March 04, 2009
Penguin Poop Party
On this 8 night, 7 day cruise roundtrip from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula, we spent just 3 and ½ days making landings via polar cirkel boats, which is something like a zodiac. During that short time we made 7 landings. The highlight was seeing three different types of Penguins.
I’ll first tell you what we didn’t see, those Emperor Penquins made famous on the silver screen. They live way to the south on the continent and not many cruises go there.
We also didn’t see the large King Penguins who hang out on South Georgia Island. We did see three that are part of the Brush-tailed family: the Chinstraps, named so because of a black line curving along their neckline giving them a permanent smile, the Gentoo penguins that have an orange beak and finally the Adelie’s, which have black heads and bodies with white rings around their eyes.
Our guides demanded that we keep 15 feet away from the penguins, but the penguins obviously didn’t get the memo because it was okay for them to approach us.
What a thrill to have a probing penguin peck at your pants leg. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that you get kind of attached to the creatures with their comic little waddles and insistent squawks. We were especially lucky to see baby chicks this late in the season.
They are all so cute, but there’s a distinct odor that’s hard to stomach and takes a long time to leave you.
The penguins we saw eat krill and small fish, and their main predator is the Leopard Seal. On a visit to Petermann Island, in a 4 and 1/2 hour period we saw one make a meal out of 7 Gentoo penguins. The unsuspecting young penguins were bathing and playing in a shallow bay and were taken by surprise, because they hadn't yet developed a fear of their killer.
A fellow passenger, Daniel Blundell from the British Lake Country, captured an amazing photo that puts nature and the food chain in perspective.
March 03, 2009
Expedition Chic
Here it is early March and it’s colder and there’s more snow in New York City than Antarctica.
It’s the end of the summer cruise season in Antarctica and our weather has been very mild, averaging between freezing and the mid- 40’s.
We had picture perfect sunny skies for some of the landings we made except for a couple of overcast days.
It hasn’t been too windy and just one morning we experienced some sleet like tiny balls of Styrofoam.
I packed lots of layers and was prepared for very cold weather. Luckily I didn’t have to wear any of my trusty ski gear that I brought along “just in case” such as goggles, neck warmer and hats with ear flaps.
Even though the ship gave each passenger a windbreaker, I opted to wear my own north face ski jacket, which at times was a bit much for the conditions, but I prefer to be warm instead of cold. The one time I left it off and just wore layers, I got so chilled I couldn’t hold my video camera steady.
Dress onboard the mv Fram is “expedition chic,” which can mean your best fleece, Ugg boots and jeans.
One British passenger, a fashionable Doctor, remarked that everything was “Sex and the City” about me except my clothes.
Sorry Sarah Jessica, left my Manolos at home.
March 02, 2009
Hi From Antarctica—9 months later
If you think the U.S. postal service is slow, consider this.
The recipients of postcards mailed by passengers on March 1st from the MV Fram won’t receive them until December!!
The British ship that was supposed to pick up mail from the “post office”
at Port Lockroy, a British base, arrived a week earlier than expected so passengers on our ship missed the boat so to speak.
Our crew members in charge of the mail run didn’t learn about the foul up until they dragged a mail sack with hundreds of cards off our ship with the intention of mailing them there. It’s a routine they follow every sailing, but since the season is winding down, there are no more ships to move them out to a British territory for processing. The cards carry stamps that are issued from the British Antarctica Territory, and carry a really cool postmark so we couldn’t take the mail with us, because we are heading to Ushuaia, Argentina.
So, Merry Christmas Mom, from Antarctica!
Snow Down Under (Wear)
So I’m back blogging, crossing the Drake Passage on the much more gentle return trip after three and a half days of landings on the islands surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula and one stop smack dab on the continent, so its official! I’ve visited all seven continents and marked that milestone sliding down a snowy slope on my butt from a mountainside overlooking Neko harbour and a bay full of icebergs. All the passengers on board the mv Fram,—predominently a mix of Americans, Germans, and Brits, with a smattering of other nationalities, were invited to climb up a steep incline to encounter icy paths from the top formed by several international behinds before me. From this vantage point it was an amazing view overlooking an active glacier with its thundering booms sounding moments after chunks of ice fell into the water, making ripples all the way to the Gentoo penguin rookery on the shoreline.
For me, that celebratory descent was a perfect way to mark my milestone, with snow down my pants, up my back and in my boots, but not for my traveling companion, Christopher Mullen, Graphics Designer from NY1 News. Chris felt that he needed something quite a bit more adventurous. He actually stripped down to his lycra shorts and with some other passengers ran into the 32 degree water, submerged themselves up to their necks for a quick second and ran back onto the shore to retrieve their towels and bragging rights.
