Antarctica part 2 - yet another VERY exciting episode in the cruise-so much so I stayed up all night!!

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

For some reason, maybe it was just because it had been such an exciting day and there was a lot to think about – I just couldn’t sleep. I wanted to write it all down and I was behind with my diary. Sharing a cabin I didn’t want to put the light on and disturb Margaritta, so I decided to go up to the library and do it there.

It was well after midnight by this time, about 2.00am and I was so focused on settling down with a cup of something hot (tea, herb teas, coffee and biscuits were available 24 ours a day in the library) into a corner in the bar area and catching up with myself that it didn’t really register with me a very agitated Cara had rushed past me in the corridor when I was en route to the library.

I had been there for about a half hour, writing away, all was quiet, when suddenly Nick Tozer turned up to make himself a coffee – it turned out that the captains attempts to free the boat from the sandbank had been unsuccessful and just before midnight the decision to contact the Spanish base who had offered the use of their tug to pull us free was taken. So as the Captain only had Russian and the Tug captain Spanish, a bit of translating was required and Nick had been in the thick of the negotiations. So the Spanish Armada (well, the boat was called Las Palmas!) was on its way to the rescue!!!!!

It was all going to happen in about an hour so I thought ‘I can’t miss this!’ and went back down to the cabin to put on my outdoor clothing and go onto deck in the dark – well it never seemed to get totally dark, it was just starting to have the glow of dawn, having just lost the grey of dusk.

There was nothing on deck, it was still a little cloudy and of course everything was covered in snow from the blizzard. It was remarkable being out there on my own, and as the sky started to glow more and more I snapped away at the sunrise through Neptunes Window – the name given to a dip in the perimeter of the crater to the east – it was AMAZING! 

After about an hour the tug boat turned up and to cut a long story short, managed to release us on the second attempt – the tow rope snapped on the first! Vladamir, the Russian crew member in charge of the zodiacs, was buzzing around between the two boats and delivering the tow chains to the Spanish.

By this time more people had come on deck and the snow had started to clear a bit, the sun was nearly up and I had been up all night! Although it was a long process it had been exciting to witness it, although I didn’t see the first chain actually give way, it happened at the moment that I turned to take the photograph of the deck covered in snow!

After that I WAS tired and able to sleep, and missed breakfast – although I got pastries, as it was customary for pastries to be delivered to the coffee area at some ridiculous hour like 5.30 - ‘earlybirds’ they called it!

When I awoke we had moved off from Whalers Bay and gone around a headland in the crater to a hot spring site – where we were invited to go for a swim! And the weather, always so changeable and unpredictable, had changed for the better to make this a perfect thing to do.

So I SWAM in the Antarctic Ocean!  Only 5 strokes mind you, the rest of the time I was wallowing in the VERY hot waters of the springs close to the shore – which was covered in snow!! The sea temperature was probably about 2 degrees – it certainly felt very cold. ON returning to the Orlova we were greeted with hot cocoa spiced with vodka! A traditional Russian beverage for swimming in freezing waters maybe?

So the whole episode of running aground was very worthwhile – we would not have stayed there overnight if it hadn’t happened and would have missed the swim! The nature of the crater and the tides in Deception Island makes the sands shift periodically I should imagine and although the captain usually stopped in that place for the landing at Whalers Bay, this was the first cruise of the season and the sandbank must have shifted slightly.  But we had all benefited from it, especially me, with that amazing sunrise!

The weather remained sunny and perfect as we headed out again through Neptunes Bellows – there were still remnants of snow on deck and the whole episode had left everyone in playful mood with much to talk about. We went on to Half Moon Island, which was delightful and went out on the zodiacs to walk across the island and see so many gentoo and chinstrap penguins.

Part of the first briefing we had had on board was about behaviour around penguins, we had to always give them right of way, and keep a distance of about 4 or 5 metres between us and them. But there were so many and some of them could be so inquisitive it was sometimes hard to do! Especially on landing, penguins could pop out of the water anywhere.  On landing we had to slip over the side of the zodiac into the last few inches of water with the welllies on. We would then leave our life jackets on the side of the shore with a member of staff, so that when we returned there would be an indication if anyone was missing as there would be a jacket left.

We did not have completely free access to most landing places, we would get instruction on landing, usually from Cara or Victoria, as to where we could walk, and sometimes there would be another member of staff in a relevant position if there was something particuar to see. Luke was the geologist and would point out interesting features of the landscape and snow scapes, Fiona the marine biologist and Graham Snow the ornithologist, although his knowledge was more relevant on board sometimes, in identifying the birds that could be seen following in the wake of the boat. Ian Stone, the historian, filled us in on the many stories behind the sites like Whalers Bay, and also pointed out things that were relevant to where we were and what we had seen in the videos we watched, like the one on Shackleton.  One thing they would all find might be some ancient glacial ice (10,000 year old!) which sometimes found its way back to the bar and a G&T if we were lucky!

That evening, to end what had already been an AMAZING day we were in for such a treat – the Russian crew put on a ‘show’ for us – Yarmarka – where all the crew dressed up in amazing costumes and the girls danced around sharing bread with everyone and then did a dance for us to Russian music which ended in a grand conga as they got people to stand up and join in! They were so much fun and everybody enjoyed it! THEN we were invited to the dining room for a Russian meal!

After that it was the third part of the Shackleton programme and we could appreciate the weather conditions on the screen far more having been in the blizzards of the previous day. Then for the first time I joined some of the others in the bar for a drink – there was beginning to be talk coming fromt eh Dutch contingency about putting on a ‘show’ for the staff and crew, with each nationalitys representatives doing a song or something – all sounded a bit like something I should steer clear of – but I’m not like that! Everyone was sayng how tired I looked and so I went off to bed for a VERY good sleep!!!!!