Port Lockroy - Passport = Stamped!

December 15, 2011

NEUMAYER CHANNEL, ANTARCTICA -- Good evening from the coast off the Antarctic Peninsula! We cruised overnight across the Bransfield Strait southeast to the peninsula, and this morning arrived at Paradise Bay.

This morning we awoke to a change in weather. For the first time since leaving Buenos Aires, we had a big calming of the wind, and virtually flat seas. In exchange for those bits of good news, the temperature dropped from the upper 30s/low 40s to the low 30s, below freezing, and the skies decided to drop some snow on us, making the decks rather slippery, and our day of landings and cruising was quite eventful.

First up, in Paradise Bay, was a zodiac cruise. Instead of making an actual landing, we simply had an hour to cruise amongst ice cliffs and icebergs in the snow, which was a ton of fun, although shooting pictures was quite a challenge in a pretty heavy and wet snow. That said, I did get a few good ones, and the hour was busy. First up, we saw a full ten crabeater seals come within ten feet of our zodiac! They must have heard us coming and decided to be playful, and surfaced right in front of us. By the time everyone had our wet cameras ready, they were further ahead, although I did get some good pictures of them playing right in front of the zodiac we were traveling with us, just up ahead. After seeing the seals, we next saw a small flock of gentoo penguins, and then a couple of snow petrels. Snow petrels are birds that are actually native to Antarctica. They are born, live, and breed here without leaving, which make them incredibly unique. Most penguins, whales, seals, and other animals all leave and then spend some significant time here, but are not really native to Antarctica. The snow petrel, however, is just that, and seeing them flying in the snow and white ice was majestic.

The highlight of the zodiac cruise was stepping onto a floating iceberg in the middle of the strait. We found a larger piece of deep ice with a flat ending so that we were able to actually land the front of the zodiac on top of it, and then got off the bow of the zodiac onto the iceberg. We had a small makeshift snowball fight, took some pictures, and I got a nice video of everyone surrounded by the water on a single piece of ice, as we floated along. Kind of scary in hindsight but a great experience nonetheless!

After the zodiac cruise we had some lunch and set sail over to a British research station at the peninsula, Port Lockroy. We had a short briefing from workers from the base, and then got our passports stamped with an actual Antarctica stamp! Another milestone – getting my seventh continent passport stamp, and all seven continent stamps in a single passport, another one of those special things people deliberately set out to achieve, and that I didn’t realize was even possible until quite recently. The stamp is great and came out nice and sharp – see photo below!

We had two landings at Port Lockroy - the UK base itself and then a separate penguin colony across from it. First stop was the penguin colony, where we saw a huge number (several hundred?) gentoo penguins, and a beautiful and unique bird, the blue-eyed shag. I find it rather hilarious that a bird native to a British base in Antarctica was named a shag, yet not at all surprising, haha. At the base itself, there was a post office where I was able to send out a couple of postcards. The route they take is nuts – the mail goes from Port Lockroy to the Falkland Islands, and then from there on a military flight back to the UK, and then from the UK onto the US or anywhere else in the world you want to send mail to. Certainly not the most direct route, and I am quite curious when they will arrive!

Also at Port Lockroy was a souvenir shop – I got myself a hat, a t-shirt, and a small stuffed penguin animal for home. There was also a population of penguins at the base itself that is used to humans, and I got an excellent video of a penguin walking right up to and then next to me, and past me. You can see exactly what the penguin was thinking as it approached and then passed me – it is quite funny to watch.

The workers at the base work there for five months at a time, which is impressive enough as it is, but then on top of that, they aren’t allowed to have a boat per the Antarctic treaty, so they are effectively stuck on a tiny little island endlessly. We are letting the four girls who work there shower on our ship and have a good dinner with us tonight. Dinner ended up being Indian food, which, like everything else on this ship, was quite tasty. Another night at the polar bear right now blogging, checking photos, and enjoying each other’s company. Quote of the day belongs to me, referring to Antarctica as we took photos of all who had reached Antarctica as our seventh continent: “Antarctica, number seven on our lists, number one in our hearts.” Looking forward to what tomorrow brings in the white continent!

Seven Continents, Five Oceans, One Day

December 14, 2011

DECEPTION ISLAND, ANTARCTICA -- Today we finally did it! Nearly a week of travel later, we landed on Antarctica itself!

Our first landing site was at Aitcho Island, one of the South Shetlands. The weather was dry but very, very windy, and as such our first zodiac ride was rather eventful with good sized waves and plenty of splash too. We saw two penguin colonies on Aitcho Island – Gentoo penguins and Chinstrap penguins. Interestingly we saw that some of the Gentoo penguins were breeding within the Chinstrap colonies, and vice versa. Most of the penguins in the opposite colonies were rather chastised, however, and were routinely beaked or “barked” at. We also set up the mandatory “seven” for getting to the seventh continent!

Our first landing in Antarctica was coincidentally on the centennial of Amundsen reaching the South Pole, also on December 14^th, back in 1911. Pretty amazing to have made it myself to all seven continents at such a young age – I really don’t even know what to make of it all. Maybe it will come to me with time, but right now I am just enjoying being here, getting some great photographs, sharing these experiences with some new but great friends, and trying to journal as much as possible to give some meaning to the thousands of photos. All seven continents… I am one lucky guy to have been able to make this happen.

In any case, Aitcho Island was a fun landing – we spent a full hour on the island between the two penguin colonies, and I got to see them nesting, feeding, and collecting pebbles and rocks to build their nests, all while simultaneously fending off predatory birds who were constantly looking down at them trying to pick off an egg or two.

From there we had a five hour cruise to our next destination, and just after getting started, we were out on the deck and saw two humpback whales slapping their fins against the ocean, turning in circles and being incredibly playful. Susan, who was on the intercom announcing their arrival, had the quote of the day, said moments after they started playfully slapping the water: “Ladies and gentlemen, it is officially a criminal offense if you do not come out on the deck right now to take a look at this.” She was correct – it was incredible.

