Chile and Antarctica Jan. 16, 2010- Feb. 2, 2010
with Beth and Gordon (from old iWeb) (see iPhoto for pictures)
Jan. 16 (Saturday)- Beth left on Jan. 12 for a couple of days on her own in Chile. Connie and Billy left on Saturday, Jan. 16. In Richmond it was the first warm day in weeks, but when we flew into Atlanta rain had started. We had a long layover in Atlanta on purpose; just in case of bad weather, we wanted to be in Atlanta to be sure we got the 8 pm overnight flight to Santiago. The flight itself, in business class, was very comfortable, with a very nice chief flight attendant, Brenda, and crew. Billyʼs seat did not work due to one or more electric short circuits which eliminated the sound for the movies (except for shrill, sharp screeches) and made the reading light come on and off sporadically. Both of us got a few fairly good hours of sleep.
Jan. 17 (Sunday)- After landing, and paying the reciprocity tax, we were met by Andres and went over to his house.
The rest of the day was occupied by visiting with a succession of Andresʼ children and grandchildren. Taking them in order by age- Ito (Rosario) and her husband, Sergio, and children, Aurora, now 13 (!), Leon, 8, and the baby Bertan, 2 (they live in Santiago about 5 minutes away); then Issa (Isabel), who was visiting from the north of Chile (her daughter Violeta (2) and husband did not come); Andres Jr, and girl friend Sophie (A Jr has just been made president of the family aquaculture business on Chiloe Island, which is 12 hours away by bus (mussels, etc)); Pilar and her husband Ignacio, aka Tallo, who were just married civilly and have a March church wedding for 600 people coming up;Teresita, and her friend Homero, whom Andres calls Ulysses; and then Niko, who is in the midst of a mini crisis of not being allowed to continue at the university. The second oldest daughter, Cote, with 3 daughters, did not come. She also lives in the north but in a different place from Issa. Also, Sonia, of course, who was recovering from her 8th operation for her cancer a week previous, was there as was her mother, also called Sonia.
For the prior couple of days Beth had been with A Jr, Sophie, Pilar and Tallo at the family compound in Zapillar on the coast.
The big thing of the evening was that Andresʼ business partner Sebastian Pinera was elected President that day by 52 to 48%.
Jan.18- Gordon and I had a little miscommunication about his arrival, and while I was waiting for him at one door of the airport, he was going out the other to catch a cab to Andresʼ house. After we all caught up with each other, the six of us went by car to visit Aʼs new house about 50 km and 50 minutes away. He says it is reserved for adults, and, although the kids protest, it makes sense since there is a pond and pool without a fence. This house is on 25 acres and had been owned by the stepson of Castro, the man in charge of all Cubaʼs exports (he kept some for himself in addition to marrying well- definitely he liked a capitalist life style).
Jan. 19- We left Andres and Sonia and checked in with the group at the Hyatt. We opted out of the city tour and went for a bit of a walk and then rested by the pool until time for the group “get to know you” party.
Jan. 16 (Saturday)- Beth left on Jan. 12 for a couple of days on her own in Chile. Connie and Billy left on Saturday, Jan. 16. In Richmond it was the first warm day in weeks, but when we flew into Atlanta rain had started. We had a long layover in Atlanta on purpose; just in case of bad weather, we wanted to be in Atlanta to be sure we got the 8 pm overnight flight to Santiago. The flight itself, in business class, was very comfortable, with a very nice chief flight attendant, Brenda, and crew. Billyʼs seat did not work due to one or more electric short circuits which eliminated the sound for the movies (except for shrill, sharp screeches) and made the reading light come on and off sporadically. Both of us got a few fairly good hours of sleep.
Jan. 17 (Sunday)- After landing, and paying the reciprocity tax, we were met by Andres and went over to his house.
