The Last Post

Each day the expedition team provided us with an itinerary of the day's events.  On that itinerary they always included a quotation which often characterized the day's events.  It was a lovely way to bring art into what otherwise may have seemed an overly scientific experience.  On the last day of the trip a member of the expedition team read aloud the following poem.  I thought it made a very nice close to what had been an extraordinary experience.

I, the albatross that waits for you at the end of the world...

I, the forgotten soul of the sailors lost that crossed Cape Horn from all the seas of the 

world.

But die they did not

in the fierce waves,

for today towards eternity

in my wings they soar

in the last crevice

of the Antarctic winds.

Sara Vial

December 1992

A long journey's day into night...and day...and night

                                    Show me the way to go home....from Ushuaia

So I was going to end the blog with a lot of philosophizing on the journey as a metaphor for life, of finding new things about oneself in the most unfamiliar of places;  I was even going to quote T.S. Eliot for pete’s sake, after all, “In my end is my beginning...” And I may still find a little energy to wax philosophic for a moment, but first, let me add to the collection of bad travel stories we all have.  Mine starts on the return leg of our trip, in Ushuaia, February 21, 2012.  So after all the good-byes, the collecting of email addresses from new friends, the photos, the packed bags, and the hugs, we land at Ushuaia to spend a stress-free day walking and shopping and killing time until our flight to Buenos Aires this evening.  Except for the fact that it is post-Carnaval and hardly anything is open.  Ok, we can still walk around, except that the main street is about 10 blocks long.  So what do we do with the remaining 8 hours?  Well, we did find a very cute little coffee shop which has Wi-fi.  So we plonked ourselves down, had a coffee and lunch and checked emails.  Soon some other passengers from the ship arrived, a trio of Czechs with whom we shared a lovely dinner one night.  We chatted for a while with them before they headed off on their camping trip around South America.  Eventually we left, spent more time re-walking the street, stopping into the few open shops and making  a few more souvenir purchases, making the best of it before heading over to the airport.  Finally we retrieved our luggage from the storage facility Quark provided us with, hopped in a cab and went to the airport.  All seemed well with the world.  We were tired but on our way.  We got to the airport, checked in, and were waiting patiently  at the gate when someone noticed that the plane that would carry us to Buenos Aires which was parked right outside at the gate, had the inflatable slide deployed.  And two flight attendants looking like Laurel and Hardy were trying to stuff it back into the plane while battling gale force winds.  It looked like they were trying to stuff a beachball through a mail slot.  In any case, this did not look good.  So after a while of waiting, watching, and finally talking to an airline official, it seemed that  some guy thought it would be interesting to pull the handle to the emergency door while the plane was on the tarmac.  Now kids, don’t try this at home, because not only will it get you thrown in jail and blacklisted from ever flying again, but it will make you very unpopular with the people who are waiting to get on the now useless plane, people who have been waiting all day to get on this plane and go home, or one step closer to home.  So when the police brought this guy through the waiting area it seemed as though it took every ounce of restraint for this crowd not to tear him to pieces.  So....to make a long story (and getting longer by the minute) short, two hours later we were taken to a local hotel, given a meal, a room to wait in, and a promise that we would be on another plane by 2 a.m.  Now here’s where the philosophical part comes in.  While waiting at the hotel I did happen to look out at the evening sky, and the light was absolutely magnificent.  The winds had picked up and were forming whitecaps on the water of the bay, the mountains were dotted with yellow light streaming through the clouds;  even a rainbow had formed and was arcing its way up from the water into the sky.  And I thought, once I get back to Toronto, as much as it’s nice to be home, and there certainly are some lovely sights there, I certainly won’t be seeing anything like this.  It’s like once again, Mother Nature’s grand power was a reminder;  but this time it was not a reminder of the overwhelming power of nature, it was a reminder not to take these wondrous sights for granted.  So I snapped a few photos, breathed in the sea air, and went inside to have a very nice dinner with some more new friends who were similarly confined as we were. 

