1-11-20 - Welcome to the Antartica Peninsula!
/We are woken by the now familiar Austrian accented voice of Michael wishing us a beautiful good morning and letting us know that breakfast will be served in 15 minutes. He also adds his usual reminders to use the hand sanitizer and no rubber boots in the dining hall.
Kyle rolls out of bed and pulls the room darkening shade up. “Holy crap!” he exclaims, “Leanne get up, get up, you to see this.” Leanne groans and pulls the pillow over her head saying, “I don’t see anything.” We have finally reached the Antarctic Peninsula on the mainland continent. The scene is a winter wonderland. The water is a deep blue-black color with icebergs ranging from small blocks to massive giant floating platforms decorate the water as far as the eye can see. Majestic snow covered mountains and massive ice glaciers rise out from the water towering above the anchored ship and creating perfect reflections on the water below.
Kyle stands on the balcony with his jaw dropped open. There are penguins swimming in the harbor and seals lounging on icebergs. Kyle has already hit 100 pictures and breakfast hasn’t even started yet. We excitedly rush through breakfast and don our Antarctic gear ready to get out on the Zodiac and enjoy the phenomenal natural beauty up close.
We are all set to cruise first and we go out on the Zodiac with Meike, who is a bird and penguin researcher specialist, at the helm. She is incredibly knowledgeable about a wide range of Antarctic related topics and we pick her brain peppering her with questions. We see two more species of seals – the Crab-eater seal and the Waddell seal. Justin jokingly asks what the Crab-eater seal eats but we are surprised to learn that they actually don’t eat crabs despite their name. We guess the guy who named the seal was a little confused. The Waddell seal is named after the Waddell Sea in Antarctica by someone less confused.
We have just started to do a 3 minute session of silence with no talking, no pictures, no boat motor – just sitting and appreciating the natural beauty. About 15 seconds in, Meike’s hand-held crackles and another guide comes through saying they have spotted a Meineke Whale near us. So much for the silence drill as we fire up the outboard motor and race off in search of the elusive Meineke whale.
We arrive in the area and sure enough, we see the whale’s backside and fin glide gracefully over the water on the way down for a dive. Check the Meineke whale box on the list of wildlife we’ve seen. We eventually do complete the 3 minutes of silence to take in this magical world around us.
We land on Orne Harbor and the landing guide asks if this is the 7th continent for anyone in the Zodiac boat. Leanne and Kyle raise their hands as they went to Africa twenty years ago. For the kids, this is our 6th continent on the trip so they will have to wait until Africa in March before they can claim all 7 continents. We start off on our snow hike and unlike the Shetland Islands, this is a real snow trek as the landscape around us is a blanket of white. When we get to the top of the mountain, we are rewarded with spectacular views of the harbor from above.
The group of Dutch people in their 20’s come up and ask John if he can sing a song. Given that the formal concert was on the boat in Antarctic waters, John delights the group by singing of his favorite Italian aria so there can be absolutely no doubt that he has performed for the group on the actual continent of Antarctica itself.
At the top, there is a massive penguin colony. Leanne and a couple other people are trying to get their best penguin pictures. There is a red X made by two red poles sticking in the ground which means you can’t go past it. Leanne and other two people are maybe 12 inches past the red X. Out of nowhere, the Viking Overlord appears yelling, “what’s wrong with you people? Did you somehow forget what the red X means? Get back! Get back!” Everyone steps back and scatters fleeing the wrath of the Overlord.
After our quick trip back to the boat for lunch and rest, we are back out landing on Orne Island. There is a pretty lengthy hike setup by the guides. Kyle is happy for this as he needs to get any prep work he can for the upcoming Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu. The sun is shining, the sky is blue with puffy white clouds, penguins abound and the pictures are some of the best we’ve ever taken.
For the Zodiac cruises, it’s kind of luck of the draw which guide is driving the Zodiac that pulls up when it’s your turn to get in. The only exception is if you’ve pre-arranged to go out with Sarah and Morgan, the acoustic scientists, ahead of time. We had such a great time yesterday; Justin has pre-arranged to go out again on their Zodiac. Well, it’s a good thing because when it gets to our turn, we would have been on the Viking Overlord’s Zodiac. We politely say that we’ve arranged to go out with Sarah and Morgan and step aside. The couple behind us realize that makes them next in line for his Zodiac and the wife goes nuts, “No. Absolutely Not. I’m not getting in a boat for an hour and half with him. I’d rather swim back to the ship.” Wow, apparently we aren’t the only ones that haven’t quite takin a likin to the Overlord.