The rest of the day was occupied by visiting with a succession of Andresʼ children and grandchildren. Taking them in order by age- Ito (Rosario) and her husband, Sergio, and children, Aurora, now 13 (!), Leon, 8, and the baby Bertan, 2 (they live in Santiago about 5 minutes away); then Issa (Isabel), who was visiting from the north of Chile (her daughter Violeta (2) and husband did not come); Andres Jr, and girl friend Sophie (A Jr has just been made president of the family aquaculture business on Chiloe Island, which is 12 hours away by bus (mussels, etc)); Pilar and her husband Ignacio, aka Tallo, who were just married civilly and have a March church wedding for 600 people coming up;Teresita, and her friend Homero, whom Andres calls Ulysses; and then Niko, who is in the midst of a mini crisis of not being allowed to continue at the university. The second oldest daughter, Cote, with 3 daughters, did not come. She also lives in the north but in a different place from Issa. Also, Sonia, of course, who was recovering from her 8th operation for her cancer a week previous, was there as was her mother, also called Sonia.
For the prior couple of days Beth had been with A Jr, Sophie, Pilar and Tallo at the family compound in Zapillar on the coast.
The big thing of the evening was that Andresʼ business partner Sebastian Pinera was elected President that day by 52 to 48%.
Jan.18- Gordon and I had a little miscommunication about his arrival, and while I was waiting for him at one door of the airport, he was going out the other to catch a cab to Andresʼ house. After we all caught up with each other, the six of us went by car to visit Aʼs new house about 50 km and 50 minutes away. He says it is reserved for adults, and, although the kids protest, it makes sense since there is a pond and pool without a fence. This house is on 25 acres and had been owned by the stepson of Castro, the man in charge of all Cubaʼs exports (he kept some for himself in addition to marrying well- definitely he liked a capitalist life style).
Jan. 19- We left Andres and Sonia and checked in with the group at the Hyatt. We opted out of the city tour and went for a bit of a walk and then rested by the pool until time for the group “get to know you” party.
Jan. 20 (Wednesday)- A 5:45 wake up call, a quick breakfast and then the 4 hour flight
to Ushuaia, Argentina. There we went thru the Tierra del Fuego Park, to the end of the
Pan American Highway, and onto a catamaran for lunch and a cruise back to Ushuaia
and the NG Explorer.
Jan. 21- The Drake Passage, which Beth and Connie handled much better than Billy did. We had smooth sailing from 9pm on the 20th when we left U thru the Beagle Channel, but we emerged from the protected area at about 3:45 am on the 21st. We all woke up as soon as we hit the open water because immediately things started falling off shelves and bouncing around. Beth, surprisingly ate all three meals this day, while Billy slept most of the day. Connie and Billy were wearing the Relief Band, but Billy found the tingle in the palm too shocking. Supposedly ours was one of the worst passages of the year- 35 mile per hour wind and 20-25 foot seas.
By about 3 pm it started to calm down and those of us who were feeling a little unsettled felt ok enough to go out the stern of the boat to watch the soaring albatrosses and petrels.
Jan. 22 (Friday)- The first stop, and first zodiac ride, took place at Aitcho (HO) Island, one of the South Shetlands. The climate, we were told was maritime, but we experienced high winds, horizontal snow, and significant chop. We went ashore to observe the Gentoo and Chinstrap penguin colonies, which were wonderful. We also saw several female elephant seals nestled together on shore- it is moulting time and so they avoid the water and stay together for warmth. The boat ride back was kind of scary but soon we convinced Stefan to go back to the Explorer. On the way we saw a group of about 10 Wilsonʼs storm petrels tiptoeing on the water and gruff Stefan became quite animated and amusing.
We were invited to dinner with the captain, first mate and Lisa Trotter, our former expedition leader from the Svalbard trip in the Chart Room. Lisa is spending the winter this year at Palmer Station, as “house mother” to the group staying on to repair things for next summerʼs researchers. She told us she has made 75 + crossings of the Drake Passage.
