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 14th, 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.
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