Drinks last night were a bad idea… I woke up this morning very early, coughing. I decided to skip our second landing, another island with rookeries and potentially seals, and I slept a few more hours before getting up, grabbing a shower, and heading up for coffee. I ran into Jen on the way upstairs, and we grabbed a coffee in the bar. Lunch was next, followed by a few hours of down-time and meeting fellow passengers. We’ve met quite an array of people on board and I’m remiss in mentioning some of them. It’s crazy how much seems to happen every day, and how I’ve already forgotten so much of it the next day. Every day is a flurry of activity both on, and off, the ship… and by the time I go to bed for a slight few hours and open my eyes again we’re back to running from activity to activity. It’s been a bit slower for me with the cold and extra sleep, but it’s still crazy. Apparently at some point we grabbed some pictures outside…
Pictures of pictures, and also icebergs!
We were surrounded by icebergs here, some large and some small
One thing I will never forget, is the afternoon trip we took today. I’ve mentioned zodiacs before, but these are small wooden-floored boats surrounded by huge inflated cushions that elevate it from the water. The cushions are tall enough to be used as a step into the boat, and are where you sit while riding out into the water. Today we didn’t have two landings planned, but instead a zodiac tour in the afternoon. We ventured into a bay full of icebergs, and climbed off of our large ship and into the zodiacs. I didn’t bring my camera (zodiacs can be… well… wet. It’s not uncommon to get a wave of water over the first few people in the boat from time to time. Sea salt is great on food, not great for cameras.
In all, there were nine people in our boat. We got lucky with the guide, Heidi, who is a PHD-holding glaciologist, and spent a great deal of time discussing glaciers, how they form and melt, and what the different shapes and structures mean. (Heidi, who is from Svalbard, does not know about armored polar bears and has not read Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series. This will come in later.) We talked about tide marks on “grounded glaciers”, where you can watch the tide eat away at them over time, and we talked about free-floating glaciers (free range glaciers?!?) that are not large enough to bottom out on the sea floor, and roam wherever they want.
We boated this way and that way, watching the icebergs and listening to the large cracking explosion sounds of icebergs calving from a large land-based glacier at the head of the bay. Eventually, we entered a part of the bay where all the small pieces of ice (hand-sized to the size of small boulders) were all pooling together. Heidi maneuvered us into the mess (officially an “ice mélange”), and you could hear the ice pieces scraping against the bottom of the zodiac, and sometimes getting caught in the propeller and pulling the boat to one side or the other. Heidi joked about breaking the propeller, but she was very careful the entire time.
Once surrounded, Heidi cut the engine, and the ice closed in on us. I don’t know exactly how to say it… but this was the first time I’ve legitimately felt isolated on this trip, like I was truly at the bottom of the world. It’s all pretty pictures and stories until you’re in a very small boat with very few people… ice surrounding you in every direction and looking like it could close you in at any moment. This truly was Antarctica in my mind. Jen has pictures, I had opted to take the GoPro and get some video, but it had run out of battery by this point (batteries don’t really last that long down here…). I’m hoping to get more great video of this type of thing in the trip, but I’m not sure the majesty will compare. You really do have to see it, and to hear it, to know.
Me in the ice melange, the ice was everywhere around the boat.
That’s the other thing… water bubbles trapped in the ice are constantly being freed as melting occurs, and it sounds very much like Pop Rocks, for those who are familiar. Imagine an entire bay full of Pop Rocks, and you’re getting close to the sound we heard as we sat there silently listening. It was amazing, to say the least. We even grabbed a large piece of ice (Heidi tried, it was too heavy, I jumped in and helped… and broke off the hand hold I had, nearly sending Heidi in the water. The rest of the boat grabbed her legs, and I grabbed another angle, and we hauled the ice into the boat. Heidi said we’d use this for the bar… and at first I thought she was joking! Apparently, icebergs are not actually protected… and we did in fact use it in our drinks that night (Iceberg ice rejects the salt, and ends up being pure, drinkable water).
From there we pushed on to some bigger icebergs, and approached one the size of a two-story house above water. We’re always quickly reminded that this is only 10% of its actual size, and this means its actual size is extremely impressive. In fact, teh boat wasn’t allowed to get close, fear that a calving could occur at any moment and generate a very large wave meant we kept our distance to ensure safety. We didn’t end up seeing a calving, but on the way back from a trip around the big glacier we did see a crab-eating seal! It was a little upset at how close the boat was, and let us know by standing up and showing its teeth, but it quickly went right back to laying about once we’d moved off a little. I have yet to see an “active” seal here… though it’s my understanding that even when they’re active it’s mostly in water, and they’re known for lying around all day. Such a hard life!
Once back in the ship, faces frozen from the constant wind, it was time for the “polar plunge”. I had been debating going all week, but still getting over this cold I really didn’t think it was a good idea. I had every intention of going prior, and Jen (I’m sure) will say I chickened out, but I’m supposed to go polar camping tomorrow night and I would hate to miss that if I got more-sick from doing this. I seem to keep making that trade-off… skip something to go camping, skip something to go camping. I hate this cold, but at least I’m having a better day than my first few out here!
Jen did dive in, I missed it and am still waiting for the pictures (one thing about being on a boat full of people… they wall want to watch everything and take pictures, even if they’re not involved. I couldn’t even get close to seeing the plunges on the viewing deck). I thought she’d head right back to the room but didn’t find her, went back outside and she wasn’t there… I should have guessed the Jacuzzi but in true me-fashion… I decided the best thing for being confused was coffee. She’d meet me at the bar for a hot drink, I assumed, and eventually (after a trip to the room to get my phone for a great book I’m reading) we caught up over hot drinks.
Next, a recap meeting for the day to discuss our day, share a few pictures, and talk more about glaciers. We finished the day with dinner, and the meal ended with an announcement… there were whales in front of the ship! We all headed upstairs to see. I have a lot of shots with whale heads and a few whale tails, but nothing that’s an amazing picture in my mind. This one isn’t too bad… I was shooting over the flag on the front of the ship.
After the whales, I headed straight for bed but had trouble sleeping. I was up late into the evening wondering what was to come, what tomorrow would bring, and if I’d really make it camping!
See the tail?