Throughout the rest of the cruise over we dried off, looked over photos, had some lunch, and then got ready for Deception Island, one of the places I had actually heard about in Antarctica prior to knowing anybody who had been here. Deception Island is an active volcano, with a huge bay in the middle. It is actually somewhat similar to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, except instead of being inland and a complete circle, Deception is an Island in the South Shetlands of Antarctica, and has a very narrow entrance blown out, thus allowing ships to enter and exit. That entrance and exit is named Neptune’s Bellows, and there have been several shipwrecks heading through them.

Our first landing on the inside of Deception Island was at Telefon Bay, a black sand beach, where we saw a blonde Weddell seal sleeping on the beach. The seal was adorable – it was clearly dreaming or thinking of something, and kept salivating and showing its teeth as it laid otherwise motionless and sleeping.

That said, our landing there was actually to go for a climb – we climbed up to the summit of a newly formed edge of the volcano. The climb was actually quite high – I wasn’t able to measure it, but we were a good 500 feet up, which in Antarctic gear and with the wind and temperature as they were, was rather impressive. From the top we could see clear over the boat and the bay and it made for a great video panorama of the whole island, including one of the two research stations there being visible. One was there to monitor aquatic life, and the other to monitor seismic activity, given that it is an active volcano and all.

After the first landing at Deception, we traveled about a mile across the bay to another beach, where around half of our ship cruised over to the beach via zodiac, and we collectively got undressed to our swimsuits and jumped into the ocean. No, not any hot springs, or anything remotely warm, but 32F/0C degree frigid polar Antarctic/Southern Ocean water! I got my tripod set up and recorded myself and a bunch of others jumping in! Jay, another fellow American on-board, got two phenomenal videos of me jumping in – I need to get copies of them.

With that polar plunge complete, I have successfully swum in all five oceans! The Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and now the Southern/Antarctic Ocean.

In one day, I managed to land on my final continent AND swim in my final ocean. How do you even try to top this? Another day, another incredible series of events that I will remember about forever.

We Made It!

December 13, 2011

SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS, ANTARCTICA -- Well, we had quite a night last night! We ended up staying awake through the night. Sunrise moved up from 4:15am to 3:47am, a pretty significant difference! We decided around 1am that since we were awake anyway, and past 59 degrees south, we would stay up until we got to 60 degrees. The reason this is significant is that 60 degrees south is the politically defined boundary for Antarctica, as covered under the Antarctic treaty. Once you hit 60 degrees, you are politically in Antarctica, and thus the excitement! As it turned out, we stayed up until 4:13am, after sunrise, when we hit the boundary and technically made it to Antarctica!

The second boundary for making it to Antarctica is the Antarctic Convergence, the largest biological barrier in the entire world. The exact boundary is always changing, but when it is hit, the sea temperature drops from around 37-40F to 30-32F, and 99.9% of sea life disappears accordingly. Anything that can survive south of the convergence inhabits the Southern Ocean – this is where the Atlantic and Pacific end, and the Southern Ocean begins. Residents of the Southern Oceans are Antarctic by nature, or at least can survive it for certain periods of time. As it turned out, we crossed the convergence around 9pm yesterday, so before hitting 60 degrees south for the political boundary. Biologically we had made it to Antarctica!

After a few hours of sleep we had a few more lectures following breakfast. We learned about marine animals in and around Antarctica, with one on dolphins and whales, another on seals and fur seals, and a last one on penguins, of course! We also had a mandatory IAATO briefing – the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, which guides how all tour operators, including G Adventures, must operate while in Antarctica. It sets out all kinds of rules for landings – no two ships can ever land at the same place (which means we haven’t seen any other people since we were in Argentina), we have to stay a certain distance from all animals (5 meters from penguins and most other birds, 15 from seals and fur seals, 30+ from animals displaying certain behaviors of aggression), and other various rules such as not leaving anything on shore. As such, we aren’t to bring tissues on shore; tripods must be disinfected prior to bringing them (since they will actually touch the ground), etc. Also, no more than 100 people can ever land at a single time – since our ship is more than that, we were broken into two groups to alternate landing times. Group 1 goes for an hour, then Group 2 (my group), then the order is reversed for the next landing and beyond. The briefing and the strength of the rules followed were rather pleasing – it shows an attempt at minimal impact while still providing for what is sure to be an incredible experience.

After all the lectures and briefings, and more time on deck and on the bridge noticing how the water got darker and the air colder, we got past 61 degrees south, and it was clear we were nearing the continent itself!

The third definition for Antarctica is, of course, land, and at around 5pm, several hours ahead of schedule, we first spotted Nelson Island, one of the South Shetland Islands, some 60 miles off the coast across the Bransfield Strait from the Antarctica continent mainland itself. For the first time in two days, the waters calmed, and we were able to see land, mostly covered in ice and snow. As the land came into view, very shortly thereafter we noticed a large number of penguins welcoming our ship into the Nelson Strait! Our first penguin viewing was so exciting! It is the type of thing that just gets your heart racing and leaves you with a very wide grin. I will never forget the look on Kathryn’s face, she was most excited of all, at least visibly! Seeing dozens of penguins swimming and jumping into the air in motion leading our ship, and looking out at both Antarctica for the first time, and the massive ocean – it was something that cannot really be described appropriately. Suffice it to say that it was the highlight of the trip to that point. Then, just as the penguins started to taper off, we looked off to the port (left) side and we saw a humpback whale surfacing! The humpback was quite a ways off from us, but it was absolutely massive. I remember thinking to myself that for all the times I have been to aquariums and zoos all around the world, seeing these animals truly in the wild was just surreal. A humpback whale, penguin colony, and the South Shetlands all within an hour? Speechless.

A couple hours later, after we found a lee (a lee is a term meant for protection on the leeward side of an island, in order to protect us from the wind and the waves), we went up to the bridge to look out and saw another two humpback whales, and this time they showed us their fins and their tail – again, so exciting to see this in the middle of the ocean, out in the wild! After spending six hours yesterday on deck looking out and seeing a whale for three seconds, it was wonderful to see all these penguins and three humpbacks over the course of a few hours, nevermind calmer waters, land, and the sense of arrival.

At night it turns out we won some champagne for that first whale sighting though! Howard won a bottle for spotting the first whale seen on the ship, which he generously gave to me, and Anthony, who was with us to spot it, won a bottle for guessing the closest time for spotting it (there were contests for us to post when we thought we’d see the first whale, iceberg, and cross the convergence). We shared it with everyone and had another great evening at the polar bear bar, watching the sunset at 10:57pm – what a day!!!

