Neko Harbour - Landing on the Continent
Sunday, 20 January: Neko and Paradise Harbours; 1st Landing on the Continent!
We’re traveling slowly towards our anchorage in Neko Harbour and spot 2 Humpback whales making their way around the icebergs. “Tranquil” is the best word to describe this sight – they seem to move so slowly, and in unison, and as breakfast is called, the larger one lifts her body up and dives deep, showing a magnificent tail fluke – just beautiful! I stay and watch for a while longer – breakfast can wait.
Hayley gives us the information we need for our landing – on the Antarctic continent for the first time!. Neko Harbour is surrounded by calving glaciers, and we’re warned not to linger on the beach – should there be an ice fall nearby, the resulting tsunami can reach the beach quite quickly and has been known to overturn Zodiacs and drag people out to sea.
We all comply and walk quickly to high ground amongst the Gentoo rookery – and wow, do these guys have a view!
I’m perched on a rock looking at a glacier at the end of the harbour to my right – we’ve been hearing “booms” coming from the glaciers. The glacier has been slowly forcing ice into the water - suddenly a large area at the front starts to crumble. It is entrancing to watch. Massive chunks of ice appear to fall in slow motion, dropping into the sea with a massive roar, creating a wall of spray and a spreading sea of ice. The standing wave is not huge but moves slowly down the beach – surf’s up for the penguins on the beach, and they dive in!
Directly across the harbour is a glacial wall with huge towers of blue and white ice created by vertical cracks in the glacial face. It really looks as if the crack around one tower is gradually widening, making it tilting forward over the water. Lots of people have now stopped to watch, some more patient than others - someone comments that it’s like watching grass grow, and keeps walking – for me it’s entrancing.
It is a warmish day (2oC) and there is a little rain starting to fall, all adding to the instability. We see pieces of ice falling from the bottom of the tower. It feels as if about 20 people are willing this to come down. And eventually it does – slowly pieces fall away from the bottom until the large blocks of blue ice come crashing into the sea with a boom.
Whoever visits Neko Harbour next will see a different landscape!
During lunch we sail to Paradise Harbour – the weather is definitely deteriorating now – the wind is driving snow against the windows, and it is so tempting to stay in for the afternoon – and most do. But this is an opportunity to see another part of the Antarctic, and since every place we’ve been to has been wonderfully different, I’m back in the Zodiac for an afternoon cruise.
The weather calls for an additional layer, particularly since we’ll be sitting still for about 2 hours. So in addition to my normal 4 layers, I add a fleece vest, an extra pair of gloves and balaclava, before putting on the waterproof jacket, pants and hat. Then of course there is the life jacket, and my backpack over that! Michelin Woman!
But every layer is needed – it is very cold and the snow is very wet. In fact the snow is gathering on the surface of the water in “pancakes” and sea ice is gradually forming. We head across to Alimante Brown, an old Argentinean research station, now a refuge. With Natalie driving, we see and learn more about the penguins, birds of varying kinds, icebergs and ice. And because we’re moving quite slowly, water is collecting in the Zodiac, creating a nice icy lake for our boots to sit in – cold, very very cold feet.
To add to the unpleasantness, I drop my backpack (with camera) in the Zodiac’s “lake” and in my rush to grab this, my glove lands in the icy water – so now, with camera intact, I have one very wet and cold outer glove as well as cold feet!
I’m not alone. Everyone is getting very cold and wet, and after another hour or so we go back to the ship for hot showers, and a very welcome hot cuppa!
Monday, 21 January: Orne Harbour and Cuverville Island
A cold, cold wind is blowing through the cabin. Leigh, my cabin mate, has left the window open a crack, and the wind has become quite strong through the night. Up on the Bridge the Captain is in control, with both senior officers – we are “threading the needle” down the Gerlach Strait to Orne Harbour. Not only is the Strait quite narrow, but there is a strong wind and hefty current to navigate, as well as icebergs to avoid.
And then we see whales– Humpbacks. It is becoming the “before breakfast” norm for the 4-6 of us that gather on the Bridge before the rest of the ship receives Hayley’s wake-up call.
This is a “Zodiac cruise only” day. If we thought it was wet and windy yesterday, we have learned that in the Antarctic, it can become wetter, windier and even colder fairly quickly.
With hoods up, and bodies hunkered down, we head into the wind with Don driving. He takes us to a glacier that looks remarkably large and unstable the closer we get. The weather really is foul, so we turn around and go back towards the sea ice with the intention of looking for the Humpbacks that had been there earlier today.
This involves making a path through the sea-ice – think of putting ice cubes in a blender and you’ll have the sense of the clatter of the propeller through the ice. But we make it through in one direction and watch the ice closing behind us. There are no whales to be seen, and so we make our back through the clattering ice again – it turns out that Don loves 4-wheel driving as well! It’s been fun to be out, but given the weather, it’s a short cruise, and we’re gratefully back on the warm, dry Ioffe.
The afternoon is spent on and around Cuverville Island. This is our last visit to an Antarctic Peninsula island, and the last Gentoo rookery that we’ll visit. Tomorrow we’ll be in the South Shetland Islands as we sail north.
The Gentoos are glorious – their smell, powerful. They walk among us, and us among them. I marvel at those that build their nests on a cliff, 200 meters above the sea, walking down and up each day to go to sea to fish for their young. This is hard work for animals with small feet and legs, and arms built for swimming and not walking. Some slip and trip in the mud and on the rocks, but they are determined to keep to their own walking path between the water and their nest.
Yuri takes us on a Zodiac cruise, past icebergs and around Cuverville Island – loads of birds, penguins and one lone Leopard Seal, steam rising from his shiny coat as he lies watching us from a small ice floe. I hear on the radio that other Zodiacs have seen whales, but Yuri is not convinced – too bad we missed them – it would have been truly wonderful to see them so close to the Zodiac.
Cuverville was also our last chance to sleep on land. Unfortunately the weather has made it impossible for us this trip – I might just have to come back another time!