This morning started out with a big breakfast in preparation for the expedition this morning. Today is set to be a busy day with an excursion in the morning at Mikkelsen Harbour, a zodiac tour in Cierva Cove, and the polar plunge in the afternoon. For breakfast I had some eggs benedict and grapefruit juice. I had a larger breakfast than normal so I could have plenty of energy to walk around the island. I learned my lesson from yesterday when I got so hungry hiking around the island. Today it was described to be colder than the previous day so I spent some extra time getting all bundled up. Brad still wasn’t feeling that great; so I quickly changed and headed up to the main deck so he could get some sleep. I wound up waiting in the lecture hall for a while due to the ice and snow. This apparently caused some chaos for the crew as they went ashore to get the landing site all prepared. When we finally made our ways to the zodiacs, I had to put on my thick snow gloves to allow for the cold weather. The zodiac trip was longer and wetter than I had expected. We started out from the marina deck of our ship and loaded into the zodiacs at the back. The land closest to the ship was full of penguins and ice, so we circumnavigated the island to the back side (protected side) of the island. The zodiac had to travel a few hundred meters away from shore because of all of the rocks protruding from the surface. The zodiac ride was wet, bumpy, and a lot of fun. It was the first time in a long time that I had felt the child like glee of a new adventure.
When we arrived on the island, some of the crew helped us exit the boat and we walked up an improvised snow staircase where we were briefed on the status of the island. As I was setting up my camera from the waterproof bag, I was surprised to find several Weddell Seals right behind me. I took a knee quickly to grab a shot of them and proceeded along the snow path. From the water front the depth of the snow was visible at about six feet deep. Luckily there was a path created for us which was compacted snow. Unfortunately, we also got to experience just how deep the snow is when we had to deviate from the paths. As I was walking along the path, I was amazed at how beautiful the scenery was. On the other side of the inlet, near the protected side of the island, you could see hundreds and hundreds of feet of untouched snow. The mountains occasionally would peek out from behind the snow in areas where the snow had fallen from its resolute position, down to the next layer below. When the mountain does show, if only for a brief period we are afforded the opportunity of seeing how deep the snow is above that area. In several cases, the snow is easily 100 feet or more above the frozen mountain.
As I wandered around the mountain paths, I couldn’t help but the fishy smell of the penguins. The sent drifted towards the pristine walking path when the winds from the ocean blew past the penguin rookeries, over the small hill, and into our walking path. It’s all part of the joy of nature. When I hiked over the hill I was greeted by a cluster of nearly 100 penguins next to a closed Argentine research hut. In order to get the perfect photo, I had to wait for several minutes to find the perfect spot (and wait for some members of our group to move). I finally snapped a shot I was particularly impressed with and moved on. On my way back to the zodiacs, I had happened upon the seals long enough to see a bird in the background steal a penguin egg and try to fly off with it. It was too far away to capture, but I was surprised with how quick the bird swooped down and stole the egg. Another bird was also swooping next to a different penguin to steal their egg, but was not as lucky. I’m sure the penguin would not agree with that statement though. The boat ride back to the ship was fun. We all breezed through the water, and enjoyed the fun of getting splashed by the current breaking against the hull of the zodiacs. Upon landing on the ship, I stripped off my snow gear and headed up to the bar area to warm up with some coffee and conversation.
During lunch, Brad and I were sitting at a table with a Dutch husband and wife, and a couple of our friends on the ship. We were enjoying the conversation for a while but right after we finished our meal we felt a great shutter with a listing to one side of the ship. The vibration and tilting lasted for a minute or two causing a lot of speculations and concerns of fellow passengers. A neighboring table remarked that perhaps we had hit an iceberg, or perhaps it was the anchor of the ship dragging on the ground. We asked one of the staff what they thought it was and I was surprised. He explained that the screws of the ship were right under the dining room, so what we felt was the screws coming to a stop and then immediately being placed into reverse. So what we had felt was the water rushing past the screws during this maneuver. I guess it’s all part of the joys of smaller ship traveling.
After Lunch, it was time for our afternoon zodiac tour. This time there would be no expedition landings, but instead we would be toured around some glaciers and ice burgs in a cove. I was SO EXCITED! I got dressed very quickly for this outing because it meant looking at all of the glaciers and ice. While waiting for our turn on the zodiac, I walked around deck four taking photos of the icebergs around our ship. When our turn was called for the zodiacs, both Brad and I were ready. I put my big camera in my submersible waterproof bag with a scarf to padding around the lens. Brad did not take his camera along because of concerns for water infiltration on the camera. If the outing was anything like what it was in the morning, water would have been our greatest concern.
