Captain’s Log: Day 5-7: Protection Point to Neko Harbor

March 18 – 20

I’m writing this on Day 9 & 10, March 22 & 23….yes, I’m way behind on the blog, but so much to do so little time. On Day 9, March 22 a huge storm hit the area….30-35ktG45 wind, seas in the 10-15′ range….whoa….we had a morning landing but had to be back by 11am as the storm was to hit at noon….and it did….the Captain is amazing how he can time things down to the hour….they do use Windyty, the same as we do on Mystic!! But this ship is amazing…very gentle motion, no sharp jerks!!! Anyway the ship headed to a safe haven in Brown Bluff on the northeast side of the Peninsula and well protected from the westerly storm…..more on that in the next blog or so!!

Whoa….busy, busy, busy….but wow, wow, wow!!! Typical day is up 6 – 6:30am, breakfast starts 7:00-7:30am, dress for outside adventures and get stuff together for first landing ~8:30 – 9:00 am which lasts 3-4 hours, lunch starts~12:00-12:30, 2nd landing starts 2:00-3:00pm and lasts 2-3 hours, cocktails at 6:30pm, postcap and precap briefing at 7:00pm and dinner at 7:30pm and back to room 8:30-9:00pm….but wait, there is a happy hour at 9:30…but no, we haven’t made that yet:))) And the landings are pretty physical….we are typically hiking 1.0-3.5 miles, climbing 300 – 500′ but at times pretty steep. Hiking over snow, occasional ice if the snow has blown off, sometimes solid rooks, maybe slippery, or very loose rocks. I’ve only fallen once and that is when a guy’s backpack caught me and knocked me off balance on loose rocks….yikes!!!

Weather: Well….one woman called it benign for Antarctica….hmmmm….as she said it there was a huge storm all around us but I think she was right for the first 8 days…..we had a bit of everything….sunny blue skies, partly sunny/cloudy, low clouds, snow et al…..but, no wind….all the landings were pleasant with no wind!!! Temperatures have been in the low to upper 30’s…quite pleasant….and in fact, I’ve started dressing a little lighter as the week progressed, but it can be a bit chilly on the zodiac cruises from sitting and the wind for 1-2 hours.

March 18, Day 5: Prospect Point: stunning….amazing tidal glaciers, fantastic icebergs along w/brash ice and the mountains in/out of the clouds were dramatic!! This was our official Continental landing…yea….WE DID IT!!!! We finished the passage after our overnighter from Horseshoe Island to Prospect Point in the am so we got to sleep in a bit and breakfast was at 8:00am. We had calm winds and a mild following sea and the ship was doing ~14kts. We had a lecture by Russell on Plankton….whoa, very interesting. Amazing to learn that 50% of the oxygen on earth comes from plankton and it is a huge source of food for most of the critters here in Antarctica…whales, seals, penguins…evidently krill is a type of plankton…who knew!!

The research hut is no longer there but we were treated to a wonderful short hike…saw a few Adelie Penguins and then went up to a small crevasse….very long but only 6′ deep. Evidently a woman on another ship had fallen in but not injured…whoa. We also saw a few Adelie penguins on land and some fur seals. We then did a long Zodiac cruise around Fish islands with Howard as our guide. We saw 1k+ Adelie penguins, these are the most southern penguins on the Peninsula, many crabeater and some fur seals and lots of gorgeous icebergs. Wait until I can post some pictures…it was Nat Geo beauty every shot…whoa!!! Then all of a sudden we heard a huge canon shot….we look towards it and see this 150-200′ tall, 300′ wide iceberg’s middle just collapse….it lasted 10-15 secs….I stood up to get a picture but had to sit right down as the 3-5′ wave hit us a few seconds later….and the waves kept coming for a full minute or so….ODG, what a sight/experience!!!! This was a first for even Howard in his 30+ years in Antarctica!!

History of Prospect Point (Station J)

March 19, Day 6: Yalour Islands & Pleanaeau/Port Charcot: We woke up to some dark, low clouds and snowing…ugh!! But as the day went on the clouds parted and we had beautiful partly cloudy skies. Stephie, the Geologists, was our zodiac cruise guide and right off we were treated to 3 beautiful humpbacks whales moseying along, pretty much on the surface and maybe dosing!! We also had a great leopard seal viewing in some blue iceberg water just swimming around, doing acrobatics under the zodiacs…whoa!! Again we were surrounded by snow covered mountains, glaciers and unique icebergs all around….each view was just so dramatic and DDG. As the weather continued to improve the sun eventually popped out a few times making for some amazing views across the Penola Strait to the mountains of the Peninsula.