Drake Passage - Day 1

December 12, 2011

DRAKE PASSAGE, INTERNATIONAL WATERS – Today has been a very exciting day – our first full day aboard the M/S Expedition!

First off, I managed to fall asleep last night pretty quickly. The waves were definitely there, but it wasn’t anything too bad. That said, at exactly 3:01am I woke up to a huge swell. The kind that sent all loose electronics flying across the room. Later on I found out that nearly everybody woke up at the exact same time. Our weather reports were predicting 3-4 meter swells coming into the Drake Passage, but this one and several others ended up clocking in at around 6 meters (19-20 feet). I eventually fell asleep again but have no idea how long it was before I did. When I woke up later on my GPS, converter, watch, and a few other things were scattered in corners all around the room due to the huge rocking motion of the ship. Turns out that at about 3am we came south of Cape Horn, and thus entered the Drake Passage and became subject to the massive force of the west-to-east waves that circle the entire Antarctic continent, south of the mainland continental shelves (South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand). This has more or less continued unabated for the entire day.

Luckily, I was expecting this, and came prepared despite never having been sea sick before. It is the worst crossing on earth, and so even if you never have been sea sick before, it is advised across the board to have some sort of medication. Thanks to Melissa, who did this exact trip last year, I bought some sea-bands that I put on after dinner on Day 1. They have worked perfectly – I have not needed to use any medication at all.

Throughout the day we have had several lectures – the first one was on the various different species of birds we expected to encounter. While I am not a bird-watcher myself, I still found the lecture interesting. That said, talking with Kevin, the “bird man,” was more interesting up on deck while actually looking out at them, as opposed to hearing his presentation with a powerpoint. There were a surprisingly large number of birds that came down with us. As he put it, they were mostly just hitching a ride. The wake of the ship stirs up all kinds of small organisms in the water, so they feed on that, and then the ship takes a huge amount of wind (we were at 35-40+ mph winds the entire time) that creates lift over the top of it. The birds then use that lift to glide along with us, instead of flapping their wings, thus requiring very little energy of them. As such, they very much “get a free ride” by following along with us, and there were several dozen birds with us all day. My favorite quote from Kevin’s presentation: “Everyone is a closet birder. It just takes the right bird to get you out of the closet!”

The second lecture was on the 1911 race for the South Pole. The race had been on for several years, and there were two primary players: Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott. In hindsight, the differences between the two were obvious. Amundsen was better prepared, more apt to flexibility and insight from his crew, and was determined to make it to the South Pole in the most efficient way possible. Scott, by contrast, was kind of an alpha-male British “hero,” who was loud and a leader, but didn’t as much know what he was doing and his mistakes were obvious. Amundsen had a better scout team in 1910, the year before, who were able to set up supply stations as far south as 83 degrees. Scott didn’t get to 80 degrees. Amundsen also found a closer landing site for his base camp and ship, a good 60 miles closer to the pole. These things add up! Finally, Amundsen’s team relied on sled dogs, which were proven to be the most efficient way of transportation on ice and snow. Scott never understood this advantage that dogs had, and used horses, which consume far more energy and are thus that much less efficient. Past the toughest part of their journey in 1911, each team slaughtered their animals in order to both conserve energy and use the meat to feed themselves. Amundsen slaughtered the weakest half of his team and used just one pack of dogs the rest of the journey. Scott slaughtered his entire group of horses, and then man-hauled the rest of the way to the pole. Which one do you think consumes more energy?

In the end, Amundsen reached the pole on December 14, 2011 – almost exactly 100 years ago. Scott eventually succeeded in reaching the pole, but was beaten badly, by around a month – he reached in January 2012. On the way back to base, Scott’s team ultimately got bogged down by weather and died of frostbite, while Amundsen got his team out safely to the rest of the world before the Antarctic winter set in. Overall – a very informative lecture that I enjoyed quite a bit!

Between the lectures we spent a significant amount of time outside on the 6^th floor, the top deck, looking out over the bow at the Drake. When we would get cold, we headed to the 5^th deck to the “bridge,” which is the navigational center of the ship, essentially the equivalent of an airplane’s cockpit. The captain and his officers work in the bridge, which also contains all kinds of GPS equipment that I am sure anybody who knows me, knows that I found very interesting. I synched it all up with my own handheld GPS to keep an eye on that sunset time and sunrise time, each changing as we headed south. At the end of the day sunset pushed back from 9:57 to 10:14pm.

While at the bridge, Howard, an American gentleman from the Washington D.C. area, Anthony, an Irishman living in Tasmania, Australia, and I spotted a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale, a very rare sight, and the first confirmed mammal sighting of the entire trip! The whale surfaced at 2:39pm, right in front of the ship, saw us, and then dived past us. It was traveling in our direction, and the entire encounter lasted about 3-4 seconds. By the time our cameras were shooting, it was already gone. Despite missing the photo, it was an incredible sight and very exciting to see something other than water and birds!

On that note, I am off to the polar bear bar, a fun little hangout on the 5^th deck, overlooking the rear of the ship with a nice 180-degree view. We continue south!

Beagle Channel

December 11, 2011

BEAGLE CHANNEL, ARGENTINIAN/CHILEAN BORDER – Greetings from on-board the M/S Expedition! We have been on the ship for a number of hours now, but let me go back to yesterday coming into Ushuaia.

After I posted the last blog entry from Buenos Aires, we hopped a cab over to AEP, the domestic airport in Buenos Aires. The airport was quite small – maybe 10-15 gates or so in total. Also, both check-in and security were quite lax. Check-in took about 5 minutes, and we got some good news. It says very specifically both on our ticket and on Aerolineas Argentinas’ website that for any bags over approximately 25 pounds (yes, 25 pounds), there is a surcharge that amounts to approximately $30 USD. Okay, fine… I figured there was obviously no hope to keep it under that, so mentally I was prepared to pay. The only exception to the rule is if you book your international travel on their airline, and I didn’t – we flew Continental/United on our way LAX-IAH-EZE. The woman who checked us in didn’t even mention anything, didn’t even weigh our bags, and checked them through to Ushuaia. Success!

