We walked the business district again and then the bayside park, and then up the hill to check out a restaurant then back down town.  Are you tired yet?  We are!

Last Day Fun

Jan 28 Mon

The seas are quiet, but the skies are not.  We made really good time on the Drake Passage and entered the Beagle Channel around noon.  After circling the channel for three hours we picked up the channel pilot and were docked by 6 pm but that didn’t stop any of the fun activities for the day.

Sunniva Sorby, from the expedition staff, told about her trek to the South Pole with three other ladies 26 years ago.  They were the first women to make this arduous journey.  They skied pulling 200 pound sleds, up hill and into the wind. It took them about two months to get there. I can’t even begin to imagine doing this myself!

Other activities included a lecture on the history of southern South America, a contest and judging to see who had the best pictures in four categories- humorous, people, animals and scenery. The captain’s reception was before dinner where we enjoyed canapés and champagne. After dinner was a slideshow of our trip put together by the expedition’s photographer.  What wonderful memories that show invoked.

We’ve made new friends, experienced a new continent and enjoyed being wined and dined by a wonderful crew and staff.  I would say this has been an adventure of a lifetime - until the next one comes along!!

Cruising the Drake North

Jan 27 Sunday

We woke to rough seas, clouds and rain which is typical of the Drake Passage and yet those who have done this before say it’s not too bad!

We were kept busy all day. The expedition staff had a panel discussion on climate change in the Southern Hemisphere and its effects on penguins and whales as well as on the ice. In Antarctica, the ice is the source of food for all the animals.  A type of algae grows on the bottom of the ice.  This is what krill eat, then whales and penguins eat krill, and seals eat krill or other fish that eat krill and birds eat the fish or penguins that eat krill. There is evidence of warming but historically that will be followed by a cooling trend. 

The ship’s chef and hotel manager gave a tour of one of two galleys that produce all the meals for this cruise.  Most of the 4.5 tons of meat and fish carried by the ship comes from Germany, they start with 3,900 eggs, and all fresh vegetables and fruit.  It amazes me that the lettuce keeps as long as it does!  Of the ship’s 77 crew members, 50 are hotel staff such as housekeeping, cooks and servers.  

The expedition team held a trivia game where we had to guess which staff did a certain unexpected thing. One got caught swimming naked, another stole a car for two hours of joy riding, another was an extra in a ‘B’ movie.  

The waves have smothed out somewhat and we are making good time.

Whales!

January 26

The Gerlach Strait is glassy smooth, the sun is shining and its starting out to be a beautiful day. Up early and on the Zodiac by 6:00 am!  We landed on Usefull Island and hiked to its top for spectacular views from all directions.  It’s a very small island inhabited by penguins but it’s location is such that many whalers and explorers found it to be useful for spotting whales, protection from winds, and a meeting place to exchange goods or to signal other ships. Evidently we have passed this island several times since it was pointed out that we had been in Neco Bay to the east and another spot on south.

We were scheduled to take the ship into Fournier Bay to view glaciers but a huge pod of Orcas ended those plans. Once spotted the ship followed the whales so that all the photographers could get good pictures while the rest of us watched them. We think there were between 15-20 whales.  A group of 4 were chasing a seal while another group were swimming with a baby.  The biggest ones would swim very close to the ship. We did get to photograph a huge iceberg, named The Chapel that has an open arch and steeple.

After a barbecue hamburger & hot dog lunch we realized we had traveled into the Weddel Sea and would soon be bounced around in the Drake Passage.  We left the area early so that we might avoid a storm near Cape Horn. To pass the time this afternoon the staff held an auction to raise funds for the Albatross Coalition.  We didn’t buy anything but they had some very nice items like paintings,  jewelry and an opportunity to name a whale.  We were also serenaded by a small ensemble composed of our specialists on guitar, ukulele and piano.

Peltier Channel and Port Lockroy

Jan. 25, Friday

When we woke up this morning we had crossed the Gerlache Strait and were moored outside of Port Lockroy on the Peltier Channel.  The seas are calm and the sun is shining, it’s turning into a glorious day.  As the Zodiac cruises along the channel we can hear glaciers calving, their thunder breaking the silence.  Our driver points out two named glaciers - Harbor and Thunder - as well as the highes peak on this Antarctic Peninsula- Mt. Frances.  Our guide also pointed out Mt. Luigi and a row of jagged peaks referred to as Luigi’s girlfriends.