For the zodiac tour, we were extremely fortunately to have the glaciologist, Heidi, as our guide. She is a French lady, with a passion for glaciers and all things water. Her knowledge and experience is felt through her detailed descriptions of what we are seeing on the tour as well as providing interactive education for us on-board. We started around the zodiac watching some larger ice burgs towards the outlet of the cove. The icebergs towards this area were large with a lot of water wear on them as they melt in the warmer ocean. As we cruised closer towards the glaciers inside the cove, a significant temperature drop was felt the closer we got to the glaciers. As Heidi drove the zodiac, we played a game “rock or mammal” where we would try to determine of the solid brown lump on top of an iceberg was a large rock or if it was a seal or other mammal. I always chose rock, because glaciers can bring a lot of material down the mountain with them, so for me it was a pretty fun game to play.
Heidi took some time on our voyage to stop and pull in three different types of ice floating in the water. The first was a smaller piece which was ice from closer to the top of the glacier. We know this from the air bubbles visible in the ice. The second was older glacier ice where the ice seemed to be more clear. Further on our voyage, Heidi pulled a large piece from the water, and almost went overboard in the process. Two ladies behind her grabbed her feet, while Brad leaned over and helped Heidi pull a two foot piece of ice into the boat. This ice was super clear. Much clearer than the other pieces we had pulled earlier in the trip. One piece had broken off in the challenge to bring it on-board so we passed it around. I couldn’t help but notice the golf ball like texture to the outside of the ice. This is how the ice melts when the air escapes from the ice when it’s in the water. Now, of course, me being me I had to see what it tasted like. So I licked the ice. It tasted like ice… in case you’re wondering.
On our journey I was surprised to see that the each ice burg was different and had different wear on them. It’s fun to look at the different shapes and see what they looked like. One looked like a castle, another looked like the profile of a man with a huge nose and a crown. Some ice burgs were grounded on the sea floor and you could see the tide markings on the sides as the water eroded away the bottom of the iceberg. Others were bobbing up and down with the waves so it was incredible to watch something the size of a small island floating and moving with the currents. Some even looked as if they were going to topple over. One ice burg we got close too had such clear water next to it, you could see all the way down to the bottom of the berg. There was ice projecting out way further under the ice burg like an ice ledge below water line. Seeing this made the cause of the Titanic tragedy very obvious. Under any other circumstance, there is no way anyone could see that large of an ice ledge below water line. We waited near one of the larger glaciers which had been calving fairly regularly to see if we could see any calving but was unlucky in that regard this afternoon. We did learn that the boat has to be pointed to the glacier because of calving. This is not because of the ice, but because of the waves caused by the ice hitting the water. Sometimes these waves can be pretty large, so we were prepared just in case.
Ice Melange
We were also given the opportunity to listen to an ice mélange and the sounds of the bay. Heidi described an ice mélange as one of the nosiest marine environments available because of the air in the glaciers escaping when they melt. It’s ice floating on top of the water which creates a popping sound in the water. Heidi stopped the boat to demonstrate the noise. This was really quite a fascinating sound. The boat was stopped in the middle of the water, with the engine turned off and all we heard was the popping of the water around us. Occasionally we would also hear the tides break against the ice burgs or push through an ice burg cave. She described a situation in Alaska where the calving front of a glacier had receded back onto land and became a land terminating glacier. Simultaneously, the seals seemed to disappear from the area. Apparently what was happening was that the seals hide in the noisy marine environment from Orca’s or other predators which use sound to find their prey. So they enjoy sitting on the bergs in these areas as a safe haven for a while.
On the way back to the ship, we were notified of a seal on an ice burg, so we were fortunate enough to get to see some new wild life in the tour. It was pretty fascinating. The seal was asleep on the ice, surrounded by an “Ice Mélange”. The seal seemed really tired and grumpy because he was asleep but would turn around and make noises at us as he settled his head back down. I made a lot of very sarcastic comments that the noise sounded like Brad talking in the morning, which of course drew laughs from others on our boat. The ride back to the ship was quiet and cold. A lot of us by this time were pretty frozen solid. My feet had started to go numb, and I was shaking as I entered the warmth of the boat. A crew member offered me some mint tea in an effort to warm back up.
