The White Continent

Sunset in Antarctica

Antarctica is stunningly gorgeous. I found myself taking the same photo over and over again as the light changed slightly or the water began to still just a bit. It seems like words are insufficient to describe all the beauty that Antarctica contains.

Antarctica is forbidding, dangerous, and it is really, really cold. These waters can easily be fatal to a human being. Yet this is the preferred territory of so many creatures. I had no idea there was so much wildlife living in Antarctica! Even though the weather was SUPER cold for me, these animals are well adapted to live here comfortably. I really like the weather in Southern California--coastal Southern California to be specific. So, even as I stood on the bow of the ship freezing myself silly (because it is SO GORGEOUS and I didn´t want to miss anything), the animals of the continent live in comfort on the snows, the ice, with the wind blowing a gale, and windows blowing in storms. I realized that this, Antarctica, IS their Southern California.

Before the photos begin: some backstory...

I traveled south in Argentina until I finally arrived at Ushuaia, "The City At The End Of The World", the furthest south city in South America, and the furthest south city in the world. It is a frequent stop for many cruise ships headed to Antarctica from Buenos Aires, and a frequent port of embarcation for others. It was here that I decided to set myself down, start asking around, and get myself to Antarctica.

I had heard that the best way to get on a cruise was to start asking the travel agents in town. What I found is that the cruises available were FAR outside my budget. So I kept searching.

I decided to turn to my old friend (the Internet :)) to do some more research. I found a "cheap" cruise on a HUGE cruise ship by Princess called the Star Princess. The far was "reasonable", but: it departed from Buenos Aires, it was 16 days, it was 2500 people, and it never allowed disembarkation onto the continent.

I searched some more and found Orient Lines, and their single ship, the Marco Polo. This was to be their final season, and although it was a bit more expensive, the size of the ship was limited to 500 passengers, it departed from Ushuaia, would spend 7 days at sea, allowed disembarcation four times onto the continent, and generally seemed like my cup of tea.

I was staying in the Los Lupinos youth hostel in Ushuaia at the time I was doing this research. Each day I would ask around town, then hit the internet cafe, do some research, and finally return home. While I was sitting in the kitchen of the hostel, I was approached by Daizo and asked what I knew about Antarctic cruises. I told him what I´d found out. After a short conversation, we both had similar goals and both wanted to share a room. Awesome! We´d both save because we´d split the cost of a room.

So we booked the cruise. It departed the 5th of January. We had to book by the 3rd, so we rushed down to the internet cafe and bought our tickets. There was no time to send us tickets, so the pier would hold our information for us. We were so excited!!

General Itinerary:
Day 1: Depart through the Beagle Channel to the open water of the Atlantic
Day 2: Cross into the consistently roughest area sea known to man, the Drake Passage
Day 3: Cruise Deception Island and Cuverville Islands
Day 4: Port Lockroy (Jougla Point)
Day 5: Paradise Harbour (Chilean base at Waterboat Point)
Day 6: Half-Moon Island, then head to Drake Passage
Day 7: Cross Drake passage to Cape Horn. Then through the Beagle Channel
Day 8: Day in port

The rest is a buncha photos from the experience.

Daizo and I heading out of Ushuaia on the way to Antarctica

Beautiful colors of the cliffs. The green is lichen as is the red. Deception Island, Antarctica

Heading into the caldera at Deception Island, Antarctica

Me (Marco Polo, Antarctica)





During the cruise, for the first time in a LONG time, I was able to play the piano. This is the picture of the theater aboard the ship. I snuck in and journaled and played the piano with Antarctic views out all the windows. It was amazingly fantastic! Waterboat Point, Antarctica

View of the side of the Marco Polo. When I first saw it, I was actually quite worried: you can actually see the ribs of the boat through the outer hull. Near the water on the back of the boat is the "iceberg guard" to keep any floating ice out of the propeller.

Stunning sky on the deck of the ship (Antarctica)

Before I left Phoenix, I had this idea in my head that I wanted to be Naked in Antarctica. And here I am.

