Cuverville Island - gentoos and snowslides

First full day in Antarctica. But, I have a sense that I will have lots of photos and lots to tell, so I am only writing about this morning. We were traveling through the Gerlache Strait to Cuverville Island. The island is home to the largest gentoo penguin colony in the region (4800 breeding pairs). We bundled up for our landing, but turns out it was only really the zodiac ride that was cold. 

Brent, Cat, Michelle and Kyle

Clare, Susanne, Ben and me

As soon as we landed, there were penguins all over the place! And a fair amount of ice. I quite enjoyed watching the penguins pop out of the water and waddle up the stone beach. 

We played on the ice for a bit too, which may not have been the best idea while wearing rubber boots, but you know, sometimes when you are in crazy places, you don't make the best decisions (as I think back to my rhino moment at Hluhluwe). 

The penguins just ignored us and went about their business. About when this next photo was taken, there was a bit of a commotion over where the zodiacs were landing. There was a leopard seal following Alex's zodiac. I didn't get any photos, but it was pretty exciting. I was just hoping the penguins would get out of the water. 

Like I said in a previous post, I really like the porpoising penguins. They make me laugh.

Brent was making friends, in an awkward wall-flower kinda way. 

It was an amazing thing to just sit down and have the penguins just wander by. They really don't care about humans and just go about their business. 

Lise enjoying the penguin parade

 It was a pretty amazing view from the top of the little hike. And we could look back to the MS Expedition.

The chicks were very new on Cuverville. In fact, many had clearly just hatched with the egg shells still in the nest. 

And some chicks were still having to share space with an egg. 

Nest building was a constant. The boys making sure they bring the right stones to their ladies. I think the funniest moment was watching one that kept stealing from another nest. Then he got told off by that penguin lady. So he made his way back to his nest and pretended to put a stone down and then stepped back looking for approval from his lady. Total fake. 

To get down from the view point, people were struggling to make their way in the snow. Being a Canadian girl, I know that they best way to go down in these circumstances is to sit down and slide. Well, it kinda started a thing. It was really fun, you just had to check your speed so as not to run into the sleeping penguin near the bottom. 

On the way back to the ship, we had a little iceberg tour, which I quite enjoyed. They are amazing things. 

I will write about this afternoon soon.

Crossing the Drake and arriving in Antarctica

The Drake Passage. An 800 kilometer passage between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands off the coast of Antarctica, known for its stormy seas. I was prepared for the worst. I imagined 2 days straight of sitting in my cabin being sea sick. Well, turns out I was fine. First, our weather was great and second, I seem to not suffer from sea sickness (or the preventative tablets and wrist bands worked). Either way, I was good to go. As I said before, we made our way into open ocean on the night of January 3rd. We spent all day yesterday on the sea. There were a number of lectures: geology, ice, penguins 101, pinnipeds 101. The basics. And then there was the lecture on sea birds. I realised very quickly, I don't really care about sea birds. They all look like various forms of sea gull. Big sea gulls, little sea gulls, black and white sea gulls, dirty (or brown) sea gulls. This is a black and white sea gull (actually called a cape or painted petrel). This is pretty much all I took pictures of yesterday. It was a slow day.

However, the night was fun as we spent the evening in the polar bear pub. And at 11pm went and took some pictures. It was still very light out.


Me, Susanne and Michelle, somewhere in the middle of the Drake Passage

 Ok, excitement today. This morning we were told that we had made really good time across the passage and would likely be reaching the South Shetland Islands sometime mid-morning. And, if weather cooperated, we would be making our first zodiac trip this afternoon. This would be a big bonus, as we weren't scheduled for a landing until tomorrow morning. They weren't lying and we sighted land sometime around 10. It looked cold, but I was super excited. Penguins greeted us, as they porpoised along side the ship. It was pretty awesome.

After lunch, we were told that we would in fact be making a landing on Aitcho Island. We were split into 4 groups (I was with Amundsen - first guy to the South Pole). They can only have 100 people on shore at any one time, and seeing how there are 130 of us, there was some organizing that needed to be done. What ended up happening is half went straight to the landing, and the rest of us did a little zodiac tour. And then we swtiched. It worked quite well.


This would be the crew of solo travellers in the mudroom, ready to go to Antarctica!
Kyle, Brent, Ben, Michelle, Cat and Susanne

During our zodiac tour, we were taken over to see a group of male elephant seals. These guys were around 3 or 4, so haven't grown their proboscis that gives them the name elephant, nor had they grown to the size of an elephant (as they do). They did, however, live up to the name "OBS" (odiferous blubber slugs). On top of it, these guys were molting, not the most attractive creature ever, but you know.