The first flight was from Buenos Aires to a little town called Rio Gallegos. It sits on an outlet to the Atlantic Ocean, right on the water, and is so far south it is surrounded by barren rock and tundra! The flight route was interesting… we were basically hugging the east coast of Argentina the entire time as we flew south-south-west. We did not cut across any moderate to large size bays, and stuck quite exclusively within Argentina. Not entirely sure what the deal was with that. Also, the flight wasn’t full, so once we took off there was room to move about the cabin, which was nice. Lastly, we got served food – in coach, on a three hour flight, we actually got a snack – for free. Cheers to the good ole days of flying!

Upon landing in Rio Gallegos I instantly thought of Kugluktuk, a little town in the Canadian province of Nunavut that sits on the Arctic Ocean. Kugluktuk is further north than Rio Gallegos is south, but overall both are rather small (though Rio Gallegos is much bigger), on very cold water, in tundra, and inhabited almost exclusively by non-wealthy natives. The airport had two gates, one of which was empty. We didn’t even get off the plane, but it was still interesting to see the town.

From Rio Gallegos we took off on a short little 40 minute flight down to Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia. Along semi-similar lines to the first flight, we did not take a direct course to Ushuaia. Instead, we flew out east in order to very specifically avoid Chilean airspace, and only once clear did we veer south to our destination. On such a short flight it isn’t like it really matters, but nonetheless I found it interesting that we would intentionally go out of our way, and I am curious as to why we did so.

Landing in Ushuaia was one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen. As we descended, we passed a couple of snow-capped mountain ranges, and then came out over the Beagle Channel overlooking Ushuaia and all of Tierra del Fuego. We circled around and landed at USH in perfectly clear weather (quite rare), surrounded by the infinite beauty of endless mountains and water, completely untouched by man. Love having a window seat for sights like these!

Ushuaia itself was a nice little city. It was definitely bigger than I expected, and had a nice little downtown and port area. Once getting settled at the hotel, I went for a run – did a 5K throughout town… I ran down the hill from the hotel to the water, then along perpendicular to the port along the waterfront. It is an aesthetically gorgeous city, and it instantly reminded me of a split between the aesthetics surrounding Seward, Alaska, with the infrastructure and prominence of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.

After the run, we had our initial G Adventures group meeting in our hotel lobby, and got to meeting a number of our fellow travelers who were on our ship to Antarctica! Sitting in the lobby was very much reminiscent of sitting in the lodge at Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake – looking out at the sun over a beautiful setting, and realizing “oh, wait, it’s 10pm and the sun is still up.” It is the type of thing you need to see for yourself to understand. From the reception we headed to dinner, and went with a New Zealander, Irishman, Canadian, and two Americans – one from Atlanta and another Seattle. Had a good last dinner on terra firma at an Irish Pub, and got to sleep a bit late.

This morning has been the most exciting day yet, as we boarded the ship!

Prior to boarding, however, we set out on an excursion to Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (Tierra del Fuego National Park). Interestingly enough, I had heard of this national park long before I ever imagined traveling to Antarctica. It sits just 11km down the road from Ushuaia, and is a large cross-section of preserved wilderness from sea level up to several mountain summits in Tierra del Fuego. Tierra del Fuego, by the way, is the “frozen land,” but it is the name of a specific province (the southernmost) in Argentina. That said, it is used within the region almost interchangeably with Patagonia, which describes the southern mountains at the end of the Andes range both in Argentina and Chile. Both are “correct,” and describe where I was.

The National Park was worth visiting – it is indeed beautiful – but I found it rather underwhelming. As a whole it was quite pretty, but honestly nothing I had never seen before. The mountains and water surrounding the city were equally if not more impressive.

From there we grabbed some lunch and did some final shopping in Ushuaia before coming to the port, where we boarded buses that drove us onto the dock past security. Once there we boarded the ship! It looked pretty impressive from afar. As someone who has never been on a cruise before, it looked huge to me, although I am fully aware that we are on a tiny, tiny, tiny ship by those standards. In total we have about 120 passengers on board, and within a few minutes we were checked-in. I am in cabin 319, and I met my roommate David, who is a photography instructor from North Carolina. He is an excellent photographer and uses Nikon’s too, and has been helpful in teaching me a few tricks.

After finding our rooms and putting in our luggage, we got our ID cards and photos taken, and then had an introductory meeting where we met some of the staff and expedition leaders. Susan is our chief expedition leader, and is the one who makes most of the important decisions as far as what we will be doing on a daily basis and at any given moment. Our captain, by contrast, makes the important decisions for the actual ship itself – speed, heading, maneuverability all changeable based on weather and ice.

From there we had our emergency drill – we got our life jackets, found our appropriate routes to our exits on the ship, and then found our emergency life boats. We actually got to go inside them and while basic, I was impressed. They are essentially sealed tight and semi-submersible. If something ever did go wrong, I have full confidence we would be perfectly safe and found from those things. They also have plenty of food and water on board to last quite some time, if necessary.

That was about it! Once our briefing and our drill were complete, we prepared for departure, and headed up to the deck. I made a couple of final phone calls and sent a few last emails from my phone, uploaded some pictures of us heading out, and we were off!

Within five minutes we were in the middle of the Beagle Channel and heading east towards the Atlantic Ocean. The waters were calm and the weather was phenomenal – 50s and sunshine reflecting off the water and ice-capped mountains. Winds were pretty calm too, and the waves were practically nonexistent.

Dinner was impressive and left me with high expectations for the rest of the trip. I had a spaghetti pesto dish with a caprese salad and some fresh fruit for dessert. Wonderful!

We wrapped up dinner around 9:30pm, and headed up to the deck with the sun on our faces. I decided to track our GPS coordinates and sunlight times throughout the trip. From the Beagle Channel, our sunset was at 9:57pm. That said, it was light out for awhile afterwards, and around 11:30pm one of the most incredible things happened. To our southwest was ambient light from the sunset, still hugging the horizon. To our due north, a full moon was rising. To our southeast, get this, ambient light was appearing from the sun rising. From the middle of this, on board our ship, we were looking out at three opposing points of light. On planet earth that is nearly impossible, and is something I have never seen before, even having seen the midnight sun and having been well within the Arctic Circle. As this was happening, we were coming around la Isla Nueva, the “New Island,” but really it is the easternmost and thus “last” island before crossing into the extreme South Atlantic Ocean. As we did, the waves really picked up quite a bit, and it is now time to get some sleep! Can’t wait to get into the Drake tomorrow!

