The Penguin Highway

There are many remote areas of the world, but it is hard to describe the isolation you feel in Antarctica. We had left the nearest civilisation over 2 days ago and we were now approximately 700 miles away from Ushuaia. The only people we would see over the 10 days of our trip are the 91 guests and 60 crew on the ship. There are no vapour trails in the sky, no background hum of traffic, no mobile phones ringing, no birds singing. This is a remote and harsh landscape but with stunning and simple beauty. For a lot of the trip I found it difficult to take everything in that I was seeing, it's not too strong an expression to say I felt in awe of my surroundings. People have asked me what the most memorable moment was of the trip, that's really difficult to say because every day has its own special memories, but the times when we just stopped, put the camera down and were present in the moment, the vastness and drama of the landscape and the silence and tranquillity will last with me forever. It was a real privilege to be here.

Our first view of Antarctica was Fournier Bay, Anvers island. We had finished the Drake Passage crossing overnight and as I opened the cabin curtains we were greeted with a stunning scene, a backdrop of snow covered mountains and the sea littered with blocks of ice covering the bay as far as I could see. In the coming winter months all this sea ice will merge together as the Southern Ocean freezes and expands around Antarctica. We were so fortunate to see a pod of humpback whales feeding in the bay, it was an amazing sight especially when they dive deep into the sea searching for food and slowly their flukes rise into the air before disappearing under the surface. It wasn't just seeing the whales, but also hearing them, their breathing  punctuating the silence of the bay as one then another pushed a plume of water out from their blowholes. There is never any guarantee that on a trip such as this we would encounter wildlife. Seeing whales with their flukes rising as they went deep into the water was top of our 'we really hope we see list' and here we were on day 1 in Antarctica, it really was an incredible sight. Although we didn't know it at the time, this was to be our first and last sighting of whales on our trip, and I consider myself so fortunate to have seen these elegant graceful creatures in the wild. 

There were a couple of other firsts on day one. In the morning we had our initial ride on the Zodiac boats, these were used to move us from the ship to the shore or to explore areas of the coast from the sea. Travelling on these boats is best described as exhilarating, as you zip along at speed bouncing across the water and gripping on for dear life just to make sure you don't get an unplanned bath in the southern ocean. On our first trip we went deep into the sea ice looking at icebergs close up and seeing the difference between forming sea ice and glacial ice. If you are not sure have a taste, glacial ice is frozen fresh water that has slipped into the sea from land. It felt really odd to be picking ice out of the sea and eating it with only a hint of salt from the surface where it had touched the water. In the afternoon the ship moved a short distance to Orne Harbour where we set foot on the continent of Antarctica. This was continent number six for Meg, what a great achievement, only Africa to go! 

The Antarctic Peninsula is very mountainous so wherever you land, if you want to explore this usually involves a steep uphill walk. Although we probably only climbed about 250-300m at Orne Harbour, the gradient was steep, the sun was out and I realised about half way up I'd over done the layers of clothing. There was nowhere to stop so we just had to keep on going and as I reached the plateau I remember thinking I could be the first person in Antarctica to pass out with heat stroke. We regrouped and stripped off a layer and I soon cooled down. It was then that I looked around and took in the stunning views down to the bay on both sides of us and the mountain continuing to rise in front of us. The climb had been well worth the effort. It was here that we came across our first colony of Chinstrap Penguins. If it was an effort for me to get up here, how do these tiny guys with their small legs and web feet do it? The penguins were fascinating to watch, so funny and clumsy on land as they waddled along but fast and graceful when you see them in the sea. As we got back to the ship I remember saying to Meg at the end of our first day, "well I think we've peaked, I'm really not sure how the remaining days of the trip can beat this", it had been a very special day. But we were not to be disappointed.

Snowshoeing expedition team

The following day we had the opportunity to do a snowshoeing hike on Denco Island where we would walk along and of course up a glacier. The weather was much more as I'd expected in Antarctica, cooler and with heavy clouds and snow. Based on my wardrobe drama of the previous day I kept my layers down which was a good call. Walking in snowshoes is quite an experience, it reminded me of trying to walk on land in flippers, you have to walk very differently, taking exaggerated steps. I landed on my backside a couple of times as I tried to turn with the snowshoes crossing over each other, it was a bit like trying to walk while standing on your own unfastened shoe laces. We set off up the glacier and I managed to develop a slightly bow legged walking technique with a sideways shuffle if I needed to turn. The hike was steep and physically challenging but rewarding and even with the heavy cloud cover the views at the top were just as dramatic as the previous day. And of course, there at the top, was a colony of Gentoo penguins to greet us. As we headed back down we crossed over a network of penguin highways, paths carved into the snow and ice by the penguins as they waddled from their high rise colony to the sea to feed and back again. I was really pleased that I'd done a snowshoeing hike, I'm not sure that I'd want to be walking a long distance in them, but it had been another great Antarctica experience.  

