The trip is all about wandering around the white continent and cruising through the Chilean fjords. It is hard to describe this place in words but in one line I would say that whatever vague notion of heaven we have in our minds; Antarctica is as real as it can get. The Ship started sailing on 7th December 2016 from Punta Arenas and we were back to this port on 21st December.
The Antarctic Experience
Now comes the real part. While cruising through the fjords leaving Chile, you feel like you are inside the sets of Game of Thrones. You will be sailing through lush green mountains and crossing the lands beyond the seven kingdoms.
We had a stop at Port Williams which is considered to be the southernmost town of the world. Though there are two more claimants for this: Ushuaia and Punta Arenas. I guess they all have a different definition of city. We had the full day to explore this port town and the Omora National Park. This is home to the Yamana tribes and there are still roughly 100 pure blood Yamanas living on this port town. We had few lectures on them during our cruise.
Here are few shots from this place.
Cape Horn is the last piece of land that you will see before you reach Antarctica. It was customary for the ships going south to stop here and pray for a safe passage. They have even installed a life sized sculpture of an albatross. Their wingspan can grow as big as 4 meters. There is one house on that island where a navy officer stays with his family. He maintains the light house. You also get the option to put a full page cape horn stamp on your passport as a souvenir. It has no official meaning but good to have :).
Then comes the dreaded drake’s passage. In our case it was not as horrible as we had read online. It was bumpy for around 40 hours but nothing to make you sick. And you cross a lot of albatrosses during your voyage and they make sure that you have a safe passage through this fusion of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Here is one of the pics that we managed to capture.
And once you land in Antarctica, you quickly jump to the sets of star-wars. The ice is all around you.
I will split our Antarctic continent journey into different landing sites that we visited. The ship gets a good place to anchor itself and we use the zodiac boats to visit the landing site.
Half-Moon Island (62°35′24″S 59°54′36″W) – 12th December
This one of the outermost islands of Antarctic peninsula. You can see Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins, seals and some sea birds at this place. Temperature was close to 1 degree Celsius and you have to warm up as per the wind conditions. There are a lot of penguin colonies here and the horrible smell of their excretions will always tell you where they are.
Deception Island (62°58′37″S 60°39′00″W) – 13th December
The first ship that tried to land here just kept circling it and was not able to find the entry to this circular land. Hence the name deception island. It has an active volcano and all the land here is covered from the ashes of the eruptions. It gets extremely windy and the trek to the top is not as easy it seems. Not much wildlife here but you see a different face of the Antarctic landscape.
Neko Harbour (64°50′S 62°33′W) – 14th December
Now this one is on the mainland Antarctica. So it is our first step on the main Antarctic continent and in our minds we finally put a check on the 7th continent. We had an amazing cruise experience here followed by landing. Apart from the small land patches where the penguins make their nest out of stones, the land mass is completely covered in ice. The weather was amazing and we could let go of our heavy jackets on land. We got some of the best wild life shots at this place. A standard 18-55 mm lens may not be very helpful here and you need 200mm-300mm lens to get a close up shot of the seals/penguins.
Cuverville Island (64°41′S 62°38′W) – 15th December
This island is again dominated by the Gentoo penguin colonies. As you approach the island you can feel the horrible stench created by the penguins. The weather was not great and it started snowing as well. The only silver lining is that we managed to get some got shots through the snow :).
Damoy Point and Port Lockroy (64°49′S 63°29′W) – 16th December
Domoy point has couple of cabins where some explorers were residing decades back. You are allowed to get inside those and have a glimpse of the lifestyle that they we were having while stuck in Antarctica. Also land is not very hilly and the snow look like sand dunes on this island. It looks like a white desert. Again lot of Gentoo penguins and some super lazy seals. We waited a for a very long time for the seals to make some movement which we can capture but they are absolutely bored of humans and kept ignoring us.
Wilhelmina Bay (64°38′S 62°10′W) – 17th December
There were no plans for a landing here but the expedition team members found out some really good sea ice where we can walk around. These plates are a very integral part of the Antarctic eco system as it supports the seals as a resting place in their hunt for food. A lot of smaller organisms also depend on them for planktons. During our entire journey from the past few days we could spot a lot of humpback whales and once we got close to a pack of half a dozen of them. But this was our lucky day. One humback whale was feeding in that bay and it was very close to our zodiac. We had a good look at this majestic creature.
Conclusion
We started moving northwards through the drakes passage and finally crossed it on 19thmorning. Again apart from little uneasiness it was smooth for the most part. All thanks to the ship. We made quick halts at Cape Horn and Port Williams for operational reasons. This time the ship made some strategic halts on the beagle channel and we thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of Chilean fjords. We also made a quick cruising trip at Tucker Island and saw Megallanic Penguins and a lot of other local bird species. The trip was ending on 21st and the atmosphere was very gloomy on the ship. It was hard for everyone to leave this serene place and jump into the hustle bustles of our daily lives. It was not like any other vacations where there are threads tying you to the real word. Here you are lost in the sea and ice and living some of the best moments of your life. It is like waking up from a beautiful dream and you long to get back to it. May be not now. May be not in near future. But definitely someday we are going back :).