Antarctica, Days 2&3

The below post was written on Day 4.

Antarctica, Days 2&3

Right now, our ship is half way through the Drake passage, I find myself sitting at the foot of the bed, cross-legged, facing the window which orients to the bow (front) of the ship. Directly above our room is the bridge, the control center of the ship. It’s nearly 9pm, still light out, Obi is laying in the bed next to me suffering through motion sickness. The past two days have been wild. Technically we are ending day 3 of the trip – and we haven’t even gotten to Antarctica yet! Yesterday our ship had been scheduled to depart Ushuaia at 3pm – we did not disembark until 1:00 am. As mentioned in my first entry the Ocean Endeavor, retuning from it’s previous trip was unable to port due to high wind speeds. At the time of my earlier entry no one knew just how long the delay would be or what it would mean. Wind gusts above 30 knots per hour prevents a boat of this size to safely maneuver turning and essentially “parallel park” at the peer. As a result the passengers from the previous trip could see the port all day long and could watch all their plans taking off from the local airport on which they should have been boarded – because of wind. Weather is king here in Antarctica, weather is king. For those of us who were scheduled to start our tour, we could see the boat at sea and were left with much anticipation as we watched it come close then turn around again. Intrepid, the tour company told us to come later to the meeting point, but after witnessing another failed attempt from the boat our disembarkation was delayed even further. A group of us decided instead of waiting on the bus or in the cold for a few hours, hitched a table at a local bar and some folks ordered drinks. We could see the boat at sea and kept close watch. The suspense was intense, for the last two days we’ve been sharing stories and hearing tales from the guides about how amazing Antarctica is which felt like such a tease – given we couldn’t even get on the boat. Therefore, when the boat attempted once again to park – and it was successful – we cheered and ran to the port. As you would expect though, the previous passengers needed to get off and the boat needed to be cleaned and re-stocked for us. In addition to tons of supplies like food, etc. to be loaded. So…again, more waiting and anticipation building. Shortly before 11 pm our buses we driven down the peer and we were permitted to get on board! Our passports were handed in and we were shuttled into a lounge area for a very quick safety briefing. We needed to understand what we should do if the alarms rang. We learned that if we hear seven short alarms and one long – it means get dressed as warm as possible, take medication and go to our assigned “muster” station. This is the meet up point at which we would be likely getting life vests and possibly boarding lifeboats. If the alarm rings and never stops – this means “abandon ship.” It felt so real (and yet impossible) to imagine an actual scenario in which we would needed to abandon ship. However, until we woke up to the turbulence of the Drake passage this morning my thoughts were only thoughts – suddenly I had crystal clear picture of why those drills were essential!

I understand this entry may feel like I am bouncing around…but like I said, these past few days have been wild so capturing it all is difficult. I do want to rewind a moment though and share that yesterday (before boarding the boat), given we had the whole day to use Obi and I joined with two other expedition travelers, and decided to hike to the base of a glacier located directly behind the hotel. This Franimal was not about to lazy around for hours, playing the waiting game. Obi and I bundled up and needed to plan carefully because our luggage was already turned in by 9 am to be loaded and delivered to our ship-rooms. Despite the weather factors, high winds (yes), snow (yes) and possible rain we ventured onward. The four of us stuck together for about 30 minutes until one of our new friends needed a rest. Given how cold Obi was, we kept onward so that he would not freeze more. His abundant sweat makes him cold fast. So we carried on – and got closer and closer. However, the closer we got, the higher we climbed so the wind carried snow flurries from the top and left large deep piles of snow along the trails which covered up the underneath ice. We both looked at each other at one point, and commented on how insignificant we felt in the presence of such grandeur and rugged land. It felt easy to feel meek and helpless. The brown rock looming overhead capped with snow peered down upon our soft bodies. We (I) was not ready to give up and even though the trail was steep at points with weather factors one could not ignore, onward we pressed. I was totally surprised by Obi’s willingness to follow me as I made comments like, “okay, let’s just see what’s behind that turn,” or “one more section then we can stop.” You see, I did not know when the trail would end, therefore it was hard to accept turning around sooner because would if the end was just around the next bend. HAHAHA – and sure enough – at one point, there it was, a metal broken sing which said, “end of trail.” We did it! We hiked into the glacier and reached the end. Feeling accomplished (our friends turned back a while ago as we met up with them again at the hotel). We snapped a few pictures and made our way back. At the hotel a fire was lit which allowed us to display our wet clothes and shoes nearby to dry out (I kept feeding the fire to keep is strong). After about 3 hours of sitting and relaxing our gear was dry again! At this point in the day we called for a car service (used Uber) and made our way into town for some window shopping, a snack and to meet the rest of the tour group.