Jan. 23- Cloudy, intermittent horizontal snow and then partial clearing. The morning was for watching the icebergs and sheet ice as the captain plowed his way through. Leesa would have been scared the hull was going to be crushed. On the ice we saw a small group of Adelie penguins and then a single Emperor penguin, which is a rare sighting because the colonies are on ice way far in where the ship canʼt reach, and at this time of year the colonies have broken up there are only singles and doubles rarely seen since they are scattered everywhere.
Stefan gave a very amusing lecture on penguins- he described their “fedders”, their mating (one third fall off, one third miss the target, and one third successful), the low odds of survival during the first year, discipline (“ a whack of de flippers”), and the deadly effect of rain on the chicks (hypothermia).
The captain wedged the Explorer right into a gap between 2 sides of a huge iceberg and this was our base for going to shore.
Jan. 21- The Drake Passage, which Beth and Connie handled much better than Billy did. We had smooth sailing from 9pm on the 20th when we left U thru the Beagle Channel, but we emerged from the protected area at about 3:45 am on the 21st. We all woke up as soon as we hit the open water because immediately things started falling off shelves and bouncing around. Beth, surprisingly ate all three meals this day, while Billy slept most of the day. Connie and Billy were wearing the Relief Band, but Billy found the tingle in the palm too shocking. Supposedly ours was one of the worst passages of the year- 35 mile per hour wind and 20-25 foot seas.
By about 3 pm it started to calm down and those of us who were feeling a little unsettled felt ok enough to go out the stern of the boat to watch the soaring albatrosses and petrels.
Jan. 22 (Friday)- The first stop, and first zodiac ride, took place at Aitcho (HO) Island, one of the South Shetlands. The climate, we were told was maritime, but we experienced high winds, horizontal snow, and significant chop. We went ashore to observe the Gentoo and Chinstrap penguin colonies, which were wonderful. We also saw several female elephant seals nestled together on shore- it is moulting time and so they avoid the water and stay together for warmth. The boat ride back was kind of scary but soon we convinced Stefan to go back to the Explorer. On the way we saw a group of about 10 Wilsonʼs storm petrels tiptoeing on the water and gruff Stefan became quite animated and amusing.
We were invited to dinner with the captain, first mate and Lisa Trotter, our former expedition leader from the Svalbard trip in the Chart Room. Lisa is spending the winter this year at Palmer Station, as “house mother” to the group staying on to repair things for next summerʼs researchers. She told us she has made 75 + crossings of the Drake Passage.
Jan. 23- Cloudy, intermittent horizontal snow and then partial clearing. The morning was for watching the icebergs and sheet ice as the captain plowed his way through. Leesa would have been scared the hull was going to be crushed. On the ice we saw a small group of Adelie penguins and then a single Emperor penguin, which is a rare sighting because the colonies are on ice way far in where the ship canʼt reach, and at this time of year the colonies have broken up there are only singles and doubles rarely seen since they are scattered everywhere.
Stefan gave a very amusing lecture on penguins- he described their “fedders”, their mating (one third fall off, one third miss the target, and one third successful), the low odds of survival during the first year, discipline (“ a whack of de flippers”), and the deadly effect of rain on the chicks (hypothermia).
The captain wedged the Explorer right into a gap between 2 sides of a huge iceberg and this was our base for going to shore.
First we cruised by Snow Hill Island and then got out at Devilʼs Island to see an Adelie
Penguin colony. It was a fairly small rookery. There was a 500 foot rise to hike but we
were on the zodiac cruise first and got a little wet, which delayed making the shore
landing- partially due to WMG changing his wet pants and partially to letting the divers
come back on board.
For the eveningʼs activity we had a short talk about Nordenskjoldʼs expedition which had many of the same elements as Shackletonʼs- a ship frozen in the ice, long treks across the snow etc. One of the 3 groups in Nʼs expedition wintered over at Paulet Island- the destination for the next day.