                                    The light at the end of the journey - Ushuaia

                                                         The last supper

The rest of the end of this tale is fairly routine.  We got our plane, and thanks to some fancy logistics work from Push, still had our driver waiting to pick us up in Buenos Aires, still had rooms waiting for us at the hotel, and were able to get a little freshened up before stepping onto the next plane bound for Toronto.  In fact, we met up with some more shipmates at the airport who were sharing our flight and had a good visit with them.  When we finally reached Toronto 10 hours later, we may have been a little worse for wear, a little cramped, a little tired, but, and here comes the T.S. Eliot, we arrived at our destination which,  15 days ago, had been our departure.  But not only that, we had arrived changed.  We may have come back to our homes, our departure points, our beginnings, but we came back with new information, new outlooks, new knowledge.  We really had become ambassadors for Antarctica, because you can’t visit a brand new continent, a continent so well preserved, so unchanged, so fresh and unspoiled, and return to the ever changing rest of the world, without comparing.  And there is definitely something to be said for preservation, especially when that preservation comes in the form of monolithic icebergs gleaming blue and white in the sun, or curious penguins waddling up to peck at your muddy boots, or seals lifting their heads only long enough to see that you are not a natural predator and going back to relaxing – yes, we humans, not natural predators.  Where else on earth can we say that, either to the natural world or to each other?  So, “In my end is my beginning...” and here’s to a new beginning for all of us that takes us to another end, another beginning and on and on as long as the cycle will carry us.

Until then....

Days 9 and 10: The Drake Revisited

So here we are back at the Drake Passage.  Many people had that worried look of anticipation, knowing the possible horrors the Drake had in store.  And although a number of people were once again confined to their cabins, I have to admit that we, happily, were not.  Perhaps it was the preventative Gravol we popped like Smarties, or perhaps it was because the passage was truly smooth and forgiving.  So then it became, what do we do with this extra time now that we have experienced the flora and fauna and stuffed our brains with as much information as we could?  Well, some time was still given over to sleep, some to watching movies in our cabins – particularly notable was March of the Penguins (if you haven’t already seen it – we did not see the Emperor penguins, they are further north, but an excellent film nonetheless );  and Werner Herzog’s documentary Encounters at the End of the Earth, which was a bit disappointing for me – I found it a bit disjointed and rambling – but it did give an excellent portrait of the kind of people who dedicate their lives to studying the wildlife of Antarctica, right down to microscopic organisms which give some clue as to the origin of life on this planet – pretty heady stuff .  The film showed these people to have unique outlooks on life, the planet, and us as humans.  Often poetic, perhaps even visionary, these people see life in its most basic ways – concepts such as hunger, freedom,  death, predation, rebirth – these are the things these people contemplate on a daily basis.  Makes routine life back in Toronto seem pretty, well, routine.  On the other hand, these people have been drawn to Antarctica for a variety of reasons – some are trying to find answers to lifelong scientific questions, some are fleeing a life elsewhere, and some found that they just didn’t fit into a mainstream society and found a community of likeminded misfits that suited them better.  In any case, their work and dedication is to be applauded.

In fact, the past two days, like the first two days of passing through the Drake, were filled with informative and interesting lectures from members of the expedition team: another group of people   dedicated to their work.  This is a group of incredibly knowledgeable and hard-working people who are not only happy to share their expertise with us, but are also incredibly passionate about their work and about Antarctica as a region worth preserving.  We listened intently to lectures on climate change, Antarctic land claims, and one which I found particularly intriguing because it gave a human face to life in this region, what brought a number of members of the expedition team to work in Antarctica and on this particular expedition.  Many of these people are scientists or at least naturalists,  and many have been down in this region working year round on isolated scientific data gathering stations all around the Continent.  It brought home to me the love and dedication these people have for their work, this continent, and for the planet in general, with Antarctica being one of the last and least explored areas of the planet. 

