How
do you top the trip of a lifetime? By
doing it one more time – and even better.
That happened for us last February when Benny and I set out again for
Antarctica. Our 2004 voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula had left incredible memories – contact with the polar regions
is like a
powerful narcotic. Those who experience it once yearn to visit again. So a special offer from Oceanwide
Expeditions for a 19 day voyage to Antarctica that also included the Falkland
Islands and South Georgia was irresistible.
Our
ship for the journey was the Plancius, a vessel originally designed for
oceanographic research in the polar regions.
Oceanwide had purchased the
vessel and refitted it as a small passenger ship to accommodate 114 serious
ecotourists with highest standards for safety in the Antarctic. http://oceanwide-expeditions.com/vessel/show/m-v-Plancius We found ourselves sailing with an intense
international group of tourists, most of them fitted out with the latest in
photographic equipment, some of them already veterans of the Arctic and
Antarctic. The ship was Dutch, the crew mostly Russian, the service staff
Filipino, and the professional staff of scientists/expedition leaders a mixture
of Danish, Italian, German, Chilean, and Canadian with an American in charge of
ornithology.
The extra islands meant extra days at sea,
but it was all worthwhile as we discovered
new lands: the austere Falklands
(rather like a Scotland plus penguins) and the wild beauty of South Georgia
with glaciers slipping down from glistening peaks, shimmering green meadows,
and wildlife beyond our dreams. In spite of rough seas and capricious weather
we managed seven zodiac landings in rugged South Georgia, of course making the
pilgrimage to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s
grave in Grytviken. One unforgettable experience was standing on the beach at
Gold Harbor, surrounded by nonchalant king penguins, and watching roaring male
elephant seals do battle for their harems.
Then
on to the Antarctic continent, where we approached the ice-clogged Antarctic
Sound hoping for an early landing on Paulet Island. Here our experienced
captain made the prudent decision to scrap the original itinerary, which would
have sent us southeast into the Weddell Sea, and instead diverted to the west
side of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was
a perfect reversal of the conditions of our 2004 voyage, when pack ice had
blocked us from approaching the western
shore of the Peninsula and forced us instead into the Weddell Sea. Skirting the
ice, the Plancius entered the South Shetland archipelago, where our the first
Antarctic landing was on Aitchoo Island – the identical with the last landing
of 2004.
Craggy
Aitchoo teaming with gentoo and chinstrap penguins was worth a second look, and
indeed there was something new. Our first visit was in December when we saw penguin eggs hatching and new chicks
thrusting their tiny beaks out from under the parent’s body. This time in February, and we saw awkward adolescent
chicks, almost as large as the parents, chasing each other about and
investigating strange objects (such as visiting tourists) with uninhibited
curiosity. From Aitchoo we sailed on to
new territory, the abandoned whaling station at Deception Island followed by
three landings on the Antarctic continent. For me the peak experience was a
zodiac cruise over the brash ice in the aptly named Paradise Bay topped off by a visit from a curious pair of
humpback whales.
So how do you top two trips of
a lifetime? Maybe
by planning to do it again….
