11/19: Tobogganing in the Antarctic on our Bums!

Steven loves nothing more than to sleep in, so having to be up at 6 for breakfast at 6:30 to leave at 8 for our first landing on the Antarctica continent was not his favorite thing to do!  We were surprised to see it had snowed quite a bit overnight and there was a lot more ice than just the night before. We thought the snow might cause our landing to be cancelled but we were just advised to dress warmly. Fortunately the winds weren't an issue as the maximum speed had to be less than 30 mph for the boatmen to safely navigate the zodiacs for any cruise or landing.

The last thing everyone had to do each time there was a landing on shore was to walk through this special solution and scrubbers to make sure we didn't transport anything from the ship that could contaminate any animals or the environment. We repeated the process after we returned each time, too.

Once our zodiac driver managed to maneuver us through all the mini icebergs and near the landing site, we were so lucky spotting a leopard seal cavorting close by in the shallow water. What a hoot it was watching him go around and around our zodiac for several minutes. It seemed like he was enjoying himself as much as we were!

This was way better than being at Sea World!

Neko Harbor was a small bay on the west coast of Graham Land. It was first seen and roughly charted by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition which took place from 1897-99. It was named after the floating factory ship, Neko, which operated in the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula from 1911-1924.

If you think I had gotten tired of seeing even more Gentoo penguins, you couldn't be more mistaken. Their allure was as strong as if I were seeing for the first time. For Steven, not so much!

Once again, I have some adorable videos of penguins that are so much better to view than static shots. Am delighted to share them if anyone knows how!

This penguin was trying to cool off by opening his arms wide like that, we had learned a few days previously! If he'd been cold, he'd tuck his arms in. Everyone had to stand still to allow the penguin pass in front of us and to stay a minimum of five meters away from them to give them their space.

Odd for us seeing this behavior but normal for penguins to be all lined up like that, one after the other.

See the 'ruts' in the snow hill? The official term is a penguin highway as the animals are creatures of habit and follow each other up a hill!

This was the 'human highway'! We thought it was going to be awfully chilly but, after climbing the steep hill for a while, I was ready to get rid of a couple of layers and my hat and gloves as the sun had come out and we were working hard climbing the hill.

Taking a breather, we looked down the hill and admired the penguins at a distance and then zooming in on my phone for a close up photo.

Some people had brought trekking poles with them which would have made it a lot easier trying to get traction on the thin layer of snow above the ice! Our knee-high rubber boots that had been supplied by the ship weren’t the best thing for climbing in the snow, I soon discovered, as I found myself on my derriere more than once!

The black dots were some of the 90,000 Gentoo penguins on the island!

These two brothers served in the same Army unit in Afghanistan as did their father. They started in 2002 and were involved in multiple operations until 2016. They had come on the trip without their spouses. I wonder how many other places they've taken their flag to.

Steven and I kept saying how incredible the views were and how lucky we were to experience being on the continent. A number of times we heard tremendous booms which were probably a result of calving or when huge blocks of ice fell off this glacier.

Pablo, the crew expedition leader, said if we wanted, we could slide down the hill which had taken so much time to climb. We needed no more incentive than that to get to the bottom!

Thank God no one was filming my ungainly and embarrassing slide down the hill as I ended up at the bottom totally turned around with my feet pointed back up the hill!

What a perfect shot for a Christmas card if we had time to send any out to family and friends after we get home to Denver in a few days! 

Jo, a  fellow Coloradan and an adventurer like no one we've met before! She traveled down to Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America and booked passage on the ship Ushuaia just two days before it sailed. She'd just hiked the famous 'W' trek in Patagonia and recently cycled around Taiwan. After the Antarctica trip was over, Steven and I were hiking in Patagonia and would be traveling around Taiwan as part of an extended trip next spring to Asia but on a bus, not on a bike like Jo! We hope to see a lot more of her in between her busy outdoor activities.

The preceding glacier close up in all its magnificent glory!

With the sun out, it was not only the most gorgeous sight imaginable but quite warm to boot. For some, a hot rum toddy would have been the perfect accompaniment - give me hot tea anytime!