So back to where I started – on the boat. As I said, when we left Ushuaia it was just after 1 am. Before hitting the Drake passage you travel through what is called the Beagle Channel. This is a four hour journey on smooth water then the open sea. We woke up at 6 am – to the motion of the ocean. Heavy dips and plunges, a strong back and forth rock and the sounds of crashing waves at the bow. Clearly we slept through the calm waters of the Beagle Channel and upon reaching the open moody sea we were alert. Drifting in and out sleep felt like a chore – needless to say we were disoriented having only slept about 4 hours and now needing to contend with motion sickness. For those of you who have seen the movie Triangle of Sadness (highly recommended) the scene on our boat was not as terrible as the food poisoning horrors in the movie – but as I looked around during the first two hours of the trip I saw many people curled up in corners vomiting in small bags, heads down with their eyes closed, or simply green. Obi sadly got hit hard with motion sickness. He woke up with his body shaking, and began sweating – this lasted about two about two hours. He had the worst of these symptoms in the morning when we had to practice our “abandon ship” drill. Outside we went to the lifeboats and waited until role call was complete. Obi (along with many other passengers yesterday) felt nauseous all day and simply wanted to curl up in bed to sleep it off. I on the other hand – really felt fine. Both Obi and I took the same medication, Bonine and I guess it did the trick for me. It took me a moment to adjust to the movement of the boat and the 3 meter swells (these are small) which rock the ship from side to side. You know that feeling you have in an elevator – feeling heavy just after “lift off” and then feeling weightless, like you can levitate, just before you “land” (or reach your floor) – those sensations are what the ups and downs of the ocean swells feel like. So walking in a straight line is impossible even for a person with strong sea legs. Everyone looks drunk.

Apparently when the Drake passage is calm, it’s called the “Drake Lake.” While our first day on the Drake was no lake – by the second day, it smoothed out. I have yet to write about today, the second day of the passage – but when I do, I am hoping to possibly share some pictures in my next post – crossing my fingers I can load them (if not the album will be shared when I return home).  

Before I close out the posts most of the first day on the Drake was heavily scheduled. We had many mandatory meetings to attend which included a full safety briefing, the IAATO declaration and explication and gear bio-cleaning. There were also talks about sea birds and citizen science which we will be taking part in. I am learning a lot, though some of the information I was most interested in was the bio-cleaning – first we heard from a scientist on the trip collecting data about the unfortunate and highly dangerous spread of Avian Flu H5N1. This is a high pathogen virus which has recently been recorded in Antarctica. As a result, every single thing we bring off the boat (that will touch the ground or be exposed like outer layers) needed to be inspected and “cleaned.” Some of the included brushing the velcro at the bottom of rain pants or vacuuming out camera bags. Other clearing methods were dipping walking sticks or tri – pods which touch the ground in a specialized disinfectant. This liquid will also be something we step through before getting onto the zodiacs. This adventure is not a cruise – it’s formally called an Expedition which as I have learned means we can be flexible about what we see, where we go (within reason) and are expected to really learn and get to know the land we are visiting.

Between meetings I ventured outside (and dragged Obi, even though he was not so keen). The air is cold and crisp – it slices into every little crevice in your clothes. When the sun is shinning down, the difference is highly noticeable. The air tastes cold. The waves are emotional. It almost appears as if they are fighting against each other or working collectively to keep us out. The boat has huge engines which turn up the water in the back, creating a light blue icy effect but when this water settles the dark grey color sets back in. At times the waves crest up and white bubbles form which disappear immediately. These bubbles can trick you as they almost appear from the corner of your eye like a whale in the water. However one of the best parts of today was seeing my firs humpback whale – from the window in my room! As I chatted with Obi I saw a spray come up and a moment later a second spray and the crest of the whales back just surfaced enough for me to see the dorsal fin. This is one of the first ways you can ID the whale. I compared it with the chart on Deck 6 and – matched it with the humpback – WOW – my first Antarctica whale spotting. Whales are common here during this time of the year as they are on their migratory journey and specifically here, hunting and eating tons of krill. Knowing that just under the surface of these waters are whales makes being here feel like a dream. I know we will see many more.  

The journey thus far has felt surreal – with only the sea to see (and the whale I spotted) thus far – I know this experience has yet to blow me away.

To come, second day of the Drake and our first Zodiac outing. And hopefully some photos.