Jan. 24- Paulet Island- The day started off bright, sunny and warm- about 35 with little wind. The ship pushed right up to the shore line, and the view from the bow was of thousands of Adelie penguin nests and a steady line of penguins going to the right for about 500-1000 yards to find the right spot to jump into the water. Reportedly there are 100,000 -150,000 penguins here. We can safely say they were everywhere. The sad thing is that for the nests close to the shore there were very few chicks. Speculation is that a late snow storm froze many of the eggs.
In addition to the penguins, there were sheathbirds, blue eyed shags, skuas, kelp gulls, and giant petrels. We also saw a Weddell seal. On the zodiac ride part of the excursion, we saw a giant petrel and some skua in a tug of war over a penguin carcass as well as a whole lot of porpoising penguins.
Back at the boat with frozen hands and derrieres, we passed icebergs with penguins and seals hauled up on the ice on the way to our next stop.
The passage to Brownʼs Bluff, actually part of the peninsula, was notable for huge tabular icebergs. BB looked in part like Devilʼs Tower from Close Encounters and part like the background rock for Mt. Rushmore, only of brownish color rather than gray. There were not so many penguins but they were of 2 species, Gentoo and Adelie. There also was a breeding area for Kelp gulls and lots of Cape petrels along the shore.
Back on board, we had a lecture on whales and spectacular views of tabular icebergs, with azure blue color, caves, and frolicking penguins.
Jan. 25 (Monday)- Port Foster, Whalersʼ Bay, Deception Island. The day started early with a humpback whale right at the bow of the boat. We entered Neptuneʼs Bellows into the bay which is actually a caldera of a volcano which partially erupted as recently as 1969. There were wisps of steam blowing across the black sand at the shore. This is the day for the “swimming”. Water on the beach was mild- maybe 55 or 60. Temp today about 37 with cloud and sun interchanging. Finally dressed adequately for the zodiac ride with Stefan by dramatic iron/ rust colored cliffs. Then a long walk on the beach with a few isolated Chinstrap penguins walking around wondering about the visitors. There was a small (30-40 foot) sailboat in the bay with us.
Connie, Gordon, and Beth went for the polar plunge. Video shows Gordon liked it best. In the afternoon we cruised to Lindblad Cove, named in honor of the founder of expedition adventure travel, Lars Erik Lindblad. Along the way, the captain paused the ship so we could watch whales, and we saw a couple of fin whales at a distance, but then we got into humpbacks pretty much everywhere, feeding by lunging and very close to the ship. Dinner took place in Lindblad Cove itself, a tight little inlet, part of Charcot
For the eveningʼs activity we had a short talk about Nordenskjoldʼs expedition which had many of the same elements as Shackletonʼs- a ship frozen in the ice, long treks across the snow etc. One of the 3 groups in Nʼs expedition wintered over at Paulet Island- the destination for the next day.
Jan. 24- Paulet Island- The day started off bright, sunny and warm- about 35 with little wind. The ship pushed right up to the shore line, and the view from the bow was of thousands of Adelie penguin nests and a steady line of penguins going to the right for about 500-1000 yards to find the right spot to jump into the water. Reportedly there are 100,000 -150,000 penguins here. We can safely say they were everywhere. The sad thing is that for the nests close to the shore there were very few chicks. Speculation is that a late snow storm froze many of the eggs.
In addition to the penguins, there were sheathbirds, blue eyed shags, skuas, kelp gulls, and giant petrels. We also saw a Weddell seal. On the zodiac ride part of the excursion, we saw a giant petrel and some skua in a tug of war over a penguin carcass as well as a whole lot of porpoising penguins.
Back at the boat with frozen hands and derrieres, we passed icebergs with penguins and seals hauled up on the ice on the way to our next stop.
The passage to Brownʼs Bluff, actually part of the peninsula, was notable for huge tabular icebergs. BB looked in part like Devilʼs Tower from Close Encounters and part like the background rock for Mt. Rushmore, only of brownish color rather than gray. There were not so many penguins but they were of 2 species, Gentoo and Adelie. There also was a breeding area for Kelp gulls and lots of Cape petrels along the shore.