After hanging out with the OBS's for a bit, we were shuttled around to the landing area. Hello penguins! It smelled pretty bad, but I was so excited! I love penguins they are amazing. On Aitcho Island, there are two species of penguins: chinstraps and gentoos. I really like the gentoos, I like the red on their beaks. Both species were in the midst of hatching season, with the chinstraps a little farther along. The chinstraps are a little crazy. They just go go go. The gentoos, a little more laid back. They seem to be taking their time a bit more.



Ben with a gentoo

I took so many photos, eggs, chicks, adults, it was amazing. And I couldn't help but keep thinking, I'm on Antarctica!


 I really enjoyed watching the nest making process. As the ladies would keep the egg or the chicks, the guy would go about his business bringing rocks back to the nest. He would then very carefully place the rock on the nest. Then the lady penguin would take the rock and put it where it was actually supposed to go. These guys have it figured out, bring ladies pretty rocks and they will like you.

But when it comes down to it, I could just sit watching the penguins for hours. They are just too funny and seem to have such personalities. And of course, the chicks. Love them! Looking forward to the rest of the trip!

Departure day with a little hike to stretch the legs

When I got up this morning, Michelle (my roommate from Australia), said to me, "It's steep. It's really steep". I was planning on heading up to the Glacier Martial with Susanne (from San Francisco). Michelle had done the hike the day before and, although acknowledging that it was not a long hike, she kept telling me, it's steep. Well, she wasn't lying. 

We took a cab up to the base of the hike. You had an option here, chairlift part way up or hike. Seeing as we were on a bit of a timeline (had to be back to catch the boat), we opted for the chairlift. Turns out the chairlift isn't a whole lot faster than hiking as there was a couple who arrived at the base at the same time as us, but made a quick decision to hike. Once we had decided to take the chairlift and actually taken it, we arrived at the top within minutes of each other. Ah well. Save the legs for the steepness. We had a beautiful view of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel from the top of the chairlift and it got me pretty excited about getting on the boat!

Susanne and I had a great hike. I may not have had the appropriate footwear for hiking through the snow (a little slippy on the downhill), but it was really great. It was definitely steep. In Canada, there would have been a few more switch backs, or 50. Susanne and I had a great time and turns out it was good that we got to know each other a bit (more on that later).

Deiter and Johanne came along for the hike. They liked the little scrubby trees, so I took a picture of them in one of the trees. It was a quick trip back down to town to do some last minute things (I was doing my souvenir shopping at the beginning of the trip knowing that as soon as I was off the boat at the end of the trip, it would be straight to the airport). So, some shopping and some food and then it was back to the hotel to join the group and head to the boat!

This is the MS Expedition - my home for the next week and a bit. As you may notice, it is registered in Monrovia, yep, Liberia. Interesting place to be registered for an ice-breaker. The boat holds 130 passengers, plus a crew and staff of around 80. When we got on the boat, they collected us all in the discovery lounge and then called us up by groups to tell us which cabin we would be in. When I arrived at my cabin (luggage waiting for me), I thought, hmm, I think I recognize that backpack. Well, my roommate ended up being Susanne who I had spent the morning hiking with. Nice. We also had the bonus that we had both been upgraded from a quad to a twin room. Fantastic.

After getting our rooms, it was time for some safety. Very important. So we all got our life jackets and joined the crew for our safety briefing and drill.

Susanne (USA), Marianna (Australia), Brooke (Australia) and Clare (USA)

After the safety briefing, we were on our way. So long Argentina! We were all ready to start the journey down the Beagle Channel and into the Drake's Passage.

Cat, Michelle, Allan and Jean (all from Australia - the boat was full of them)

We will get to the Drake's Passage sometime tonight. A little nervous about that as it is notorious for rough seas and therefore many passengers down with sea sickness. As I haven't spent much (if any) time on the ocean, I am a little concerned. But I am armed with tablets and wrist bands. So we are off. Off to Antarctica!

The end of the world and the land of fire.

I arrived in Ushuaia early. A 7:00 am flight on New Years Day will do that to you. It was also require that you promptly go to your hostel and have a good long nap. After my recovery nap, I decided a little exploring of Ushuaia was in order. The town of Ushuaia is commonly called the most southern city in the world (there is some debate, but whatever). I will be catching my boat in Ushuaia, but have had a little while to explore the area. 

The town is located on the Tierra del Fuego peninsula, bordered by the Beagle Channel on one side and the beautiful Martial mountains on the other. It's the summer down here, but the temperature seems to suggest otherwise. It's around ten degrees. Not summer. But it is beautiful. 

