poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 68°14.2' S 5°28.4' W
  • Course 85°; Speed 3-10 kts
  • Air temperature 4°C; Wind 15 kts; Direction 110°
  • Weather: Snow, cloudy; Visibility 1-4
  • Ice Cover: 10/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 209.5 nautical miles

The expedition leader's morning announcement tells us cheerily that we're 500 nm from the next penguin colony (on the continent). Very funny! The pace of life on the ship has shifted noticeably; people are lying in, skipping breakfast. Delicious pastries in greater variety but smaller sizes appear. After breakfast I sit talking for an hour with a couple of passengers, then go to the geology talk on patterned soils and periglacial environments; tag and sort photos after that; then a half-hour "Russian lesson" with Kara (who also has Czech!) and then go up to the bar, meet M, and buy her a bloody mary. Debbie the bartender decides to finish off a bottle of vodka on us and we end up with about twice the regulation quantity in each glass. Um. Unfortunately no steak for lunch: chicken bouillon, chili con carne (thoughtfully small serving) with a few corn chips. Again less than full dining area, people skipping meals to regulate food intake.

GPS track becoming interestingly dendritic, as the ship has made several attempts to get S and post-lunch is going more E to ESE. Not sure where or how we can come toward land in such heavy, heavy ice as this. The 209.5 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours have included much backtracking, so we've not made much progress.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 69°55.1' S 9°50.6' W
  • Course 180°; Speed 0.5-7 kts
  • Air temperature 8°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 320°
  • Weather: Sunny; Visibility 10
  • Ice Cover: 10/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 204.1 nautical miles

I think I have not remarked on the light: it is light all the time. There is a period around 1:00 am (we are currently in GMT) when the sky dims or gets rosy, but there is always light now. As it's been cloudy, it always looks like 17:00: teatime.

It is white outside, besides the light in the huge, uninterrupted sky. The ice the ship breaks isn't a single thickness; it varies, so the ship reacts a little — nothing one would even call a jolt, though — as it meets a plate. In open water, streamers of congealing grease ice form and eventually become "nilas", a wonderful word for young ice.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 67°12.8' S 12°27.0' W
  • Course 180°; Speed 6-12 kts
  • Air temperature 6°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 330°
  • Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 6
  • Ice Cover: 9/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 263 nautical miles

This morning at 8:30 the ship crosses the Antarctic circle, an imaginary waypoint toasted on the bow with hot chocolate well-fortified with good rum.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 63°30.0' S 13°31.0' W
  • Course 145°; Speed 12 kts
  • Air temperature 1°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 350°
  • Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 5
  • Ice Cover: 10/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 307 nautical miles

The at-sea routine can be very comfortable! Breakfast; tea made in Fram souvenir teapot; sat around long after (skipped emperor penguin colony lecture) with A from London, battling crochet and talking idly and listening to other idle talk.
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At Sea

Dec. 9th, 2007 08:00 pm
poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 60°17.0' S 20°49.9' W
  • Course 112°; Speed 11-15 kts
  • Air temperature 2°C; Wind 12 kts Direction 320°
  • Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 7
  • Ice Cover: 8/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 296.2 nautical miles

The first of a series of days at sea. I am confronted by things undone.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 58°41.5' S 27°27.5' W
  • Course 240°; Speed 14 kts
  • Air temperature 1°C; Water temperature 0°C
  • Wind 20 kts Direction 280°
  • Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 6
  • Ice Cover: Icebergs 5/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 170.9 nautical miles

For this morning's Zodiac outing I was ready right away and thus went on the first boat, which was captained by Jonas Wikander, the expedition leader for the cruise. Jonas has read and seen photos of recent volcanic activity on Montagu. Photos from last year (March 2006) show lava flowing beside a glacier on the north side of the island; where exactly this was, he doesn't know, but he very much wants to see lava and the passengers are all amenable to trying for that, too. The island isn't very big and we're on the lee side, so it could be just around the corner. So off he goes.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 56°27.0' S 27°14.6' W
  • Course 147°; Speed 15 kts
  • Air temperature 4°C; Water temperature 0°C
  • Wind 20 kts Direction 260°
  • Weather: Fine; Visibility 10
  • Ice Cover: Icebergs 6/10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 200.6 nautical miles