DRAKE PASSAGE

DRAKE PASSAGE, 61 SOUTH, 59 WEST -- Greetings from the Drake Passage, on board the M/S Expedition with G Adventures!

We are having the experience of a lifetime thus far and I am loving every second of this.

Currently about 85 nautical miles from Antarctica - we should arrive this evening. So exciting!!!

Not sure if this post will even work - I am writing more on my laptop daily to update when I get back, but will try to make short posts from the ship computers as time/access/signal allow.

Currently in some overcast but dry skies. Air temperature in the low 40s, which isn't bad, but we have 40mph winds blasting us, which makes for some COLD wind chills, plus seas are at 15-20 feet squalls, which combined with the dark waters at the freezing mark (we are now in the Antarctic convergence, a biological near-dead-zone that pretty much only allows krill, seals, penguins, and whales in), making for one beautiful scene from the deck!

Yesterday I was on the "bridge," where the Captain and officers steer and work the ship, and was one of three people to see our first whale!

Alright - more updates as they are possible.

I leave you with a quote from a lecture yesterday with regards to bird-watching... "Everyone is a closet birder. It just takes the right bird to take you out of the closet!"

Ushuaia

USHUAIA, ARGENTINA -- Success! I have made it to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia! Had a couple of good flights, first from Buenos Aires down to Rio Gallegos. I realized at that point in comparing to Sydney, being in Buenos Aires was as far south as I had ever been in my life. Flying 3ish hours nearly due south to Rio Gallegos only continued to add to that. Upon landing I realized we had reached the tundra, which was kind of a surreal thought. Instantly I was reminded of being in Kugluktuk, the northernmost point I have ever been, and an Inuit city in Canada on the Arctic Ocean. Both cities are small, have a rather native population, and do not possess any abundance of wealth. Plus being at rather extreme opposite ends of the globe.

From there we had a short little 40 minute flight that much further south, to Ushuaia! Four flights and 48 hours later, it is rather amazing to think I have arrived all the way here. On arrival, my first thoughts were:

1) This is the most incredible approach into an airport I have ever experienced in my entire life.

2) Am I in Seward, Alaska?

3) Really? I'm not in Alaska?

4) Oh, cab driver, you only speak Spanish - guess that means I am in Argentina after all.

5) Hello, boats!

6) Goodness, I am going to be on one of those boats in 24 hours to ANTARCTICA!!!

Ended up going for a nice little 5k run around town, from the hotel up on the hill down to the waterfront and back. Was great to get some exercise in such a mind-blowing and surreal place.

Alright - I am off to an into G Adventures meeting with some of the crew. Will try and write and post some pictures while I still have internet!

Buenos Aires - Part 1

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA -- Good evening to you from lovely Buenos Aires!

I have had one heck of a past 24 hours since I last wrote from Houston. There was no free wifi at IAH, so I just posted the updates a few minutes ago, but this one I am currently writing "live."

The overnight flight was a little shorter than I expected - about 10 1/2 hours. Crazy to consider that in the same category as anything that could be described as "short," relative or otherwise. Ended up watching a couple movies along with dinner, and spent a whole lot of time attempting and failing to fall asleep. Eventually I passed out as dawn was already breaking, got about 2 hours of shut-eye, and woke up in time for breakfast and the last hour of the flight coming into Argentina. Did have a couple of fun fly-overs. We flew just to the west of Cancun and Islas Mujeres, on an angle then coming in directly over Cozumel. With a left (NE)-facing window, I got some phenomenal photos of Cancun lit up at night, from 37,000 feet.

Check out Cancun above! Islas Mujeres are the islands that look like one horizontal strip towards the top of the image, "above" the city. The lit-up street to the top-left and top-right of the city is along the beach, where most of the resorts in Cancun are.

From there we flew directly over Panama City, Panama. Unfortunately we were so directly over it, photos were completely impossible. We entered South America over the southwest corner of Colombia, crossed the Andes, and followed the plains down all the way into Argentina and eventually Buenos Aires.

Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) was smaller than I expected for the size of the city, and immigration was totally understaffed. We were charged $140 on landing as part of a reciprocity fee (we charge Argentinians that much to come to the US), but the fee is valid for 10 years! My goal is to use it at least one other time! We ended up waiting 1 full hour to pay the bill and get through immigration. Once past, our luggage hadn't even arrived. By the time we got that and everything was scanned at customs (literally everything, no questions asked), and found an official cab to take us into town, it had been a full two hours - kind of nuts.

That said, just 30 minutes after that, early this afternoon we were at our Hostel Suites Obelisco, all checked in, bags down, changed into some summer clothes, and on our way to explore! It was great wearing a t-shirt and shorts, walking around, and being genuinely warm. Usually that feeling drives me nuts, but with one day before Antarctica, it was great to be out in it!

Walked first over to the namesake of this hostel - the obelisco, in the Plaza de la Republica!

There are essentially four "main areas" of downtown - the obelisco is certainly one of them, with three of the major streets all intersecting right around it. It makes finding your way around fantastically easy, as if you are anywhere within a mile, you can see it and find your bearings. Our hostel is just two blocks away.

From there we headed over to the "Pink House," La Casa Rosada, which is the house of the executive branch in Argentina. The Pink House = the Argentinian version of the US White House, except, of course, it is pink! They were setting things up for holiday festivities on the main square right in front of it, so there is scaffolding everywhere, but you get the idea in the photo nonetheless.

From La Casa Rosada, headed down to the Buenos Aires waterfront, the Puerto Madero neighborhood, or barrio, of Buenos Aires. The historical docklands take a pretty big cue out of the East London docklands, with some brightly colored massive cranes lining the area - but you get the idea that they are no longer used anymore. The focal point of the Puerto Madero barrio is the Puente de la Mujer, the "Woman's Bridge." It is an architectural masterpiece by the world-famous Santiago Calatrava, master architect of the Chicago Spire, among his more famous projects. It is a forward cantilever design, seen in the photo below, and apparently it is where all of Buenos Aires likes to relax on a hot day with a cold beverage!