In Paradise Harbor, the winds were calm, and at one point stopped. The water turned glassy. Paradise Harbor, Antarctica


The scenery was endlessly stunning. I can´t imagine a more picturesque place (Paradise Harbor, Antarctica)


Every evening before dinner was served, this guy would rev up the xylophone and practice the little dinner ditty... The Pavlovian "let´s get HUNGRY" song. I caught him here giving the announcement into the microphone which is out of view behind the plant. "For those with the early seating at 6:30, dinner is now served in the Seven Seas dining room.... Bon Appetit!" Marco Polo, Antarctica



Whale bones at Port Lockroy, Antarctica



We had unusually nice weather for our cruise. Here you can see a man on top filming. Just inside the glass is the gymnasium (where I used the cardio machines to counteract the buffet). The stern of the ship contains a pool, and the curved railings curve around it, 2 levels below. Paradise Harbor, Antarctica


Reflection in the window (Paradise Harbor, Antarctica)



Chilean base on Waterboat Point, (Paradise Harbour) Antarctica





We were NOT the only ones there in Antarctica! You can see the Chilean Base on the left-hand side, and beyond that in the center of the photo is a SAILBOAT! In the distance is yet another stunning visage: snowy mountains and beautiful sky (Waterboat Point, Antarctica)


Nesting Gentoo penguins (Waterboat Point, Antarctica)



This photo is a zoom-in of the above. The penguin on the left (with wings spread) was SUCH a character. He would slowly lean over toward the nesting penguin (the one he´s facing) who would start squawking once he got too close. He did this repeatedly, each time withdrawing when the nester got cranky. Finally, he went in quickly and stole a small pebble in his beak. Of course, the nesting penguin was testy, but as soon as the theif backed off, all was well again. Then the thief penguin headed back to his own nest to deposit the booty. This is typical penguin behavior, and we saw it a lot. Very funny to witness. There are about 15 billion rocks near the seashore, but they all want what their neighbor has. Human nature exhibited by penguins! Waterboat Point, Antarctica




Waterboat Point, Paradise Harbour, Antarctica


The nearest penguin is laying on the nest. The white all over is penguin poo. It´s funny to watch them poo. They stand up, wiggle their tail, and then this STREAM of white/pinkish stuff comes streaming out. The stuff SHOOTS away from the nest so that the youngens won´t get splattered. HOWEVER, there are a LOT of penguins with lots of OTHER penguins´poo all over them. The penguins nest in colonies... I guess it´s the cost of "safety in numbers" (Port Lockroy, Antarctica)


Interesting photo: In the top, you can see a penguin pelt. If you enlarge the photo, you will see that the underside actually looks woven, like carpet. Next is an egg. This one was opened by the Skuas (the scavengers of the Antarctic) and eaten. On the bottom is something that looks like a flower. It is actually a penguin stomach lining. The penguins eat Krill, and they´re really high in calcium (I think), and the penguins can´t process it. So their adaptation is to vomit up their stomach lining from time to time. Essentially internal molting! Amazing! (Port Lockroy, Antarctica)



At times, we were surrounded by some large icebergs (Paradise Harbor, Antarctica)



The Marco Polo against the backdrop of snow-covered mountain and pristine blue sky at Cuverville Island, Antarctica




Penguins are so cute! Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Penguins at Cuverville Island, Antarctica

Anyone who has been aboard a cruise ship knows that they have activities constantly. On this occasion, my friend & roommate Daizo got chosen to play Jeopardy. My friend Judy and I "translated" for him from time to time, and he actually did quite well. He did great when it came to country capitals of S America! (Marco Polo, Antarctica)


In the lower-right corner of this photo (enlarge by clicking on it!) is a whale tail! Paradise Harbor, Antarctica






Just another Antarctic Sunset!

And they last a LONG time! Because we were so far south, the sun only dipped behind the horizon for about 3 hours a day. This cruise is the first time i have ever experienced a sunset BEFORE a sunrise in a day! One day the sun set at 12:45am, and came back up at 4:38am! The skies were never dark, so I was never able to see stars, BUT the skies were this gorgeous for HOURS at a time! (Lemeire Channel, Antarctica)