Antarctica Backpacking Through South America Eight Months On the Road By David Rice |
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Page Thirty One
| Antartica Backpacking by Bus In South America Eight Months On the Road Text and Photos By David Rice |
Page 10
Aboard
On the day of boarding the ship, we met in a hotel staging area and we
handed in our luggage which went on ahead to our rooms. We went by
bus to the docks and right to the ship boarding area where we picked up
our key and deposited our passport for an inspection by Argentine
officials.
Underway by mid morning we headed out of the Beagle Channel and
past Cape Horn. During that night we entered the roughest seas in the
world, The Drake Passage. We were on our way to Antarctic but our
initiation would be a day and a night in the world's most violent ocean..
Huge swells rocked the ship for most of the night and through the next
day and I was beyond queasy. Finally in the mid day, we entered still
waters and the waves calmed and so did my stomach. We still had no
land in sight as we left the Drake Channel, just Albatross and sea birds
trailing the ship.
Antarctica
We would be three days on the ocean passage, a day and a half each
way, and then eight days in Antarctica, on the eleven-day trip. All this
time the passengers had total access to the ships engine room, bridge,
and kitchen, Tours were available most any time. The Captain was a
Nordic sailor, accustomed to cold weather sailing amidst icebergs, a
comforting thought.
Four of us received and an invitation to the Captain's table for dinner
and cocktails which included a speech by the captain and a crew
member.
During this speech they made it clear that we needed to be careful,
falling overboard would be fatal. We were not to harass the animals on
shore and they warned us to be cautious with the penguins; though
tame and unafraid of humans, their bite can be serious enough to
require stitches.
Each day I would rise before seven for coffee and then the crew would
serve a great breakfast of eggs and ham cheese coffee and tea. After
breakfast we would suit up and load a Zodiac inflatable that carried 15
and we would go ashore. Mostly we landed on shelf ice but occasionally
we would see rocks. Usually, however, we would see nothing but ice and
flocks of penguins. They would come leaping out of the water to waddle
over the ice or we would see seals in groups up on the ice. All the while
orcas would be cruising off shore looking for an easy penguin or seal
dinner.
While ashore we had to be cautious because winds would come up
unexpectedly and they would force you to your knees to avoid being
blown over. When this happened and we were near the shore, there
was danger that the wind would tumble us into the numbing sea.
We had a system of numbered tags that we would remove from a board
so that the crew knew when each passenger was back on the ship.
The crew served us lunch at noon and this included wine and cocktails
to accompany the gourmet meals with fresh rolls and fresh-baked
bread. The menu at times included exotics like llama and Emu along with
beef and shrimp, soup and salad, vegetable and dessert of cakes and
puddings.
We were aboard the ship Antarctic Dream and they missed no
opportunity to entertain us including having an ornithologist, a biologist,
and a natural history expert aboard who would present photos and
dissertations each night at the recreation room.
We visited research stations on shore where we toured. One was
researching the thawing of the ice. Several countries maintain stations
there doing research.
Each day we would pass icebergs as we went further south until one day
we went as far south as the ship could go and we actually broke ice as
we went.
There were magic vistas of glaciers looming out of the mist as we
entered sheltered bays where we would board the inflatable and slip
through the chunks of ice to reach the shore.
On the day of boarding the ship, we met in a hotel staging area and we
handed in our luggage which went on ahead to our rooms. We went by
bus to the docks and right to the ship boarding area where we picked up
our key and deposited our passport for an inspection by Argentine
officials.
Underway by mid morning we headed out of the Beagle Channel and
past Cape Horn. During that night we entered the roughest seas in the
world, The Drake Passage. We were on our way to Antarctic but our
initiation would be a day and a night in the world's most violent ocean..
Huge swells rocked the ship for most of the night and through the next
day and I was beyond queasy. Finally in the mid day, we entered still
waters and the waves calmed and so did my stomach. We still had no
land in sight as we left the Drake Channel, just Albatross and sea birds
trailing the ship.
Antarctica
We would be three days on the ocean passage, a day and a half each
way, and then eight days in Antarctica, on the eleven-day trip. All this
time the passengers had total access to the ships engine room, bridge,
and kitchen, Tours were available most any time. The Captain was a
Nordic sailor, accustomed to cold weather sailing amidst icebergs, a
comforting thought.
Four of us received and an invitation to the Captain's table for dinner
and cocktails which included a speech by the captain and a crew
member.
During this speech they made it clear that we needed to be careful,
falling overboard would be fatal. We were not to harass the animals on
shore and they warned us to be cautious with the penguins; though
tame and unafraid of humans, their bite can be serious enough to
require stitches.
Each day I would rise before seven for coffee and then the crew would
serve a great breakfast of eggs and ham cheese coffee and tea. After
breakfast we would suit up and load a Zodiac inflatable that carried 15
and we would go ashore. Mostly we landed on shelf ice but occasionally
we would see rocks. Usually, however, we would see nothing but ice and
flocks of penguins. They would come leaping out of the water to waddle
over the ice or we would see seals in groups up on the ice. All the while
orcas would be cruising off shore looking for an easy penguin or seal
dinner.
While ashore we had to be cautious because winds would come up
unexpectedly and they would force you to your knees to avoid being
blown over. When this happened and we were near the shore, there
was danger that the wind would tumble us into the numbing sea.
We had a system of numbered tags that we would remove from a board
so that the crew knew when each passenger was back on the ship.
The crew served us lunch at noon and this included wine and cocktails
to accompany the gourmet meals with fresh rolls and fresh-baked
bread. The menu at times included exotics like llama and Emu along with
beef and shrimp, soup and salad, vegetable and dessert of cakes and
puddings.
We were aboard the ship Antarctic Dream and they missed no
opportunity to entertain us including having an ornithologist, a biologist,
and a natural history expert aboard who would present photos and
dissertations each night at the recreation room.
We visited research stations on shore where we toured. One was
researching the thawing of the ice. Several countries maintain stations
there doing research.
Each day we would pass icebergs as we went further south until one day
we went as far south as the ship could go and we actually broke ice as
we went.
There were magic vistas of glaciers looming out of the mist as we
entered sheltered bays where we would board the inflatable and slip
through the chunks of ice to reach the shore.
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www.softSeatTravel.com
david@SoftseatTravel.com
david@SoftseatTravel.com
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