Yet another scatter of land in the middle of nothing, discovered by Cook. How did he do it? He missed the three Traversay Islands to the north, which were found by Bellingshausen.
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At Sea

Dec. 6th, 2007 08:00 pm
poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 55°51.2' S 31°03.4' W
  • Course 118°; Speed 9 kts
  • Air temperature 3°C; Water temperature 1°C
  • Wind 15 kts; Direction 150°
  • Weather: Fog, cloudy; Visibility 1-5
  • Ice Cover: -
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 219.5 nautical miles

More talks! An introduction to wildlife photography, life in a penguin colony, how to draw penguins (the trick is to get the penguin to lie on the paper so you can trace it), a "Blue Planet" episode, and expedition historian Bob Headland on "South Georgia: The events of 1982 (or, Galteiri: my part in his downfall)". It is all a bit overwhelming and leaves little time to read, write, think, or look through one's photos. Don't forget the demanding mealtimes schedule too!

Bob Headland was on South Georgia, a BAS staff member, when it was invaded, so his talk presented a firsthand perspective with dry humor. A tear of boffin pride must come to the eye of anyone hearing how a load of BAS scientists imprisoned in the hold of an Argentine ship collectively worked out that they were being taken to Tierra del Fuego by using a washer on a string (as a pendulum).
poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 54°16.1' S 36°27.3' W
  • Course 20°; Speed 11.3 kts
  • Air temperature 9°C; Water temperature 4°C
  • Wind 16 kts Direction 30°
  • Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 7
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 54 nautical miles

Grytviken is a layered place: the natural-history layer, the heinous industrial-slaughter-of-whales layer (ended in 1965), the equally sad industrial-slaughter-of-fur-seals layer, the exploratory layer, the scientific layer, the political-geographical layer (Falklands War, 1982). It's worth more than the three-hour visit we have.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
[Limited bandwidth telegraphic email update; full photo-riffic entries to follow in February sometime.]

At Grytviken this morning; would have been suitable for a whole day as a beautiful and historically interesting place with few irritable fur seals. This afternoon to a king penguin colony so huge and so densely populated that we stood on the outermost fringe, penguins for about a square mile. This evening short Zodiac ride to see macaroni penguins; there were only a few although they are said to be the most numerous penguins in South Georgia. Difficult to get to as they prefer rocky cliffs for nesting. Had hoped in fact to see miles of macaroni penguins also. Saw few chinstrap penguins too; much smaller than the others.

Sent many cards from South Georgia, next pickup listed as 'December'! Also bought things at shop benefiting S Georgia conservancy.

Tomorrow is day at sea; activities include "how to draw penguins." Trick is to get them to lie on a piece of paper in order to make an outline.
poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 54°02.3' S 37°20.1' W
  • At anchor
  • Air temperature 10°C; Water temperature 2°C
  • Wind 18 kts Direction 270°
  • Weather: Sunny; Visibility 10
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 248.9 nautical miles

Breakfast is at 06:30 this morning, rather than at 08:00; we have to be ready to get into the Zodiacs at 08:00. And we manage it, but we make very slow progress after that.

South Georgia's Salisbury Plain (I am looking forward to having some fun with Photoshop and penguins someday) is not only home to the second-largest king penguin colony on South Georgia, it is also the seasonal base of an uncountable number of bad-tempered fur seals.
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At sea

Dec. 3rd, 2007 08:00 pm
poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 53°12.1' S 44°02.9' W
  • Course 100°; Speed 11 kts
  • Air temperature 4°C; Water temperature 0°C
  • Wind 16 kts Direction 340°
  • Weather: Fog, Visibility 1-4
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 288 nautical miles

The great hope today is that we will see Shag Rocks, but the dense fog makes it unlikely that we will really want to do so as if we do get close enough to look at them it will probably be too late.