Last of the four main areas in downtown Buenos Aires is Florida Street, which had an overly touristy feel to it (in greater contrast to the first three sites), but was nonetheless an interesting place to walk around. Pedestrian-only dating back 98 years, it is your typical shopping district in a major city. Different than most, however, is the fact that all of the "street vendors" are lined up in the middle of the walkway selling their products (which ranged among just about anything you could possibly imagine)... directly in front of all of the open stores.

Well - I finally managed to find a money exchange on Florida Street, then grabbed some dinner downtown - had some extremely cheap and very tasty pizza di Roma. Another observation: food here appears to consist of meat, pizza, and pasta. I gather it is essentially the Brazilian/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian influence that drives this. Literally the only things I have seen that are not those three categories are the endless McDonald's, plus a couple Burger Kings and Subways. Oh, and the gelato is quite tasty!

Another observation: as has always been the case, in times of need, my Espanol comes back to me. Ordering food, asking for directions, simply having brief conversations - clearly I am not very good at it, but it is all good enough to get by, and everyone I have talked to is genuinely happy to see that I am struggling through finding my Spanish, as opposed to forcing them to try and figure something out in English that most of them do not really understand. In any case, like in Nicaragua, it is already coming back to me in a hurry! Not sure what the vibe will be like in Ushuaia or on the ship, but good to have it back when needed!

Well - I am wrapping this post up at a lovely 7:00am on Saturday. I am sitting in the hotel common area with an open door - the sun is up, it's in the 70s with a nice breeze... life is good! I should enjoy this warmth now, I basically have three hours of it left for the next two weeks. Having some breakfast in a few, the hopping in a cab over to the domestic aeropuerto, AEP, for a flight to Ushuaia via Rio Galleros!

See you from Tierra del Fuego!

Random Thoughts

December 8, 2011: HOUSTON, TX – Well, one flight down, three flights and a boat ride to go! First flight was very uneventful, as described in my last entry. Ended up passing out for about an hour, which I needed, but hoping it doesn’t mess up any potential sleep on the overnight to Buenos Aires.

Nothing terribly exciting going on at IAH. Grabbed some dinner, but was hoping for a local restaurant. Ended up not finding anything, despite walking across a couple of terminals. Did manage to find an electrical outlet near empty seats, which can sometimes be a challenge. As such I will head off with a fully powered laptop and cell phone, which is sometimes a challenge after what has already been nearly 10 hours unplugged. If I can turn on my phone in Buenos Aires at 80%+ I will be very pleased.

Still haven’t really been able to grasp the magnitude of the trip I am undertaking. A flight from LAX to Houston isn’t really going to do it, but I have a feeling it will be much more real tomorrow morning from Argentina. Another observation – at this time of year, the darkest month of the year in the northern hemisphere, it is sufficiently dark out around 4:15pm at home in Chicago. Here in Houston, which is the same time zone (CST) as Chicago, it wasn’t dark until around 5:15, which was quite nice. Argentina, as with many countries in the southern hemisphere, is currently under daylight savings. As such, while during the US summer and Argentinean winter the time is actually the same on the US east coast (EST) and Argentina, during the reverse, it is a two hour change. As such it is a net +5 hours from LA, and +3 hours from here/home.

First flight was around 1300 miles, not insignificant but nothing huge either. This next flight is about 5000 miles, which is definitely a big change. From Buenos Aires to Ushuaia is another 2000 miles, which in terms of distance is nowhere near as huge, but the temperature change and topographical change will be very significant. As it is summer, it is currently around 90F in Buenos Aires. In Ushuaia? Try 40sF. A good comparison… flying from Minneapolis, on the warmest day of the year, up to Tree River in the Arctic Circle – 4-5 hours and a world away. Sydney is further south than Buenos Aires, so BA won’t set a record in that sense. Ushuaia, however, is much further south, and from there all the way until we turn around from Antarctica, it will all be new in terms of geographical global territory covered.

Another interesting thought… I’ve read in a number of surveys over the years that Rio de Janeiro is widely considered to be the second-best city in South America overall. Having spent some time there and having absolutely loved it, I always wondered what could top it in a South American sense. The city ranked #1? Buenos Aires! As such, I am quite excited to spend a little time there. Wish I had more than one day/night in each direction, but it’s much easier to get back to Buenos Aires than Antarctica, so I will get a healthy taste and see how I feel from there.

Well, we board in about 45 minutes… I am listening to the Blackhawks game in New York on my phone. Silly Houston airport doesn’t have free wifi, so this post will in all likelihood be posted somewhere from Argentina instead. Luckily, global radio on the phone works perfectly, so I have the game on live – Hawks are up 2-0 in the 2^nd period. Probably will have to turn off my phone right around when the game is ending… GO HAWKS!

Catch you from Argentina…

Update: Ended up listening to the rest of the game as I boarded and turns out the Hawks won 3-2 in OT, about 5 minutes before I had to turn off my phone. Perfect timing!

See if you can spot the city in the photo above. Nope, not LA, but an unusually smoggy Houston.

Oil infrastructure just outside of Houston - railroad cars loading up to ship up north.

On Board!

December 8, 2011: Note - many of these posts will appear after they have been written, due to infrequent internet access. That said, they will be posted in order along with the date they were written.

37,000 FEET OVER NEW MEXICO -- What constitutes the start of a trip? Is it when you first conceptualize it? When you actually book it? When you start packing, or finish packing? When you leave your door and head out? Or is it when you are rolling down Runway 26R at 170mph and the wheels gently lift up and away from the earth?

I’m not really sure of the answer to that question. For me, I have always generally considered the stsart of a trip to be when you turn your key to lock up your apartment, and take that first step away – it always feels good to do so.

The start of the trip has been entirely uneventful. It was a gorgeous day in LA, so there was no fog or smog to worry about heading out. The flight was on-time, although out of the totally dilapidated Terminal 6, one of the worst terminals I have ever experienced in an airport (nevermind a major one like LAX). Also got the free upgrade to extra leg room seating, which is quite nice to have!