We thought we would travel the length of the Chanel swiftly then slowly return while taking in the sights but three humpback whales changed those plans.  The three whales were feeding on krill near the ice shelf, diving and coming up, blowing and going down again.  Our driver has studied whales and said that they were using bubbles blown from below to corral the krill near the top where the other whales could eat them.  We think it was two adults and a baby that they were teaching how to dive and to catch krill.  We followed them for over thirty minutes.

As we headed to Port Lockroy we passed as iceberg being used as a bed by a crabeater seal. Port Lockroy was a research station established by the British in 1944 and called Base A.  It was abandoned in 1962 but in 1995 the Antarctica agency that protects the continent said it had to be torn down or restored as it was an eye sore.  Today it is a museum and gift shop visited by almost every tourist to Antarctica, nearly 18,000 people. We mailed postcards from here which will probably arrive after we get home.

Paradise Bay and Citizen Science

Jan. 24, 2019 Thurs.

Cruising the Bay.  We enter a channel that appears to be a dead end but as we approach the end we can see the dog leg turn. It is -4° Celsius (25 F), cloudy, windy and spitting snow.  There are mountains on both sides although the tops are obscured by clouds.  We spent time on the bridge where we learned that the new software and technology aids in the charting of passages and finding new routes.  This data is shared by this ship as well as by many other vessels for more accurate maps.

This is not just a pleasure cruise but also a science expedition.  Many research organizations use information collected by the people on this ship, information that could cost the organization lots of money if done on their own.  But with our help in taking pictures of flukes, gathering water samples, counting birds or taking pictures of clouds, we are helping science in these cold climes.

 They had planned to stop at one of two research stations near Paradise Bay but the weather would not allow it so we just cruised this protected bay while learning about Ernie Shackleton and whales. In 1914, Ernie Shackleton led a crew of 28 men to Antarctica with plans to pull sleds to the South Pole while a second crew approached it from the other side, laying stores of supplies along the way for Shackleton’s group.  Unfortunately ice grabbed hold of Ernie’s ship, preventing it from even touching land and after destroying the ship stranding them on Elephant Island.  They turned over two life boats as shelter for 22 men while Shackleton and 5 other men took the remaining life boat to find whaling ships to rescue them. Two and a half years later, Shackleton did rescue the 22 men he left behind and the crew of the other ship with no loss of life.

The talk about whales was brought on by our sighting of the Type B Orcas we followed yesterday. These are smaller whales than the norther Orcas. They eat fish and squid, and they use echo location to find their food.

Touchdown on the Continent

Jan. 23

Orne Harbor is on the northwest side of the Arctowski Peninsula, near the entrance to Errera Channel. The harbor is surrounded by glaciers. In fact, when we stopped for our shore excursion I couldn’t see where we would have any place to land.  But this crew has done this before and had a nice spot for us to disembark and hike up the glacier to an overlook.  Along the way we had to step aside for several penguins trying to walk up to their nests.  It was a difficult climb as our feet would sink into the snow up to our knees, then we would try to fill the hole so a penguin would not drop into it and not be able to climb out.

A fascinating tidbit about penguins.  They build their nexts from rocks and sometimes they have to walk all the way down to the shore to find a rock and carry it back up the hill to the nest.  But once the nest is built that penguin has an internal GPS that tells it where the nest is located year after year, even if it covered with snow.

Just as we finished lunch our cruise director, Pablo, announced that Orcas had been spotted! Everyone ran outside for this amazing show of 8-10 Orcas breaching! They even came right under the ship.  The captains and bridge crew follow the whales for about half an hour before they had to turn around.  Amazing!!

We stopped to visit Neco Harbor.  This place is named after a floating whale factory ship called The Neco.  Many, many penguins live here.  This is also the location where the camping group will spend the night.  It seems they have to dig a hole for their sleeping bags and the tents then fit over the top.  We are NOT camping but enjoying an evening on the boat after a short cruise in the Zodiac around the harbor.

Hanna Point and Deception Island

Tues.,  Jan. 22

The Shetland Islands are considered a part of Antarctica. Today the ship moved down the island to Livingston’s Island where we landed on Hanna Point in Walker Bay.  There were fur seals on the shore but mostly elephant seals sleeping in groups of 8-15 seals.  The penguins preferred Hanna Point.  A couple of scientist are camped here while looking for fossils.  They then can use these to date the land and chart history.

