Antarctica is like no other place on earth. The feeling of remoteness, extreme cold, daylight almost 24 hours, wildlife like no other barely puts a dent in a description. All of yesterday and last evening, the Volendam sailed in the infamous Drake Passage, considered a rite of passage for Antarctic tourists like all of us. This treacherous stretch of water is known for some of the roughest seas in the world. Normal swells can reach 33 feet with blasting winds, and icy waters. Simply put, the ocean currents meet the warm subantarctic water in the north, and the colder Antarctic waters from the south. They do not readily mix creating condition unlike any other place except for maybe Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. The Drake Passage is also known for the sea birds that thrive here. And true to its reputation, we experienced some of those conditions until we reached calmer seas late this morning.
We have to include a few facts and figures for Antarctica. The size of the continent is 4.59 million square miles. The size of the Southern Ocean is 13.9 million square miles, and the thickness of the ice sheet averages 7546 feet. The maximum thickness can be 15,670 feet. The highest mountain is Vinson Massif at 16,066 feet. You will not believe the average rainfall – 6 inches per year. The lowest recorded temperature was -128.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and the maximum wind speed was 186 mph. The number of tourists visiting Antarctica in 2018 was 51,707. Also interesting is the fact there is no capital and no official language.
So far, we have received seven flyers concerning general guidelines while visiting this pristine area. One of us did take the time to read each and every warning, finding most of it common sense. All we know is that if you lose something overboard, you will be in a heap of trouble.
So today we had hoped to see Elephant Island, as we were due to pass by it around 6am. However, we must have been doing a better speed and the ship by-passed the island between 2 and 3am. That kind of tells us there was no intention of stopping there. Many times, fog will prevent the sight anyway, so a decision must have been made to skip it. It is a small outcropping, but famous for the place Shackleton's men were stranded, 21 of them in 1914, while others went in search of help. They were there for 105 days hungry, thirsty, and near freezing. Living on the penguins, they built a makeshift shelter from 2 overturned boats, stone walls, and sailcloth. They named it Point Wild. The campsite does not exist anymore, but there is a memorial to Captain Luis Pardo from a Chilean ship, who rescued the men on August 30th, 1916.
By the time we woke up, all we could see was fog and a heavy mist coming up from the wave crests. The wind was blowing much stronger than the reported 29.2 mph, because the bow was not opened as they had promised. Everything was drenched including our veranda and windows. With the pitching and rolling, it was even difficult walking to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Working on the Falkland photos took all morning, as did the reports and map-studying.
There were a couple of announcements for penguins jumping, mostly on the portside. But you had to be fast, because they were faster than we were. Gone in seconds, they dove in groups and disappeared. The Captain was late in giving his noon talk and admitted he had slowed to 11 knots. He had said there were seabirds (some albatross) and two very large icebergs. For the rest of the afternoon, he said the visibility was poor and there was little chance of viewing anything. Guess we got lucky, since one of us did manage to get some pictures of various birds and gentoo penguins. The captain said he was heading for Gerlache Strait, and we should see some whales by tomorrow. Hope so. He also alluded to the fact that they are in contact with other ships in the area and were getting reports on weather and sightings. That is a good thing. We are not alone…..
On another note, we had an urgent notice that the plumbers would be carrying out critical maintenance on the potable hot water system. This was done today between 9:30am and 11:30am. We did have cold water. However, by the time one of us was ready to take a nighttime shower, the water was tepid at best. Running the faucets did not improve the temperature. Up until now, we have had almost scalding hot water but were used to controlling it. Cold showers are not going to work.
We did see two icebergs at 1:30pm followed by several penguin and bird sightings. Most people we talked to saw nothing. Luck of the draw and having the zoom lens makes a big difference. Even our waiter, Dwi, at dinnertime laughed when we said we had dozens of photos of wildlife today. Speaking of dinner, we had a Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail (almost an every night treat), a lettuce/tomato salad (hold the bleu cheese) and mains of beef brisket with an excellent gravy and mashed potatoes underneath. They like to hide the veggies under the meat as well. At least there was no hidden spinach. Dessert was a small chocolate panna cotta and a plate of very ripe watermelon.
Entertainment was a vocalist by the name of Lifford Shillingford singing soul music. The Wajang movies have been slanted towards explorer-type movies keeping in mind the area in which we are traveling. We noticed that it was still light outside when we got back to our room. In fact, while typing at the desk, one of us noticed it never really got dark. That is an indication of how far south we have traveled and the fact that it is summer here. More to come tomorrow…..
Bill & Mary Ann