So in amongst the lectures, the naps, and the movies, we also found time for some fun games, one of which was a game where we had to match random facts about the expedition team to the team member the fact went with.  Most of the facts were matched with a person whose personality was least likely to go with that fact.  We also had a trivia night about information we learned while on the trip, as well as just playing some fun party games to pass the time. 

                                                                 Trivia in the lounge

So this is the last day on the ship.  And the day has unfolded pretty much the way the whole trip has: with a variety of weather patterns that turn on a dime.  A bright and sunny morning, followed by an overcast late morning with some snow , and finally a cloudy afternoon with sun breaking through the clouds.  Due to our speedy passage through the Drake, our captain treated us to a short voyage around Cape Horn, truly the southernmost tip of South America (pictured below).  The sun broke through the heavy low-lying clouds just long enough to brighten the green covering the mountainside of Cape Horn, a bright concluding omen to the relatively smooth passage our trip has taken.  And a variety of sea birds, white and grey and brown, petrels and albatrosses, with wing spans much longer than our arm spans,  swooped and circled around us as if to carry us into our final port.  And just to remind us, if not sadly, a couple playful dolphins bounded around the front of the ship as if to remind us that we have truly left Antarctica and were entering new yet familiar warmer waters.

                                                                   Cape Horn

Tonight will be the captain’s farewell dinner where I am sure we will toast his nautical skill at navigating a smooth voyage and we will reminisce about our favourite moments on the trip, a voyage that started a mere 10 days ago, but has been filled with such memorable experiences as to make it seem much, much longer.  Then we will dock in Ushuaia to continue the next leg of our journey home.

Until then....

Day 8 : Last landing on the continent

So this is it – the last landing on the continent.  The adventure is beginning to come to an end.  But before we start ending the trip before its actual close, there is one last Zodiac landing to experience – and it’s a good one.  First it was Port Lockroy.  Port Lockroy was a research and exploration station set up by British explorers in the earlier part of the 20^th century.  The main building is comprised of what is now a gift shop, with the rest of the bulding:  the washroom,  kitchen,  sleeping area (pictured below) and a radio communication room, set up as a museum as they were when the explorers were here up to the 1950’s.  In the early days explorers lived here and explored the surrounding area and studied the wildlife.  Now the 4 staff that live here from November to February mainly handle the tourists that come through.  There are only 3 buildings  - the gift shop and museum, a storage facility, and the staff quarters.  They have no internet or running water – so when the ships dock here to bring tourists, the staff gets to go on the ship to have a hot shower and take some fresh supplies.  That happens about every 10 days. And we thought it was the penguins that smelled.

                                             

                                           Port Lockroy - museum

So Port Lockroy is an interesting piece of history to observe.  It made me think – when you visit other parts of the world that have been explored, discovered, surveyed by early explorers, it’s sometimes hard to imagine what it was like for these early explorers because the areas have become so developed since they were here.  Antarctica is not like that.  Not only do the remnants of early exploration life still remain, like the buildings at Deception Island and here at Port Lockroy, but the landscape is pretty much as it was when those early explorers first discovered it.  It really is a wild yet pristine landscape.

                                          Port Lockroy

                        

So yes, we have seen a lot of penguins – and yes, after a while they did become commonplace – but talk about saving the best for last.  Nothing compares to a wild and untamed creature expressing its natural animal curiosity by coming right up to you and poking at your pants or boots with as much as to say, “I haven’t seen you here before.” And that’s exactly what happened to both Sue and I (Push was unfortunately still recovering back on the ship).  A gentoo penguin chick came right up to us and did exactly that.  So the rule again is, don’t approach them, but if they approach you, you’re ok.  And he (she?) was quite the little social butterfly, waddling from Sue to me to a few others who were nearby. Sue is pictured below with her new friend.  It was definitely a special experience.  And then there were the whale bones that someone had reassembled on the beach to make it look like a full size whale.  Apparently they were bones from a number of different whales, but it looked quite real nonetheless.  We spent some time just silently observing the long, horizontal grey clouds as they drifted across the mountains and glaciers and cast a bleak, lonely but beautiful pall over everything. 

