In anticipation of the landfall of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, one of us was up with the sunrise, which happened to be around 4:30am. Even though the scenic narration did not begin until 8am, we could see the island already around 6am. So one of us bundled up, and headed for the bow, which was opened via deck three forward. Looking at the island, all we could see were glaciers, tall ice-covered volcanic peaks, and windswept valleys of blinding white ice and snow. Did you know that Antarctica holds 90% of the world's ice, and 70% of its fresh water? But Antarctica is also the driest of all continents and the largest desert in the world. The center of this continent gets on the average of 6 inches of rain a year. However, where we are located today, these islands can get up to 27 inches of rain as well as 23 feet of snow annually. And while we were snapping photos from the bow, it did start to rain lightly. But enough to drive us down to deck three. We were dressed for the wet weather, but the camera does not like it.
Antarctica has a surface area equal to that of the United States and Mexico combined. There are no native or permanent residents, except for the scientists that will number 4000 in the summer, and 1000 in the winter. In June or winter, there is 24 hours of darkness, and in December or summer, there is 24 hours of daylight. In addition, there is no official language, a capital, or currency. The coldest temperatures on earth have been recorded here…minus 89 degrees C. , or minus 128 degrees F. Unbelievable.
The archipelago of South Shetland Islands is 330 miles in length. The most northerly island is King George, which is 43 miles long and 16 miles at the widest point. We sailed past the tip in the Bransfield Strait, where we entered Admiralty Bay. Out of the 40 scientific stations that are in Antarctica, 10 of them are here. The research stations represent Chile, Russia, China, South Korea, Poland, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, and the newest, Brazil, which is 10 years old.
Soon, we began to see all types of ice besides just glaciers. There was brash ice, which are little pieces that crack. A bit larger chunks are growlers, which are less than 3 feet, and earn that name since they growl when coming in contact with ships for instance. Bergy bits are 3 to 8 feet above the water line, while an actual iceberg is 16½ feet above the waterline. We understand that these icebergs can be double that size under the water.
We overheard someone ask why the ice is blue. In reality, all ice is blue, even the ice cubes in our drinks. Except with ice that small, we do not see it. Now the ice in an iceberg, we do see the darkest blue shades near the waterline. The reason for the deep color is that this ice is the oldest and most compressed. The white color in ice is really air bubbles trapped in it. Black or dirty ice has rocks and gravel mixed in it.
At this point, we began to see some imperial shags, south polar skua with 50 inch wingspans, and three varieties of penguins….adelie, gentoos, and chinstraps. The latter are so small when viewed from the upper decks, and also fast. Easy to miss them as they pop up and dive quickly, unless you have binoculars or a very quick camera.
Back in the 1800's, whalers and sealers made their fortunes here. The fur seals were almost made extinct with over-hunting. Today, the scientists have worked to keep this area pristine, and the tourists have been rewarded with travel here. While we were enjoying the narration with the sightings of the stations and the bird life, pastries, coffee, and juice was offered on all outside decks. Later at 10:30am, New England clam chowder was served to the chilled guests outside. We went to the dining room around 9am for our breakfast, which sure tasted good with ample cups of hot coffee.
At noon, the Antarctic Expedition Team had a Q & E session in the Crow's Nest, then Dr. Carey gave a lecture on penguins, a fitting subject for this part of the world. When bouillon was served outside, we went to lunch in the Lido, then got ready to go back outside for the visit to Deception Island at 4pm. Last time we were here, this part of the scenic cruising had been cancelled due to bad weather and extra heavy fog. We could see fog as we approached the horseshoe-shaped island , but it was high. The narration began shortly after 4pm, and the closer we got, the more penguins we began to see. These were mainly the chinstrap variety, weighing in at 9 pounds and are 18 to 24 inches long. Spending the whole time on the bow, we were still chilled to the bone after an hour, but it was worth getting so many shots of the chinstrap penguins, Southern giant petrels, Antarctic terns, fur seals, Weddell seals, and also the plants that only grow here. These are mosses, liverworts, and lichens.
On one slope, we witnessed a colony of chinstrap penguins numbering 100,000. They were nesting, most sitting on 2 eggs each. As small as they are, the chinstraps are the most aggressive of all Antarctic penguins. Deception Island is considered a most incredible island on earth. It is an actively volcanic island which was discovered in 1820. Horseshoe-shaped, the rim of this island was blown off, leaving a flooded caldera in the center. The entrance is called Neptunes Bellow, and is 1800 feet wide. However, it is not accessible for large ships, as shallow rocks make the entrance extremely hazardous.
Inside this caldera is the remains of old whaling stations from 1912 to 1931 built by the Norwegians. The relics include huge boilers and oil tanks used for processing whales. In addition, there is a geothermal lagoon, the only one in Antarctica. Local scientists will swim in these despite the sulfurous odor. Where the vents are located, the krill becomes boiled and washes up on the beach and float in the waters.
A Chilean station burned down from a volcanic episode in the late 60's, and the remains have been left for the tourists to see. As we cannot get inside this opening, we will not see any of this. However, Captain Jonathon did circle back, and took us back to see the opening at Neptunes Bellow. It was here that we got the first whiff of the penguin guano from the 50,000 pairs that were nesting here. About knocked us over, and the few folks that ventured out with us on the bow. By the time most of the folks ran back inside, we saw the most groups of chinstraps swimming and jumping near the ship as they raced back to the shoreline. The fur seals appeared, popping up to watch us watching them. These characters can weigh up to 374 pounds for a male, and 88 pounds for a female. These seals can dive to depths of almost 600 feet, and stay down for 10 minutes.
It was time to go back inside and defrost, and deal with the hundreds of photos that were snapped today. Also time to clean up for dinner. Did we mention that we all got another notice regarding water conservation in Antarctica? On the ship's part, they will be ceasing the cleaning of the outside decks, as well as limiting the laundry service. We did happen to turn in a bagful this morning, before the notice. Expecting a delay on it, we were happy to see the batch returned to us before dinnertime, still warm from the dryer. The service with the laundry has been wonderful so far on this trip. The final request was for all of us to minimize our use of potable water, specifically taking showers and flushing the toilets. Considering the constant reminders to wash our hands, this might not be the wisest thing to suggest.
Dinner for us was another visit to the Pinnacle Grill. Both of us ordered the wedge salad with a slice of clothesline bacon on the side. So good, as were the savory lamb chops cooked just right. Even though lamb has been served in the dining room, the chops will never come close to what is served in here. Dessert was a small slice of key lime pie, if such a thing is possible.
The entertainer this evening was a singer by the name of Peter Cutler. We had listened to his singing earlier, and would have gone after dinner, but internet work was waiting for us in our room. That was another thing that was spotty today….the internet and TV reception. The intermittent connection to both was spotty, and expected. So some of the future reports might be delayed. Not being able to watch all of the stations on TV might be doing us a favor.
Around midnight, another small cruise ship passed by the port side of the Amsterdam. Guess we are not alone out here.
Tomorrow will be another exciting day of exploring this most fabulous end of the world.
Bill & Mary Ann