We pile into Sarah and Morgan’s Zodiac for the afternoon ride. There are no Chinstrap penguins in the area so this time we are out to record whale communications. If we can find any whales that is. We cruise around for about 15 minutes and bam! There they are – a pod of humpback whales. The hydrophone goes down under the water and starts recording. The whales dive deep down in the water so we really don’t know where they are going to come up a couple minutes later.
When the whale surfaces, it is only about 20 meters away from us. The whale blows water out the blowhole and turns direction pointing right at our Zodiac and starts cruising towards us. Oh crap, this looks like something out of a Jaws movie but luckily the whale dives down under the water when he is still about 10 meters away. We hold our collective breaths as we look down and can see the humpback whale swimming right under the boat above 2 meters below us. Humpback whales are very large marine mammals about ~15 meters long (~50 feet). All it would take is a little flip of his tail and our little Zodiac boat would be flying through the air scattering us in all directions into the frozen Antarctic waters.
Fortunately, we are spared that fate and continue to observe the pod of whales diving down and coming back up although none got as close as the first one. After an hour, we move on from the whales. Sarah points out the dreaded Leopard seal napping on an iceberg. The Leopard seal is the most vicious type of seal as it will eat penguins and even other seals. “Isn’t that the one that chew a hole in the Zodiac boat?” Kyle inquires. “Yes, absolutely,” Morgan says as if the prospect of that was no more frightening than taking a selfie with the seal from the boat. “Let’s not wake him up, shall we?” says Kyle.
Back on the boat, we change into our warm and toasty clothes and head down for the daily recap. Neil, the photographer, is showing a few of his best pictures from the day and man are they incredible. The Viking Overlord reads the questions from the question box but apparently he has wised up and pre-filtered out the joke questions ahead of time. Martin flashes up the wind and weather map. By now we have learned that blue is good and red is bad, very bad. We hold our breathe and then breather a big sigh of relief when the map shows almost all blue and Martin tells us that it looks to be another incredible weather day tomorrow.
The mini-lecture during the recap is Monica educating us on lichens, an invasive species of tree moss. Kyle tells us that it is a little hard for him to get as excited as Monica about the evil tree fuzz. Fortunately, it is only 15 minutes. We are dismissed for dinner and as everyone is rushing to go down the flight of stairs to get their tables, our kids are already inside seated at one of only four tables that can fit us all. They have mastered the art of detecting when the daily recap is about to end and slip out early and are the first ones in the dining room.
We have just ordered when Martin comes on the loudspeaker informing us there is a pod of Orca killer whales right next to the boat. We were warned earlier in the trip that seeing Orcas is very rare and not to expect any sightings. So this announcement causes mass chaos as everyone sprints to get out of the dining room and to their room to retrieve their gigantic cameras and winter coats. Tables are being knocked over, glasses are flying and people are being mashed up against the wall as 200 people are trying to get through the dining room exit door that is about 3 feet wide. We eventually make it out, get our coat and go outside.
We can’t believe our luck. Not only do we see the Orca whales but they are literally right next to the boat. Justin gets an incredible video of a mother and baby cresting out of the water, firing water out of their blow holes at the same time. It feels like you can practically touch them from the side of the boat. After we have gotten our pictures and the Orcas have swum off, we return to dinner. Dinner is a four course plated service so the Orca disruption has wreaked havoc on the kitchen operations as everyone seems to be coming back at different times and the staff doesn’t know which course to serve which person.
After half an hour of conversation, things are settling down in the dining room and wait staff seems to have recovered. No sooner than that, Martin comes on the loudspeaker again, “you’re not going to believe this, but there is another but different pod of Orca whales close to the ship.” That’s all it took and the mass chaos is repeated all over again. An audible groan can be heard coming from Michael, the hotel manager, from the kitchen. We all repeat the drill and return to the dining room.
The past two days have been so awe-inspiring and magical that Kyle is insisting he is going to move to Antarctica. “Dad, there aren’t any permanent inhabitants allowed in Antarctica,” Justin says. “I’m going to find an ice cave, plant a flag, issue a postage stamps and lay claim to the ice cave,” Kyle explains. “Dad, no one is allowed to claim Antarctica under the Antarctica Treaty,” Justin responds. “Well, the treaty says no country can lay claim to Antarctica, but I don’t think it specifically forbids individuals from laying claim to an ice cave.”
“Ok, so who’s moving to Antarctica with me?” Kyle asks the group. “Oh man, just me? I’m going to be pretty lonely down here.” “Well, maybe we could come down and spend the summers with you,” Justin and Corey offer. Kyle will take it recognizing that’s probably the best he’s going to get when he moves here.
After dinner, we find Sarah and Morgan but are a little disappointed to learn that there were no whale communications recorded on the hydrophone during our afternoon encounters. Apparently, humpback whales are not the talkative types preferring the strong, silent approach instead. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.