The ship moved further south while we were having lunch and parked inside Deception Island.  This is the caldera of a volcano with an opening just big enough for ships our size to pass through into the interior. The opening is named Neptune’s Bellows because of the rock formations. Because it looks like an island but is not, it got its name Deception Island.  Whalers used this island as a base to kill whales and collect their blubber for shipment back to the US, China, Russia, etc.in one year in the 1960’s they slaughtered 41,000 whales!  No, that is not a typo! In 1967 and again in 1972 the volcano erupted.  Whale oil prices rose and the processing plant closed down.  There are still tanks, houses, and some machinery on the shore.

Day 2 and Shetland Islands

January 21

The waves and wind are diminishing but it is still a rough sea.  We are encourage to go up on the bridge so we took advantage of that.  The captain showed us a storm system on the radar and indicated the winds were pushing us away from it and towards Antarctica. So  we may arrive in the Shetland Islands much earlier that expected.

We spotted our first big iceberg this morning, the second iceberg was like a huge table top only it was a mile long and about 1/4 mile wide.  They called it a tabular iceberg. A humpback whale breeched near the ship and penguins have been spotted swimming and jumping in the waters.

Since we arrive early near King George Island, we received our instructions for going ashore.  We have a special way of boarding the Zodiacs and going ashore.  They divide the group into 4 teams and will split cruising and landing excursions among the teams.  

While cruising in the Zodiac we watched thousands of penguins and a few large, lazy elephant seals, and enjoyed the quiet stillness of the waters and the majesty of the snow covered mountains and shorelines. On shore we walked among the gentoo and chinstrap penguins, marveled at the size of the seals and enjoyed walking around.  All of a sudden we heard a huge clap of thunder under clear blue skies.  It wasn’t thunder, it was a glacier calving off an iceberg! Exciting!

Day One on the Drake Passage

January 20

During the night we crossed into the Drake passage and very rough water.  The captain indicated it was typical waves of 6-8 meters.  The boat rolled all night! Stuff kept falling off shelves, the closet door kept popping open and other items shifted.  The waves calmed slightly around 6 am so we got some good sleep until the wake up call came at 7am. But as the morning wore on the seas got higher.

While we are cruising we have to he opportunity to learn.  Some history:  Antarctica is 90% covered in ice, it can have up to 120mph winds, and will experience the coldest air temperatures in the world at -89.4°C. It is also the driest place on earth.  James cook sailed all the way around the continent without ever seeing land.

The ship Hebridean Sky is owned by a Swedish company and carries 114 passengers plus a large crew.  Most of the crew we interact with have multiple jobs but they are also the naturalists who inform us about this beautiful continent.

We are able, as we desire, to help with research by counting birds at sea and later on land, sampling the water we are traveling through, taking pictures of whales for identity purposes, and studying the clouds. We also had classes on geography of Antarctica, how to get the best photographs, and how to identify polar birds. Our resident birder showed pictures of the just a few of the birds we can expect to see such as the Albatross (five different kinds), petrels, prions, skua, shags and of course  penguins. The most common penguins we will see are the Gentoo, Chinstrap, and Adelie. The large emperor and king penguins are not found in this area.

During evening cocktails we crossed the Antarctica convergence.  We are now officially in Antarctica. We hope to see land and icebergs tomorrow.

In Route to Antarctica

January 19

We spent most of  today walking up and down the Main Street of Ushuaia. After we checked out of the hotel we missed the shuttle into town so a taxi was called for us but we still waited over 30 minutes for a ride. That gave the rain time to move away so we had a nice day to explore the town.

We boarded the Hebridean Sky cruise ship at 4 pm and by 6:30 we had been instructed in ship board safety and done a lifeboat drill, met most of the crew and the captain and had been served champagne. Following dinner we were fitted for boots and and our expedition jackets. As the sun was setting we walked around the outside deck and enjoyed the beautiful clouds and sea. By 10pm we finally unpacked our suitcases and were ready for bed.  

Because we were uncertain if we would get seasick, we decided to apply the anti-seasick patches before supper so they had a chance to get into our system.

The Adventure of a Lifetime

This is probably the craziest itinerary we have ever put together!  We start in Ushuaia, Argentina where we will catch a cruise to Antarctica.  Then we’ll stay in Montevideo, Uruguay for a few days until we join Wilderness Travel for hiking in Patagonia.  At the end of that adventure we will board a cruise ship in Valparaiso, Chile bound for Tahiti.

We left home right after a 10 inch snow storm and before an ice storm.  We landed in balmy Buenos Aires for one night then we’ll fly to Ushuaia.  We spent our time in the city locating the apartment where we stayed 5 years ago and dining on empanadas and pasta.

We’re off to a good start!