Howard then was able to get us into the Wordie House. As we zodiaced over we went by the large Ukrainian research station. Steph told a story that on another cruise she and some other staff went over for a visit as it supposedly had a bar. The all men research center were speechless when they saw the women. They all had a good time especially if the women took off their bras they got free drinks…..hmmmm, when I asked about the guys she said they had to pay and drive back:)))

Wordie House: The hut was named after Sir James Wordie, the chief science officer on the Shackleton Endurance Expedition in 1914. It is a museum now and well preserved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Island_(Antarctica)

After lunch we landed at stunning Port Chacot in nice weather. John-Baptiste Charcot over wintered here in 1904 and his men built a Carin on top of a hill and wrote all their names on a plaque. It was a good hike….3.5 miles round trip and a climb of ~500′ on packed snow. I got pretty hot on the climb but made it to the spectacular views at the top….well sort of…in keeping w/the Youngblood tradition, after the 45 minute hike up, just as I arrived, clouds/snow rolled in…oh good grief, really…but I waited about 10 minutes….well, really I was cooling off and catching my breath….and the sun came out….I could hear the sun giggling a bit…gotcha:)))

We then did a spectacular zodiac cruise with Howard as our guide again….oh what stories he had as well as a solid lesson on icebergs. These are broken off about 200 miles south in the Ross and Lenard glaciers, travel up to this shallow bay where they get grounded. I mean 100’s of icebergs, most the size of our ship….wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!!!!

https://www.polartours.com/highlights/port-charcot-booth-island

Around 6pm we went through the spectacular Lemaire Channel. Beautiful and crazy walls of ice and rock that felt like they were literally hanging right on top of us….whoa!! “This spectacular channel is just 1,600 meters wide at its narrowest point, and is one of the most hoped for parts of any cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula. Nicknamed ‘Kodak Alley’, it is beautifully photogenic, and wonderfully calm.”

https://www.swoop-antarctica.com/cruises/peninsula/lemaire-channel

March 20, Day 7: Goudier Island Port Lockroy, Jougla Point & Neko Harbor:
Port Lockroy has a post office and the ship arranged for us to buy stamped postcards. The postman had left a week earlier for the season but would be back in November and would mail them then. Grammie and Papa YB wrote each granddaughter a postcard and ourselves. It will be interesting to see when they are delivered!! The Post Office gets 18k visitors now a year, all tourists from the various ships, and mails over 80k postcards….whoa!!! Julia and Vicki, guides on this cruise, had worked previous summers at this location and regaled us with interesting facts and stories. Port Lockroy is also a well preserved museum with some very interesting facts about Antarctica. Did you know that on 4/2/1946 an earthquake tsunami in the Alaskan Aleutians was felt in Antarctica…the seas rose 6′ above the tidal high water mark….wow!!! The museum was surrounded by Gentoo penguins not bothered by us humans. After Port Lockroy we took a short zodiac ride to Jougla Point to see a large Gentoo penguin colony as well as some whale bones. The sun was out and the views were spectacular….wow!!

After the morning landing we went through beautiful Neumayer Channel on our way to the iconic Neko Harbor. The sun was out again and the Harbor was just DDG….very iconic Antarctica. We did another hike, pretty steep in places to more gorgeous views. Per Howard, it is the most visited sight along the Peninsula and we can see why. We had another long hike up to a view point and just stood there in aw….oh, and there was a whale blowing in the harbor close to the ship….sounded like it had a cold:)))

https://www.swoop-antarctica.com/cruises/peninsula/neumayer-channel
https://www.swoop-antarctica.com/cruises/peninsula/neko-harbour

That night they did a BBQ dinner….American style….ribs, chicken, pork belly, corn on the cob, garlic bread, potato salid…excellent!!!

OK…that’s it for now….and that’s only the first 3 days….eventually when I post the pictures when we get home the beauty will come alive!!

Hope all is well!

John

Adelie Penguins

Cute Fur Seal

Adelie walking

Adelie still molting

More Adelie’s molting

Chinstrap Penguin swimming in the water!!

This iceberg’s middle collapsed right in front of us….maybe 150-200′ tall and 300′ wide…..breathtaking!!

Giant Southern Petrel

Gentoo Penguin…..he’s saying, get this old stuff off…..I’m so miserable:(((

Magnificent Giant Southern Petrel!!

Yes….WE DID IT….stepped on Antarctica at Horseshoe Island….our 7yh Continent!!

Our voyage map up to Day 10 now making for South Georgia Islands