We headed out west, as one does 99.7% of the time out of LAX, then did our turn to the south. Usually you get a good view of Catalina when you do this, and we did this time, but we had a surprisingly great view of Channel Islands National Park, which is rather far away. Took a few pictures, looped back east, and we have been on the same Easterly heading ever since. As it is such a clear day, I even snagged a picture of San Diego (skyscrapers visible) from the air. Flew over I-5, I-15, the Salton Sea, Colorado River, and here we are!

More updates to come… on our way to Houston right now, with suitcases checked all the way through to Buenos Aires. We won’t be seeing them until tomorrow! We have about a four hour layover in Houston, and I am hoping to get some free wifi so I can both update the blog and then also watch the Blackhawks game – they are playing tonight In New York (Islanders) and I can watch from my computer. A sports bar works if all else fails.

Time for me to take a nap… Check out the Salton Sea below!

I AM GOING TO ANTARCTICA TODAY!!!

BURBANK, CA -- Throughout the course of human history, a privileged 1.5 million people have woken up one morning to the thought that, "I am going to Antarctica today." That's about 2% of 1% of the current population, whereas 1.5 million is throughout history.

Today, I have been lucky enough to join their ranks.

Off to LAX in 45 minutes - can't wait for this journey to begin, and look forward to updating this blog and everything else as often as possible.

Next stop, Buenos Aires!

Crunch Time

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Well, after nearly a full year of planning, it is officially crunch time. I have under 72 hours to go, and need to make my way back to LA, do some final laundry, finish packing, and then I am off!

Interestingly (although not really surprisingly) my clothes and gear are the least of my concerns for this trip. I have made three trips to the Arctic Circle up north - Great Slave Lake in 2004 and 2005, and to Great Bear Lake in 2008. In addition, on that 2008 trip we did an overnight trip from Great Bear Lake to Tree River, with base camp only two miles from the mouth of the river at the Arctic Ocean. To put it in perspective... Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories of Canada, sits on GSL at the end of the road. Literally. If you really wanted to, you could spend weeks driving all the way to Yellowknife, but that is the end. Beyond Yellowknife, you have to either fly or sail. The lodge at GSL sits on an arm of GSL about 1 hour by float/prop-plane from Yellowknife, beyond the end of the road. While you are there, you can feel just how remote it is. That said, topographically, it is essentially a more mountainous (really, hilly with the occasional cliff) version of the WI/MN northwoods. The main difference being the remoteness along with the fact that in the middle of July, you can still see the occasional iceberg floating by.

Great Bear Lake is an entirely different level. You are hundreds of miles from the nearest town. Sitting at the lodge, you can literally see the tree-line. At the lodge itself they are incredibly thin, small trees that do not look very healthy. Air and weather travels unblocked over the North Pole from Siberia and these are the first trees they hit - no wonder they are a little scrappy! Tree River is that much further beyond - it is in the tundra, with nothing taller than your hip as far as the eye can see in all directions. From the Arctic Ocean, you can see the North Pole ice shelf. At that point, standing on the last unfrozen, rock-hard land of North America, looking at the ice shelf, you realize you are no longer in Grizzly or Brown Bear territory... you are in Polar Bear Territory.

Well... that is where I turned around. To this day, that remains the furthest North I have ever been, and it is pretty darn hard to imagine going beyond there. From a cold perspective, in addition to the trips mentioned above, I've been to Alaska. I spent four days wandering around Montreal in January. I've been to two Presidential Inaugurations in Washington D.C. - standing around outside in the middle of winter for 8-9 hours. The Winter Classic - an outdoor hockey game played every year on New Years day, was held at Wrigley Field in Chicago a few years back, and I did that too.

All told, I have plenty of experience with long times and trips in quite cold weather. Hell, the day I graduated from UW-Madison the wind chill was 45 degrees below zero. I kid you not. The good news: it is not going to be anywhere near that bad in Antarctica. As such, I am not concerned with my clothing and gear.

...Which begs the question, what am I concerned about?

Electronics, of course! If I am going to travel all the way down to Antarctica, I better be coming back with pictures and video the likes of which have never been seen before!

In order to make the above happen, a few weeks ago I made a decision to purchase a DSLR camera. Special thanks to Matt, Cindy, and all of my photo expert friends for their advice and help in sorting out what I wanted to do. It is a very expensive purchase, and as such the decision was not one lightly taken. I have always in my mind wanted to buy a DSLR camera, but never felt a true need to. For my own photos, I have always desired optical zoom - the ability to pull distance closer to you without sacrificing the quality of the image. As such, back in 2007 I purchased an incredible 22x optical zoom, fully digital Panasonic Lumix camera. It has been my 'big camera' ever since, and absolutely will be making the trip down to Antarctica. Most of the pictures you have seen me post on facebook and occasionally on this blog were taken with that camera - houses from airplanes, surfers in the ocean, animals from boats, etc.

Despite my love for that camera, the images are purely digital - they are phenomenal, but they could be better, especially at close range. Enter: Nikon's D3100, which came with a basic 18-55mm VR II lens. The camera arrived on Saturday, and so far in my very limited time playing around, I absolutely love it. The photos are crisp and clear, unlike anything I have ever been able to take so close up. Also - kudos to Discover, who gave me 5% cash back on the purchase for ordering online. Kudos to Ritz Camera, who offered a discounted price, free shipping, and no sales taxes. In total, I paid around $600 for the camera, less than the $700+ at any electronics store (even including "Black Friday" deals - I was looking around while at home). For accessories, I got a standard UV-filter lens cover for $10, an extra Nikon battery (charge one on the ship while I use one for a landing, then switch them mid-day between landings) for $30, a gorilla-pod tripod for $50, a 16GB class 10 memory card for $20, and an all-weather camera bag with room for an extra lens for $40. All that was on Amazon = free shipping, no sales tax, and with the exception of the lens protector, way below retail prices. In total I paid about $750 for nearly $1,000 worth of camera and gear - proves it pays to look around and do some research!

Next up: need to get a good lens for that optical zoom I mentioned earlier. I don't need something absurd like 22x or even the 16x that my new point-and-shoot gets, but more than 18-55mm would be good. As such, I settled on the Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm lens, with an 11x optical zoom. Unfortunately, that amazing lens is more expensive than all of the accessories and the camera itself listed above at $850. Enter Borrow Lenses, my new favorite website that is exactly what it sounds like. To rent that same 18-200mm for three weeks (a few days on either end of my trip to play with it as well), plus insurance was $146 - not terrible. I pick up the lens tomorrow afternoon.

