Monday 24th February This day at sea gives us an opportunity to reflect upon our experience. The ship is a converted car ferry and has been specially fitted for work in icy waters with lots of stabilising devices and special radar that enables it to get close to land. Our cabin is roomy with a …
Sunday 23rd February Overnight we sailed northwards to the South Shetland Islands and in particular Deception Island at 63S. This is an enormous caldera, (a flooded volcanic crater) formed 10,000 years ago, with coves lining the inner walls where later eruptions have taken place, the last being in 1970. We entered the caldera through ‘Neptune’s …
Saturday 22nd February We had stayed overnight at 65.09S and early on we made our way through the Penola Strait to Peterman Island and then onwards to the Yalour Islands. The landing here enabled us to see at close quarters a colony of Adelie penguins and exposed granite which had been glaciated making the small …
Friday 21st February Before going ashore this morning we had a short talk about the British Base at Port Lockroy – 64.49S. These people stay here meeting visitors and operating the most southerly British post office in the world. It is a beautiful morning and flat calm. During the night icebergs and growlers (lots of …
Thursday 20th February During breakfast this morning we observed Humpback whales following our route. Today we stepped on the mainland of Antarctica at Neko Harbour at 64.50S. We anchored in Andvord Bay and made our way by Zodiac to a beach with high ice covered mountains as a backdrop. Here we saw more Gentoo penguins …
Wednesday 19th February The night was windy and rainy but on our way to breakfast we saw snow and ice had coated the lifeboats and some of the exposed metal of the upper decks. There were rumours of a snowball fight on the aft observation deck. The onboard glaciologist described the crossing of the Drake …
Tuesday 18th February This morning we had progressed to 57S. We sighted 2 wandering albatross and are on the lookout for whales. As we write the sun makes the ocean silver and there is nothing in any direction but water! The day has been filled by informative talks preparing us for our Antarctic landfall and …
Monday 17th February This morning we explored the large Argentinian island called Tierra del Fuego, or ‘land of fire’. Here we saw how earth movements and volcanic activity, coupled with intense glaciation have broken apart and twisted the Andes Mountains in this region. Rocks have been metamorphosed, twisted, pushed in many directions and split apart. …
The second day of travel to meet our expedition ship saw us fly from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, the most southerly city on earth at 58S. This journey on Boeing 737 flying at 38,000ft took 3 hours 15 minutes. As the crow flies we left Buenos Aires and soon crossed the South Atlantic to Southern …
To reach the ship for our Antarctic adventure we flew from Manchester to Buenos Aires via Paris a distance of 7650 miles. The journey from Paris lasted 13 hours and 20 minutes and brought home to us how vast the Atlantic Ocean is. Leaving Europe we flew southwest skirting the west coast of Africa to …