Antarctica and the Falklands

DAYS 34–36 Friday February 17–Sunday February 19

February 16. The transit through Drake’s passage, which began last night was rough and bumpy. Bottles on the desk fell on the floor, the shower door flopped loose and had to be secured. Yet we were told by people who had visited Antarctica many times that the passage was relatively gentle.

I was excited to be here, as were many of my fellow passengers. Many of them, more than 200, had booked this leg of the trip, flying to Santiago to board the ship, returning once we reach Rio. I’ve been thinking about this remarkable allure of the Antarctic and I struggle to explain it.

Antarctica is a striptease
A white veil covers everything
Oh! here’s a hint of cream
Oh! here’s a touch of teal!
A tiny flock of penguins
     skips across the water
A circle of bubbles appears
It’s a humpback whale feeding
Keep your eyes on it
Hold your breath
You may catch a glimpse

February 17. Once we reached the Antarctic Peninsula though, the water became quite calm. There was a fog, and it was warm enough that rain was falling. Soon, though, this turned into snow. A lot of the crew had never seen the stuff, and they went wild on the deck on 9. They built a really handsome snowman on 10.

Despite the fog I took a lot of photos, and once the fog burned off somewhat I took a lot more. We saw penguins bouncing along the surface of the water, a whale surfaced for just an instant right near our veranda, and a couple of seals floated by on small icebergs. But it was the scenery that was so intriguing to me.

February 18. Today we cruise Paradise Bay, which has lovely scenery and a lot of animal activity. We see a rare sight, a humpback whale feeding by use of a bubble net. It swims in a tight circle, exhaling little by little, creating a column of bubbles, trapping and concentrating his prey. Then it opens its mouth and gulps down as much of the krill as possible, after which it uses its tongue to squeeze the water through its baleen, leaving the krill behind.

February 19. Early in the morning we entered the ancient caldera of Deception Island. Later we visited the beautiful Half Moon Island, and at 2pm cruised around Admiralty Bay. It’s a little less cold here, about 3 or 4ºC. Still foggy. All of the islands have snow and glaciers on them, but are mostly rock. Each has its own dramatic landscape.

They all seem to have penguin colonies, bird rookeries, and some sort of seals. Admiralty Bay, in particular, has year-round research facilities and some temporary military bases.

After a couple of hours the ship turned out to sea, heading for the Falkland Islands. The waves increased in the open ocean, but not nearly as rough as it was on the way south. 

DAY 38 Shrove Tuesday. Stanley, the Falkland Islands

It’s a bit chilly and extremely windy. We’ve been told this is as nice as the weather gets here.

After so many days at sea we were eager to get to the Falklands, if only to get onto dry land! We ended up hiking to Gypsy Cove, the site of a penguin rookery, a round trip of more than 12 miles.

This is a depressing place to me. The most interesting things we saw in those 12 miles was 1) one of those poles where visitors fasten directional signs pointing to where they’d rather be, along with the distance; and 2) shipwrecks.

The people we met were very friendly and eager to help. However I sense a kind of cynicism or something, a strain of sarcasm, in the signs I’ve seen.