Back on board, we had a lecture on whales and spectacular views of tabular icebergs, with azure blue color, caves, and frolicking penguins.
Jan. 25 (Monday)- Port Foster, Whalersʼ Bay, Deception Island. The day started early with a humpback whale right at the bow of the boat. We entered Neptuneʼs Bellows into the bay which is actually a caldera of a volcano which partially erupted as recently as 1969. There were wisps of steam blowing across the black sand at the shore. This is the day for the “swimming”. Water on the beach was mild- maybe 55 or 60. Temp today about 37 with cloud and sun interchanging. Finally dressed adequately for the zodiac ride with Stefan by dramatic iron/ rust colored cliffs. Then a long walk on the beach with a few isolated Chinstrap penguins walking around wondering about the visitors. There was a small (30-40 foot) sailboat in the bay with us.
Connie, Gordon, and Beth went for the polar plunge. Video shows Gordon liked it best. In the afternoon we cruised to Lindblad Cove, named in honor of the founder of expedition adventure travel, Lars Erik Lindblad. Along the way, the captain paused the ship so we could watch whales, and we saw a couple of fin whales at a distance, but then we got into humpbacks pretty much everywhere, feeding by lunging and very close to the ship. Dinner took place in Lindblad Cove itself, a tight little inlet, part of Charcot
Bay, and surrounded by glaciers down to the water plus chunky bergy bits and growlers.
The pictures while good do not do the beauty of this place justice. In the wildlife area we
saw several seals, including a few leopard lying on bergs, and a couple of Snow petrels.
It is hard to go to bed at night with light still available and so much natural beauty.
Jan. 26 (Tuesday)- Couverville Island, Port Lockroy - A very gray start to the day with wind across the bow and flurries. Glaciers all around with parts of mountains rising from the glaciers at the edge of the sea. Here at Couverville we went kayaking. Then to Jougla Point and the British Antarctic Service station at Lockroy, where we could get our passports stamped and mail a postcard.
Jan. 27 (Wednesday)- Cruising, crossed the Antarctic Circle, kayaking in the Gullet.
Jan. 28 (Thursday)- Peterman Island, where Charcot spent the winter. A hut and cross in honor of some British climbers who disappeared.
Jan. 29 (Started home)- Crossing the Drake this time was not so bad.
Jan. 30 (Saturday)- Ushuaia- Brief tour while waiting for the plane. Back to Santiago. Gordon continued to Bozeman, a very long day; Beth went on to Easter Island; Connie and I spent another night in Santiago and then spent a long day at the airport waiting for our plane time. Luckily the kind people at the Airport Holiday Inn let us leave our bags there and rest/read until the departure lounge opened.
PS. It was very shortly after this that Santiago had a huge earthquake that made the airport unusable and devastated the city. Andres and family ok.
Jan. 26 (Tuesday)- Couverville Island, Port Lockroy - A very gray start to the day with wind across the bow and flurries. Glaciers all around with parts of mountains rising from the glaciers at the edge of the sea. Here at Couverville we went kayaking. Then to Jougla Point and the British Antarctic Service station at Lockroy, where we could get our passports stamped and mail a postcard.
Jan. 27 (Wednesday)- Cruising, crossed the Antarctic Circle, kayaking in the Gullet.
Jan. 28 (Thursday)- Peterman Island, where Charcot spent the winter. A hut and cross in honor of some British climbers who disappeared.
Jan. 29 (Started home)- Crossing the Drake this time was not so bad.
Jan. 30 (Saturday)- Ushuaia- Brief tour while waiting for the plane. Back to Santiago. Gordon continued to Bozeman, a very long day; Beth went on to Easter Island; Connie and I spent another night in Santiago and then spent a long day at the airport waiting for our plane time. Luckily the kind people at the Airport Holiday Inn let us leave our bags there and rest/read until the departure lounge opened.
PS. It was very shortly after this that Santiago had a huge earthquake that made the airport unusable and devastated the city. Andres and family ok.
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