Antarctica Part II – The Tip of the Iceberg

18th February, 2023

Well, I left you in a bit of a hurry at the end of part 1 as the free Wi-Fi was always likely to be pulled and we were indeed living on borrowed generosity/forgetfulness as it disappeared soon thereafter.

So , we had just transitted the Neumayer Channel, but the day was not done yet, though our sojourn on the balcony sadly was. So we had to watch the Lemaire Channel drift past our window in our cabin, which was a shame as it is nicknamed Kodak Alley due to its photogenic qualities. That said, it was not all doom and gloom and I did manage to get a few decent photos, as below….

The Captain advised that we went as far south as a little more than 65 degrees, which makes you think a bit as to just how BIG Antarctica is since that means there are still 25 degrees to the South Pole from where we were. The Captain then turned around and we headed north up the Channel late at night but with enough light still for some dramatic scenes – just wish we could have been up on deck…..

19th February, 2023

Of course, the first thing we did upon waking up today was to carry out our lateral flow tests and hallelujah!! We are both negative!! So a quick call to the Medical Centre and we were then advised we were free to return to our cabin and your normal activities. Such a relief. Our biggest fear was that I might be negative, but Val positive and the whole process starts again.

One of the first things we did was to go out on deck. Pretty cold, not surprisingly, but bearable with the thermals on and the sights were well worth it. It was not as sunny as the previous day, but this was made up for by sightings of quite a lot of wildlife, especially whales, seals and penguins.

I have to admit I am a bit hazy right now about where we were on this particular day, but we were effectively steaming north along the Antarctic Peninsula. We seemed to do quite a bit of cruising in and out and through different bays and were joined by a couple of other cruise ships.

20th February, 2023

We woke up to a brilliantly sunny day, so it was out early to take some snaps of Elephant Island, so named as it looks like an elephant’s head when viewed from above (or on a map). This is probably most famous for being where Ernest Shackleton ended up with his research expedition between 1914 and 1917, before he and about 5 others sailed a lifeboat to South Georgia in the Falklands and returned with relief. Amazingly they all survived.

This is what Wikipedia has to say: “Endurance became beset—trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea—before it was able to reach Vahsel Bay. It drifted northward, held in the pack ice, throughout the Antarctic winter of 1915. Eventually the ice crushed the ship, and it sank, stranding its complement of 28 men on the ice. After months spent in makeshift camps as the ice continued its northwards drift, the party used lifeboats that had been salvaged from the ship to reach the inhospitable, uninhabited Elephant Island. Shackleton and five other members of the group then made an 800-mile (1,300 km) open-boat journey in the James Caird, and were able to reach South Georgia. From there, Shackleton was eventually able to arrange a rescue of the men who had remained on Elephant Island and to bring them home without loss of life. The remarkably preserved wreck of Endurance was found on the seafloor in 2022.”

This would be the last we see of Antarctica and it was a wonderful send-off. It has been the highlight of the trip so far and other than Covid and our isolation, we have been very lucky with the weather and sailing conditions, which, as you can imagine, can be extremely variable.

I thought some photos of a map of Antarctica might be useful, but I suggest you look at one on line when you get the chance!! And just for a bit of background, here is something I found online:

“Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest and brightest of the seven continents. It is roughly the size of the United States and Mexico combined and is almost completely covered by a layer of ice that averages more than one mile in thickness, but is nearly three miles thick in places.”

We are now heading north for the Falkland Islands. I have just listened to a very good and amusing talk by Simon Weston, who was famously so badly burned in the Falklands War.

Other than that, the good news is that Val has tested negative 3 times for Covid, so is now in the clear. Unfortunately I have developed horrendous sinusitis which I now need treating, so it is back to the Medical Centre. We have now arrived at Port Stanley, but I am determined to go ashore, not least to get a haircut!! Hopefully there will be an accommodating cafe with strong Wi-Fi so I can publish this post.

Latest update – there was Wi-Fi (you have to pay for it), but as it took about 5 minutes to upload each photo, I gave up and will try again in Montevideo.