Although chilly, the town was is in full bloom with lupins everywhere. Beautiful. I stopped by the war memorial as well (Falklands War or War of the Malvinas, depending on your take on things). Back at the hostel I met up with one of the girls who will be on the boat - Clare from NYC. It was strange to get back to the hostel around 10, and it was still very light. Only looking forward to more daylight!

Ok, day two in Ushuaia (January 2). Clare and I headed out to Tierra Del Fuego "Land of Fire" National Park. We were dropped off at the beginning of the Coastal Trail. It's funny how much of it reminded me of home, or NZ, or Newfoundland. It was really gorgeous.

I climbed some trees.

Clare took some pictures.

I took some pictures (such a beautiful place!).

Deiter and Johanne came along for the hike. Needed to get some air after all the traveling.

After the hike, we headed back into Ushuaia for some hot chocolate. At the cafe, I found my first rookery of penguins - these little guys. They are a special species called meringue penguins. Aren't they cute?

Bringing in the New Year in Buenos Aires

As promised - I am off on another adventure. I am on my way to Antarctica! Mom took me up to the airport in Calgary on Sunday. I always hate saying goodbye to my family, but it makes it a little easier when I am going on holiday, rather than going back to work. So Calgary - Houston - Buenos Aires - Ushuaia. However, I had a stop over in BA on the 31st to the 1st and so I got to ring in the New Year in Buenos Aires.

After arriving and getting down to my hostel and everything, I only had a few hours to explore. I decided to just walk around and take in a bit of this paradoxical city. There is something so very European, so very classy about Buenos Aires, and yet there is a grit to it that doesn't exist in other cities that look so similar on the surface. I can't really explain the grit, it's just something about the sounds, the graffiti, the way the people interact.

I was staying at a hostel on Avenida de Mayo. It is a street surrounded by amazing architecture. I'm not an architecture person per se, but I can say that it was a pretty interesting collection and definitely takes you back in time a bit. I made my way down to Plazo de Mayo, crossing Avenida 9 de Julio (you may get the sense that most streets are named after dates, it is true, important dates for Argentine independence). As I was crossing, I looked up to see Evita Peron on the side of a building, yep definitely in Buenos Aires.

Just as I reached Plazo de Mayo, it started to rain. And it wasn't a wimpy rain; it was those big fat drops, where one hits you and kinda explodes. So, while in Argentina, where will you find a place to stay dry? A Catholic church of course. So first stop - La Catedral Metropolitana. I will say, not the prettiest church I've ever been in (and having spent two summers in Italy, I have been in a fair number of Catholic churches), but it was ok. It was really dark and I would definitely have suggested a bit more attempt at natural light, but like I said before, I'm not an architect, nor a church goer, so I guess my opinion probably doesn't count for much.

I think the best part of the Cathedral was the Mausoleum of General San Martin. It also has the remains of Argentina's Unknown Soldier of the Independence. Jose San Martin was the Argentine general and main leader in the struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire.

When I left the Cathedral, the rain had stopped - thankfully - giving me a chance to wander some more. I made my way around the plaza and when I got to the Casa Rosada, I felt like I was back in Dhaka. The building is the exact same colour as all the famous buildings in Dhaka - pepto pink. Nice. Casa Rosada is the "executive mansion" and office of the president.

I kept going towards Avenida Florida - a very touristy street full of little cafes and terrible gift and clothing shops. Coming from these shops was an array of the strangest music selections I have heard in awhile - one would have a beautiful Argentine tango playing (as loud as possible), next shop, Vengaboys (not joking), then there was a little Ricky Martin thrown in there to bridge the gap. It definitely made me smile. From there I walked towards the Theatro Colon, up to the Plazo de la Republic.

Not the typical view of the plaza, but I found it really interesting, a grand mixture of what seems to be Buenos Aires today.

On to the Plaza de los Dos Congresses, where I came upon a marathon. Apparently a great way to end 2012.

Ok, now for the actual new year. I hadn't been very organized in this whole trip thing, so my choices for new years activities were limited. I had been wanting to go to a tango show, but apparently booking that day-of wasn't going to work. Conveniently the hostel was hosting an Argentine Asado (BBQ). There was meat, a lot of it. Quite yummy. The wine flowed and it was really fun to spend the evening with people from all over the world. The table I was at had a Swede, two Frenchmen, two Swiss, an Aussie and a girl from Medicine Hat (yep). It was a really fun night. We toasted to the new year from the roof-top patio as fireworks exploded all around us. It was a great night and hopefully the start of an amazing year.