Well - that should do it. Bringing my three cameras, plus my phone for quick Argentina shots too. Might bring my flip cam. Definitely bringing my laptop and external hard drive, which should let me offload everything on a daily basis and keep memory clear to take as many pictures as I want. Now all I have to do is pack everything!

On an unrelated note, check out these 45 incredible photos from 2011. I have seen most of them, but some are new to me. The ones I find most incredible in one way or another are 7, 8, 10, 22 (I will never forget this image from the Chicago blizzard of our lifetime), 25 (Vancouver fail), 41, and 45.

Last but certainly not least... my Wisconsin Badgers are BACK IN THE ROSE BOWL!!!

I'm off to LA - more blogging in the next few days before departing.

Thirty-seven thousand feet

BURBANK, CA -- Well, can you believe it? One week until the grand adventure is underway! A week from now I will be flying at 37,000 feet heading SOUTH. Just over three months ago I set my then-record for the furthest south I had ever been, to Sydney, Australia. Phenomenal picture with the world-famous opera house above. We are going to smash that southernmost record to pieces next week though!

In non-Antarctica related news, however, we have had some crazy weather in Southern California the past 36 hours or so. Early this morning we had hurricane-force winds in Burbank and Pasadena, including 85+mph wind gusts in the valley here. Up in the mountains? Try a whopping 140mph wind gust! Incredible! That's virtually a tornado at such a high velocity. Luckily nobody appears to have been hurt, just a ton of trees and power lines down all over. I have been spared both of those things, although driving around town earlier this afternoon was more challenging than usual with all the utility crews and the fire department out, sawing the downed trees into movable chunks. Who says we don't get some crazy weather in California? That said, even with the win, it was a lovely 65F and sunny today, as per usual. :)

All is also well on the running front. With my ridiculous injuries this fall, I managed all of four runs in September and just one in October. After a four week forced hiatus, however, I have stormed back, and did a full 12 training and racing runs in November. Well, happy December everybody! I just did my first run of the month on this first day of the month, a happy 3.0 miles in 27:27. Not my fastest time but given the crazy winds and the fact that it was night, I am perfectly happy with it! This weekend I have a nice seven-miler to do, which is kind of my last "guaranteed" run for awhile. Apparently there is a treadmill on board the ship I will be living on, but it is hard for me to mentally get over the idea of running on a treadmill and then encountering a huge squall or wave or something. Not a good idea. That said, hopefully I can at least do some running in Argentina on solid ground. We shall see!

My head operates on global time zones. If it is 1030pm in California, that means it is 1230am in Chicago, 130am in New York, 330am in Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, and thus Antarctica (operates on Argentina time since 99% of visitors arrive via Argentina), 630am in London, 730am in Prague, 830am in Israel, 1030am in Dubai, 1130am in Pakistan, and 330pm in Sydney. Do note that the South Pole, interestingly enough, operates on New Zealand time, which is of course totally different as well. To think that I have friends in all of these places, and in a plethora of places in between, is crazy, inspiring, amazing, heart-wrenching, and heart-warming all at the same time. "To travel is to live."

In the same category as running, I have also decided it is time to get back to my comfortable weight range. I'm way better than I got at my worst, at present, but back when I was in London, I was right around 180 lbs. As such, I have decided to start tracking EVERYTHING I consume via "My Fitness Pal," a great website that I highly encourage you to check out. I started following this on Tuesday, and through three days it is already interesting to analyze eating patterns. I have mainly been confirming things that I already knew, but never really paid enough attention to figure out scientifically. For example, pop is AWFUL for you. I stopped drinking coca cola and other caffeinated drinks back in 2007 for a whole host of reasons, but occasionally I will have a ginger ale or sierra mist these days. I had one for lunch today, and it totally threw my chart out of whack. Pure sugar, with absolutely nothing to gain. On the other hand, I have also decided that Subway is just plain fabulous. Fresh vegetables, meats, grains... of course I have always enjoyed it, but if you actually look at the nutritional value, for most of them it is pretty impressive. For example, my six-inch turkey & cheese on honey oat, topped with the veggies? 400 calories, 10g of fat, but a whopping 21g of protein and an okay 55 carbs. Not. Too. Shabby. Over the course of my year in London, I lost approximately 25-30 pounds. I realized a few of the things I did in order to achieve that:

1) Cut out almost all beverages besides water, with the occasional night out the exception to that rule.

2) Eat like a poor person. This comes directly from Born to Run, my new favorite book. Running aside, the author's point is to eat simple. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, oats. Avoid processed garbage, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and 97% of American fast food. In hindsight, that is almost exactly what I did in London. First of all - in Europe (and most of the rest of the world), there is no such thing as high fructose corn syrup and trans fats, which makes the job that much easier. But beyond that, it's rather simple advice. Eat an apple, a banana, or a granola bar when you get hungry - not chips.

3) Exercise! I was not running at all while in London. On the contrary, I didn't start running for exercise until I was back in the US, specifically to counter the difficulty I knew I would have in achieving points 1 and 2 in America. That said, I was walking five miles every single day, and it turns out that is some really good exercise to be getting on a daily basis!

In sum, if you do all three of those things consistently for a year, odds are you will lose some excess weight. It isn't rocket science. For me, I'm currently at 195. I think I will make myself forcibly accountable by posting a weekly or maybe monthly update on this blog. Goal? 185 by February 5 for the Surf City Half Marathon. 10 pounds in 10 weeks... like I said, it's not rocket science!

Three final points to wrap this update up. First, the Badgers are one victory away from a shot at revenge in the Rose Bowl. Here is hoping they get it this Saturday in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game. Wish I could be in Indianapolis! Second, this week the COP17 is underway in Durban, South Africa. While the conference is receiving none of the attention the COP15 got (in no small part due to the thousands of students such as myself who descended on Copenhagen), it is equally important. Pay attention to what is going on there. The science only becomes more concrete and the situation more dire on an annual basis. Check out a fellow COP15 G-1 Billion writer's enviro blog here. Finally, do a little reading out of the Middle East. Business-oriented with a great take on the clash of Eastern and Western cultures, it is worth your time.

Have a great weekend!