The days that followed were all as memorable. We visited Neko Harbour, Jougla Point, Two Hummock Island, Palaver Point and Harry Island, but I was fascinated with Damoy Point and also  excited that we got the opportunity to go to Port Lockroy.

At Damoy point in Dorian Bay, there is an old airport waiting room or transit station. This British base was used in early summer when the sea ice was still blocking access for ships further south. Between 1973 and 1993 scientists and supplies would arrive here to await a plane to take them to the more southerly base at Rothera. Plane's would land on the glacier behind the hut, but the timing and frequency of them arriving was weather dependent. Think of a big garden shed with beds made out of pallet wood, a basic kitchen with a table and you get the idea. The site is now maintained by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and with  lots of the original tinned foods and essential kit still in place it almost felt as though the last scientists had only just departed. On the day we were there the sun was shining and the bay was beautiful, but I'm not sure that I would want to be stranded here at the mercy of the weather waiting for that plane to arrive! 

Port Lockroy (Base A)

Some of you may have heard of Port Lockroy, a former British military base and research station. As we approached the island we could see that the snow from earlier in the year, which was so deep the penguins were able to walk on the building roofs, had receded significantly. The dark rocks and black buildings felt like a stark contrast to the beautiful outlook into the bay. The base is now run as a museum and post office by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, who following applications, appoint five people to live and work here for the summer season each year. As we were visiting late in the season the base team had already left and returned home, but the museum door was left unlocked so we were still able to have a look around. The building is maintained, a bit like Damoy Point, as it was when in full use as a base and it gave us some insight into the harsh reality of living and working in such a remote and isolated place. A new accommodation hut has been built for the people that live and work here now. Hopefully it provides some improved comfort from that in the original building, but don't get the idea of any luxuries, this is basic living eg there are no showers the team have to use the facilities on board visiting ships when they call through the summer season. It was fascinating to visit and see this location that I'd read so much about and I had an admiration for the people that are able to live and work here, it's certainly not something I could do, I mean the nearest pub is over 700 miles away. If it ticks a box for you the applications to live and work here for 23/24 have now closed but will open again next year for 24/25 season. Just before we headed back to the ship we left a couple of postcards which will be posted when the new team arrives later in the year. It will be a lovely reminder of our trip when they drop through the letterbox. 

Meg takes the plunge 

It's part of the tradition that 'passengers are invited to do a polar plunge, jumping off the ship into the ice strewn Southern Ocean. I have to say, I'd been of the opinion why on earth would you want to do that and I had occasionally dipped my hand into the sea whilst we were in the Zodiac's just to reaffirm my view that anyone who even considered jumping into water with a temperature of -1° must be quite mad. As the time drew near the pressure started to build from Meg, 'stop wimping out' 'just get on with it' 'you'll never get the chance to do this again', but I held firm. That was until someone said "you'll get a large shot of vodka when you get out of the water". Well everyone has their breaking point and I thought, why not, I'm only here once. So I donned my swimming trunks and robe and slowly trudged down to the boot room.. When I arrived, there was no turning back, well over half of the guests on board were taking part and the room was filled with a buzz of nervous excitement, no one had bottled it so far and I wasn't going to be the first. It was slightly reassuring but also worrying that they strap a belt attached to a rope around your waist so that they can haul you back in if anything 'goes wrong'! Then suddenly it was my turn, I hit the water and remember thinking well that's not as cold as I imagined it was going to be, and no sooner had I resurfaced then I felt the tug of the rope pulling me back in. I climbed back on board and a towel was thrust in my hand, never mind that I said, where's my bloody vodka. That was it, I was a member of the polar plunge club, I had swum, albeit briefly in the Southern Ocean. As is the case quite often in life, the fear that stops us doing something is often worse than actually doing it, I was quite proud of myself. 

Up Next:

Up next we sail into an active volcano in the South Shetland Islands and we endure the full Drake Passage experience. We received some unbelievable news from Lufthansa about our flight home and we got a chance to explore a little of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. 

Blogs in the Antarctica Series:

Blog 1 - Fin del Mundo Preparations for our visit to the 7th continent

Blog 2 - From Baston to Antarctica Our journey to Antarctica

Follow Our Antarctic Journey

You can click this link to Polar Steps to read more about our journey and all the places we visited on our Antarctic Adventure. 

Further Info:

We travelled to Antarctica with Antarctica21 on a 10 day expedition. They have a range of packages for visiting the sub Antarctic area.

The Magellan Explorer was built in Chile to the latest polar code specifications and entered service in 2019. She can carry a maximum of 100 passengers plus 60 expedition staff and crew.

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