                                                    A new friend

Then it was back to the ship where it was lunch and then a good long nap.  Sue went out in the Zodiac to whale watch where they saw a couple Humbacks, but we later learned at the recap talk that these whales were pretty much just traveling and didn’t give any playful demonstrations.  During the recap we voted on a name for a group of seals (as in a “pod” of whales) because there is no collective noun for seals – and we ended up voting for a “squadron” of seals.  Add that one to the dictionary.  Then it was off to dinner.  Now we are beginning to re-enter the dreaded Drake Passage again – so our dinner group was already down by one.  By the end of the soup course, we lost another.  By the entree, another.  Needless the say no one stayed to linger over coffee.  So here we are, getting back on the roller coaster – and here’s where I sign off, pop another Gravol, and.....sweet dreams.  Tomorrow, more Drake – uggh!

Until then....

Day 7: Snow, Seals and Bergs

So this day dawned early, but not so bright.  The announcement came at 6:30 a.m. over the PA that we were passing through the Lemaire Channel, a very narrow channel through which we had to pass in order to get to our next port.  So up we got in order to view the mountains rising in close range on either side of us as we passed through the channel;  however, the skies were overcast, there was  a light fog hanging over the mountains, and a fine snow blew across the ship.  These were not ideal conditions in which to view the majesty and mystique of this passage, but it was great nonetheless, not least of which was the way the captain had to manoeuvre the ship around a few icebergs and around the corners of the channel to pass through.  And apparently a channel has to be a certain distance across for ships to be allowed to pass through, and this one is on the narrower end of the spectrum. 

                                         The Lemaire Channel

Once we were through, it was on to breakfast and then a landing on Petermann Island.  Push took some much needed time off to rest his back while Sue kayaked her way silently around the island and got the best sighting of the Adelie penguins, a different species than we had otherwise seen.  I took the Zodiac across and walked the length of the island to see the penguins, albeit from a bit of a distance this time since they were on the beach below.  Although it was overcast and snowy, it did provide a nice contrast to the bright sun we had in the past few days.  After all, it’s Antarctica – how can you not have at least one cold snowy day?

After the landing it was back to the ship for lunch, a short nap (all this fresh air can get to you) and then back out in the Zodiacs for a tour of Pleneau Bay, also known as the iceberg graveyard, since many icebergs run aground here and never make it out again.  

                                      Pleneau Bay

This turned out to be a spectacular ride, not only because of the infinite variety of shapes these icebergs come in, or because of the incredible shades of blue we saw (which apparently were a result of the lack of sunshine this time, allowing the blue to come through more vividly), but because of what we saw around the corner of one of the icebergs.  Our expedition leader Tony called it by far the best thing he had seen on this trip so far.  And that was at least 30 seals foraging between two icebergs – swimming, diving, surfacing, snorting, rolling , and having a look at us, but certainly more interested in feeding on the krill that must have been extremely plentiful in this area.  It was quite a treat.  And not once, but three times they all surfaced and swam around before all diving back below the surface for another snack.  The surface of the water for about 20 metres square was literally alive with swimming seals.  Now you don’t see that at SeaWorld!

                                      A squadron of seals

After that it was back to the ship, and for those not faint of heart, the polar plunge!  Since there was not enough space on the deck out back of the ship where they do the plunge, spectators were not allowed, and since our one fearless adventurer was out of commission, we simply observed the plungers as they ran shivering down the halls and back to their cabins.   Then it was another lovely dinner, a little celebration of Greg and Melissa’s engagement where the serving staff prepared a happy engagement cake, and then Sea Spirit trivia in the lounge (no shuffleboard on the Lido deck here).  Now it’s off to bed.  Tomorrow we land in Port Lockroy, the southern most post office on the planet (and gift shop for that matter). So....

Until then......