After the zodiac, it was time to do the polar plunge. The polar plunge is where they set a zodiac up at the back of the boat, with a ladder and you get into a bathing suit and jump into the Antarctic waters. I, of course, had to do this. I quickly jumped into my bathing suit, and put on a bath robe and some slippers. There were quite a lot of others on the boat who deiced to do this as well, so the lobby was crowded with people in their bathrobes and slippers. I was the last person on the first group of six to go downstairs and partake. As we were waiting my nerves began to waiver as I felt the cold go through the bath robe. Finally it was my turn. I took my slippers off and stood in the cold water of the boat, for just a moment as the path was getting cleared to the jump point. One expedition leader tied a safety belt around my waist while another helped me onto the side of the zodiac. I stood tall for a moment before falling back slightly, only to have the hand of another expedition leader help be stand straight again. They then recommended I jump from the first step of the boat and from there I just plunged in. I went down only a foot or two under water but my head got cold very fast and it took four strokes to get back up to the surface. The water was as cold as you would think, but much cleaner, and not as salty. I quickly made my way over to the stairs and climbed out. With super human strength I made it back to the ship deck in about 3 steps. One step on the zodiac top, the next on the other side of the zodiac top and the third on the ship deck. They handed me my bathrobe, slippers and a towel as I made my way towards the stair case to go warm up in the Jacuzzi on the fifth deck. I was shaking and teeth chattering terribly. Sixto came down to give me a high five for jumping and welcoming me to the club but I was too cold. He helped me into my bathrobe as I rushed upstairs. As I walked into the Jacuzzi there were a few other plungers there already. They welcomed me with a hero’s cheer and I soaked into the water. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t quite hot enough so I had to vacate the Jacuzzi once more to get warm in the shower. By now it was a good 20 minutes later and my teeth were still chattering away. I ran, literally ran, downstairs almost bumping into Sixto in the hall along my path. I made it into the shower and turned it on at 40 degrees Celsius. No luck, I was still cold. 42? Nope. 45? Nope. 47? Okay, now we’re getting somewhere… 50? PERFECT! I stood in the shower cleaning myself off and warming up for a few minutes. After the shower I had left a mess but grabbed some clothes and finally started to feel warm for the first time since the zodiac expedition. This was helped by some hot tea upstairs as well. There we go… I did it!
I huddled in the bar area drinking tea and talking to fellow plungers for quite some time before our post day briefing. We met a few people from Australia and enjoyed speaking with them about their adventures being in the Kayak club and kayaking around Antarctica. Our post day briefing was a lot of fun looking at the pictures of the day, with two lectures on seals and glaciers followed by what to expect tomorrow. We left the lecture hall for dinner shortly thereafter. For dinner I had some eggplant pasta and a peach ice cream treat for dessert. Our dinner was interrupted by an announcement that the captain had spotted some whales in front of the ship on deck 5. The dining hall CLEARED out as everyone ran to see the whales. So this is why you have to be physically active I thought to myself, as I ran upstairs with 100 of my fellow expeditioners. I ran up to the fifth floor, only to discover it couldn’t get to the front of the boat, so I then dropped down to the fourth floor and there was a mother and child feeding in front of our boat. It was incredible to watch these two mammoths swim and play. I was the second person up on deck, and a few others came by quickly after that. Then a wave of people showed up in their parkas. This would have been a good idea I thought to myself as I stood outside with wet hair and a sweater on. So I gave up my position near the front to allow some of my shorter, fellow passengers enjoy the view then I ran downstairs to bundle up. Upon my return they were still playing, but this time I was warm and my head was covered. I stayed until they swam away showing us both of their tails in return. After the commotion, I went to the bar area where several people were talking and laughing. I took off my jacket, and started talking to Sixto, the bartender. He mentioned a riddle that Christian, one of the expedition leaders, offered the guests the following night. The riddle was to use only one of each of the following numbers (1, 3, 4, 6) and use (), +, division, multiplication, or subtraction in any order to equal 24. One of the other guests, Neill, bet Kate, Natalie, and myself that we couldn’t get the right answer, and if we did, he would pay our bar tab. “Challenge Accepted,” I called out as the three ladies and myself all rallied together to get the correct answer. We did it! After a few minutes, several hints, and half a glass of wine, we got the correct answer [ 6/ (1-3/4)]. I felt satisfied completing something that another passenger stated “there was no way he was going to be able to guess it because he did industrial engineering and there is no way anyone could get it.” “you should give your degree back”, I sarcastically thought to myself . This was the same fellow who said he would pay our bar tab if we got it right, but he quickly reneged on the offer when we got the correct answer.
After playing trivia, we started talking to Christian for a while about the polar regions and his fascination with polar bears, narwhals, and reindeer. He recommended going to Svalbard in the North Arctic to tour the area with him and his company in the summer up there. He provided his business card, and grabbed his laptop to show us photos of some of the animals and pictures of the northern lights. We talked about the movie happy feet and were going to watch the movie but I was surprised to learn that it was 11pm already and should go to bed. I quickly finished my glass of wine and went downstairs for some much needed sleep before tomorrow’s expedition. Tonight would be particularly enjoyable because the ship is not moving so it means I could sleep flat for a change.