Another day of huge meals and lectures: three lecturers plus a briefing on South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
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At sea

Dec. 2nd, 2007 08:00 pm
poletopole: (Antarctica)
Ship's Position at 12:00:
  • 52°20' S 51°50' W
  • Course 100°; Speed 14.5 kts
  • Air temperature 11°C; Water temperature 6°C
  • Wind 14 kts Direction 270
  • Weather: Fog, Visibility 1-3
  • Distance covered past 24 hours: 227 nautical miles

Four lectures today: one on birds, one on photography, one on whales, and one on the "polar arts program". There is an artist-in-residence on board the ship.

The focus of the lectures is on South Georgia, as we arrive there on Tuesday.
The speakers are excellent and although I have plenty of things to occupy me I go to most of them.
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poletopole: (Antarctica)
Below is the planned (optimistic) itinerary from Quark Expeditions covering the next 5 weeks aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov on its east-to-west semi-circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent.



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poletopole: (Default)
I flew Ushuaia-Chile today, half an hour of gorgeous fjords viewed from above.

This morning as I was leaving Fram I heard about the MV Explorer. Everyone on Fram is shocked, as we had just been in the area two and three days previously. As you know.

We had passed Explorer about two days ago, on its way down to King George, and had just seen Nordnorge in dock (and in transit!).

You can be very very sure that the company is sweating lead bullets just now because if that ship goes down without being pumped clean, it's a very nasty environmental black mark...

Someday the IAATO is going to have to stop being voluntary and start imposing standards.


In the meantime, if you, kind reader, see anything else about this, or indeed about anything relevant or marginally so, could you please post it, or a link to it, here? I well know that current info will disappear in the swirling swill of Google irrelevance too soon, and I'm incommunicado for about six weeks soon. Thanks!

Or email me with full text & photos...etc....
poletopole: (Default)
We'll be going up the Beagle Channel and in Ushuaia in the morning. From there I fly to Punta Arenas; tomorrow I fly to Port Stanley. I'll be in the Falklands until 1 December, but I don't expect to have net access then... possibly not until 8 January, as on 1 December I'm boarding Kapitan Khlebnikov will be five weeks going halfway round Antarctica to Perth.


Here's a last penguin photo-fest: http://poletopole.livejournal.com/21090.html

Enjoy!
poletopole: (Default)
19 November 2007

DSC_2664 223993747



The ship arrived rather early in the morning at King George [III] Island in the South Shetland Islands, where a Polish research base, Arctowski, is located. It's staffed year round; a lot of research bases aren't. The staff are still having breakfast when Fram arrives. The tourists are told not to go over there until they're done.

In the afternoon, the ship moved to Half Moon Island. Photos from the two places might be mixed below.

DSC_2681 224326166


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trivia

Nov. 18th, 2007 06:26 pm
poletopole: (Default)
Today we are crossing the Drake Passage. The weather is good; the ship is of course moving which the interior decorators didn't anticipate terribly well so a few things are sliding around. I ask you: on a moving ship, are polished granite counters a good idea? I think not.

But this is in fact much calmer than the North Atlantic crossing was, and it's only one day. Tomorrow we arrive at King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands, and if conditions permit, we will go ashore to visit some penguins there (if the penguins are at home); and perhaps if there is time one may put one's nose into Arctowski Research Station.

Petrels and albatrosses coast on the draft behind the ship. It is too rough to get a decent photo of them. They appear to be enjoying themselves!

Someone has left a copy of Georgette Heyer's Venetia among the pile of Truly Worthless Mass-Market Paperbacks my fellow passengers have discarded. Do I want it?

Penguin-heavy 16 November entry posted!
poletopole: (Default)
Arrived in Punta Arenas, to all appearances a very pleasant town, but I had signed up for an early-departing excursion and had no time after for anything but the post office...

I hurried down the pier to the bus, which turned out to be two buses. Alas that I got on the nearer of the two, without checking for an empty seat on the other. My bus left 10 minutes late, as the tour guide held up a map and began lecturing us on Patagonian political geography and history, and then, after more than an hour of driving, got stuck in a muddy dirt road seven kilometers from the penguin sanctuary.

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