Today is our last day of landings, and also our last day of cold weather. From here, it’s back into the Drake passage, and hopefully not terrible seas. Other boats have been encountering waves 10-meters high in the past few days, and this is something that would toss our ship around quite a bit. With how sick I got last time… I’m trying not to focus on it. It might also help if I weren’t hung over, but I am. It’ll end up being the largest bar bill I have here… with a lot more Talisker than I probably should have had! Today we’re visiting a Polish base, with another landing and some interesting geology. Apparently they have geodes in the rocks here!
Arctowski Station
The landing was another smooth one, and a beach of big and small rocks greeted us. Here we were told we could walk on the beaches only, as the mosses and grass were being monitored for science and we were not to step on anything green. We landed just next to a lighthouse up on a hill, and at first given the state of rust and detritus around it I assumed it wasn’t working. After a little while, though, especially from the back, you could make out the light that turned off and on in succession, alerting incoming vessels to the rocks just below.
The Base’s lighthouse
I walked from the landing first to the penguin rookery, which is also protected and was pretty well inlaid from where we were safe to walk, but it was a good trek and the path was lined with whale bones I had not seen previously. The station was first used for whaling, and many bones could be seen throughout the island.
Many penguins, but shot from a very far position
Whale bones dotted the landscape
An Antarctica Skua was walking the beach with me
As I walked, I noticed rocks that were bright blue, bright green, orange and even some red and pink ones. The colors almost looked unnatural, and I spent more time looking at these than the wildlife. I ran into some fellow travelers, and talked to Keith and his wife (who I know as “Mo’”, but I’m guessing that is short for something), and of course Jen and various other people we’ve met along the way here. It felt a bit solemn, like we all knew this was coming to an end. By the time we ended up in the station, we found out we could actually send postcards! Before you get your hopes up, however, they were pricey, and having converted most of my money to Argentinian Pesos I had little left in American Dollars (the station accepted USD and Euros)… I was only able to send one postcard back. It’s on its way, though! I’ll probably beat it home, but we’ll see. Before this I’ve always sort of wondered how efficient mail was from all corners of the world. Now we’re about to find out!
The station was warm and friendly, and we took some time to fill out our postcards (you couldn’t send those you did not buy there), have a cup of coffee, and talk to the locals at the station. I didn’t spend too much time in the station, I wanted to look at more rocks and see if they’d let me keep one if I found a pretty one, and headed back out to the beach. I ran into two of the guides, Christian and Adam, and Christian was attempting to find a descriptive word for Adam that was “both kind, but a little bit offensive”. I laughed when I overheard them, and promised Christian I would help him think of a word. Adam is a very nice guy, and extremely inoffensive, so this is going to take some thought and I’m running out of time now as I’m writing this! I looked around for a rock and didn’t find the perfect one I was hoping for, and eventually headed back to the ship.
The main building at the station
Penguins, all done kayaking for the day
In the middle of this picture are chinstrap penguins, and the outer penguins are both adelie penguins.
The day seemed to fly by and soon it was lunch and then our second outing almost immediately after (I did get a nap in there, which made things seem short I suppose). We were off to see more penguins, and some elephant seals! I almost did not go out again, I’d had enough penguins and there are some things the brochures don’t tell you (like that penguins are nasty, smelly, dirty little animals that live in their own filth and generate a stench you wouldn’t believe)… but after a talk with Jen and a talk with another passenger who said very blatantly “this may your last chance in life to see a real penguin in Antarctica”, I didn’t need any more convincing.
To make the trip a bit easier, I left the camera on the ship and just filmed some scenes with the GoPro. It made the second landing more fun, but other travelers kept stepping in front of my filming. I would step forward, herding them more and more behind me, but they kept doing it. Soon, I was standing about five feet from an elephant seal (WAY too close) and hadn’t realized it. One of the guides quickly caught on, though, and roped me back in by reminding me kindly to stay on the path. I wasn’t really in any danger, but it was definitely a reminder that this was more than a video shoot. I put up with more and more people walking right in front of where I was filming, and then gave up. I enjoyed the scenery and the last few moments at the bottom of the world before climbing back on the zodiac (really this was about an hour and a half, even if it sounds short), and heading back to the Sea Spirit.
Dinner was solemn, we were also headed back into the Drake and the waves had picked up. With the boat rocking, I didn’t chance anything that evening and headed straight to bed. I bid Jen goodnight, and she headed up to the bar as I slipped into sleep some frustrating hours later after having tossed and turned a lot. I suppose I could have gone to the bar, but adding additional liquid to the belly, especially alcoholic beverages that inhibit balance, might not be a great idea for someone prone to seasickness!
One last view from Arctowski Station
