A day after Nadja had left I boarded the MS Expedition for a 12 days cruise to Antarctica. What can I say – I really was excited! What an adventure! And I had a lot of high expectations... and all of them were quickly met or even exceeded!
My new "home" for the next few days was incredible. I actually got an upgrade from category 5 to category 3 and when I went into my cabin for the first time I could not hide a big grin – it was massive with a big window! My cabin-mate was a really nice girl from Australia. Even though there were a total of 118 passengers on board it felt quite intimate. It was a mixed crowd of all sorts of nationalities and ages and we had some hilarious fun together. The crew was lovely and caring and the food on board was incredible. We really got stuffed with massive breakfasts, a delicious lunch buffet, a haute cuisine 4-course dinner and as many cookies, cakes, coffee, hot choc etc you want throughout the whole day!
Nov 6
We left the harbor around 5pm in the afternoon and were sailing all night through the Beagle Channel on our way to Drake Passage.
Nov 7
This really was our first day on board and therefore I was a bit worried about seasickness and took some prevention as we were told that the drive through Drake Passage could be very rocky (supposed to be the roughest in the world!). As a result I felt really sleepy and did not do much else then sleeping and eating all day long. As I did not want to feel like I was "on drugs" throughout the whole journey I stopped those pills and was happy to realize that I was all fine with being on sea. Looks like I had got my “sealegs” pretty quickly.
Nov 8
As the weather conditions were surprisingly good for this time of the year we were rather fast and had our first landing already after lunch on our third day. The weather really was weird as it changed from snow to sun and back within minutes. We went with the zodiacs to Aitcho Island in the South Shetlands and I felt like I was in the middle of a Walt Disney movie! Thousands of penguins, some seals and an astounding landscape. But those pictures can tell you more than any words...
Nov 9
When I opened my eyes today I realized that I had woken up in a different world! Everything was white and blue, floating icebergs surrounded our boat and the landscape was surreal.
In the morning we went for a stunning zodiac cruise through Foyn Harbour and to a shipwreck. The icebergs were sparkling in the sunshine as if they were made out of a million diamonds. Incredible!
After lunch we went for a real workout-hike up a hill on Cuverville Island. It would not have actually been so tough if we were not the first people there in this season. There was no single footstep in the snow and it really felt very special to be the first ones on the island. The downside was that we had to create our own path up the hill in deep snow. Hard work for the guys in front of our line. But we got a wonderful reward as soon as we reached the top!
Nov 10
Today the weather was not in favor for us and we were not able to do any landings. But I guess you will have to experience snow, clouds and wind at least once when you are in Antarctica. Anyway, we had a nice cruise through the Lemaire Channel and a relaxed day on the boat with some lectures, movies and fun.
View from my cabin window:
View from captain`s bridge:
Nov 11
Today in the morning it was still snowing and pretty cold, but we were able to have another two amazing landings. Morning visit was to Goudier Island with its many penguins and to Port Lockroy, the British station in Antarctica.
A big highlight was the afternoon activity as we actually stepped on the Antarctic continent itself! Nov 12
Next stop – famous Deception Island! First landing to the ruins of an old whaling station was amazing. But the thing everyone was looking forward to was jumping in the Antarctic water. Normally the water is supposed to be quite warm there because of some volcanic activities, but unfortunately this time it was actually freezing cold. Someone said it was -3.8C... Anyway, more than 30 brave ones went for a swim – including me! Brrr...
Afternoon landing at Telefon Bay on Deception Island was not less impressive. A bizarre scenery of white snow and black ash. I almost felt as if I was part of an black/white movie!
Biggest highlight nevertheless was that after the landings there was a bottle of delicious red wine and a lovely card in my cabin that James had arranged to be sent to me! I was speechless...
Nov 13
I can only repeat myself – this is stunning! Todays stop at Half Moon Bay literally blew me away!
In the afternoon we were supposed to have another landing at Penguin Island, but as the wind had picked up (around 40 knots!) there was no chance to go out with the zodiacs.
Instead the expedition leader decided to visit our friends from the Polish Artowski Station. Unfortunately not everything worked out the way it was actually planned as when the first zodiac touched water it flipped and the staff members fell into icecold water. What a shock! Luckily nothing had really happened and about another 6 minutes later there were on board again – pretty cold but without any injuries. Well, somehow they might have mistaken that the swimming was actually yesterday... ;-)
Man over board!
Polish Station (and more penguins... in case you do not have seen enough yet ;-):
My new shirt from Polish Artowski Station... and good old Jonny! :-)
Nov 14
Sniff! The cruise is slowly getting to an end. Today we had our last activity before heading back in the direction of Drake Passage. We went to Elephant Island where Shackleton and his crew were stranded for several months in 1916. Quite an unpleasant spot! Difficult to believe that one can actually survive there.
Nov 15
Back on the “Drake Shake” - as some people like to say. Again we were quite lucky and it was not too rocky. Nevertheless, some people felt unwell (and that was not because of Happy Hour in the bar - well, that is what they had said at least...?! ;-).
Nov 16
The captain did us a big favor and made a little detour to take us to Cape Horn. What a wonderful start for our last day on board!
This was followed by a tour through the engine room and some other places a passenger normally would not get to see.
Apart from that not much was happening during the day so I concentrated on eating all that delicious food for the last time. Uffhh! Over those 12 days I have really stuffed myself! I actually thought that the food would be quite bad, but I was pleasantly surprised. I will really miss that when I get back to my “life on the street” again. Soon I will be back to stale bread with butter and lukewarm coffee for breakfast... grummel!
And after dinner... cabin party! :-)
Nov 17
Back in Ushuaia...
I really felt sad saying goodbye to the nice people I have met on the boat. Ilise, Haya, Jonny, Russel, Karin, Patric, Katharina, Panny, Rodrigo, Chris, Geoff, Mark, Erin,... and all other new mates of Frank S. T.! ... I already miss you! Thank you for such a wonderful and unforgetable time together. You made this amazing trip even more special for me! I count on seeing you in 2012 in Arctic! :-)