But when the wind picked up, it was another matter altogether and we couldn't put on our gloves, hats, etc fast enough.

This lone penguin had gotten well away from the madding crowd of 90,000 fellow penguins!

Some of the penguins got really close to us at Neko Harbor even though we had been advised to be a minimum of five meters or fifteen feet away from them. Look at the penguin doing a belly flop in the snow in one of the photos.

Getting ready to dive right in! 

There was far more ice floating in the water by the landing site mid-morning than when we’d arrived there about two hours previously. That was why Pablo got quite concerned and said we needed to leave immediately on the zodiacs to return to the ship. 

A final look back at the glacier we'd been so close to for the entire landing at Neko Harbor:

As we neared the ship, I could smell something delicious cooking in the huge grill on deck. Turns out we had an Antarctica BBQ for lunch comprised of ribs, chicken thighs, bratwurst and blood sausages – good but heavy compared to my usual peanut butter sandwich back home!

After lunch, we sailed to Portal Point located in Reclus Peninsula in the glorious sunshine with nary a cloud in the sky. 

Around 4, we made our second landing of the day on the continent. It was a bone chilling, ten-minute ride in the zodiac to the rocky landing site because of the strong winds. 

Carolyn, an older woman who made the trip by herself, kindly lent me her trekking poles as she decided, after having undergone knee surgery five months earlier, ascending another steep hill wasn’t the smartest move for her after all and returned to the ship. 

The crew had said there wouldn’t be any animals on the point but we were greeted by one lone penguin on the rocks!

The trekking poles made all the difference to me as I’d struggled so much this morning at Neko Harbor on that steep slope. Thank you again, Carolyn!

More incredible icebergs, one after another, came into view after ascending the hill. The snow was so pristine, we had to be the first ones on this glacier this season. 

On some of the shore excursions including this one, the staff had put up poles indicating it wasn't safe to go beyond.

One of the crew said this was a dome glacier because it formed a ‘dome’ over the land. Unlike at Neko Harbor, there was no ice in the water this afternoon which made it so much safer for the zodiacs to land.

We decided to huff and puff our way to the top of the opposite hill rather than returning to the shore and then the ship right away since this would be our last landing on the continent. After reaching the top of the second hill, we sat on our bums taking in the spellbinding views all around us. 

The top was very narrow so one of the crew members made sure nobody got too close to the edge in case a huge chunk of snow gave way to the rocks below. 

The landing spot:

On our way back to the ship, we both kept saying it'd been another fabulous day with exciting activities in one of the most beautiful places on earth with people we'd so enjoyed meeting and getting to know. 'Life doesn't get better than this' as has become our usual refrain when we're having an  especially remarkable time.

During the evening recap, Pablo said we’d enter Deception Island through a gap 1300 feet wide in the caldera wall known as Neptune’s Bellows so named because of the violent winds that sometimes blow across the mouth of the entrance. I wasn't sure if he were joking when we said that if people weren’t there on the bridge, crew would come and wake everybody up! 

We hoped to be at Whalers Bay on Deception Island where one of the crew members did her PhD at 9. We'd enter an active volcano but fortunately, it hadn’t erupted in a long time! In small guided groups we'd  see the remnants of the Norwegian research buildings. As they’re crumbling and filled with asbestos, it won’t be safe to enter them.

There would be a polar plunge for those brave enough to jump in the crystal-clear Antarctic water water where the temperature would be about 32 degrees. Those who said yes, needed to seek therapy when they go home, Pablo said with a smile. The doctor would be there in case of an emergency. The !

In the afternoon around 3, we hoped to visit Halfmoon Island, our last chance to visit Chinstrap penguins, to step foot on Antarctica and also our last landing. Then we’d begin the long trip back via the Drake Passage. Pablo anticipated it would be a lot rougher than the trip to the Shetland Islands so we’d have to tie everything down in the cabins and be extra cautious when moving about the ship. 

Next post: Think I covered that just above!

Posted on December 15th, 2019, on our last night in Paraguay in its capital city of Asuncion before flying in the morning to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and one step closer to home.