It could sound tongue-in-cheek, however after my 24-day journey Across the World on a non-public jet, a mere 13-day journey to Antarctica meant lots much less packing and unpacking and staying in the identical cabin and mattress each evening. Sure, I flew all the way in which to Tierra del Fuego and again to Flagstaff with out ever having to unpack in a single lodge room – my flight connections have been that tight. This journey marked my thirty first journey to ‘The Ice’ and it was considered one of my greatest! Take a look.
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| The town of Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego Island and the Beagle Channel – the leaping off level for Antarctic cruises |
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| Dawn on February 27, 2024 within the 600-mile-wide Drake Passage – we loved a ‘Drake Lake’ on this one |
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| Our ship was the 199-passenger Le Boreal belonging to the Ponant Cruise Line (French flagged)Â |
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| These aren’t massive cruise ships and the pool is sort of small |
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I had by no means earlier than in reminiscence witnessed water operating from beneath an
Antarctic glacier! Issues seem like warming up on the globe. |
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| View from the highest of a hill at our first touchdown at Neko Harbor |
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| Neko Harbor on the Antarctic mainland |
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These coarse-grained granite rocks are about 100 million years outdated and a part of the subduction sequence uncovered on
the Antarctic Peninsula. Reader and colleague John Warme identified the imbrication of the boulders ensuing from
storm wash onto the seaside! |
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Cuverville Island is a well-liked cease to see a Gentoo penguin colony. I first visited right here in 1992 and dropped off three
girls researchers who arrange a seasonal camp among the many penguins. They used synthetic eggs with electronics that
measured the heartbeat and coronary heart fee of the penguins as vacationers approached the colony – these have been baseline research to
decide the affect of the rising numbers of vacationers on nesting penguins. The consequence was a 5-meter separation
between individuals and penguins, a distance in use right this moment. |
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| Gentoo penguins on Cuverville Island |
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| Zodiac cruise round Cuverville Island |
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| It was about this time on our journey that the clouds started to half as excessive strain set in! |
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| Superb ice and crevasse whereas cruising in Paradise Bay |
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Antarctica seemingly has steel sources equivalent to this copper stain
on the rocks in Paradise Bay, Nevertheless, a 50-year moratorium
on all mineral and oil exploration was signed in 1991 and
lastly ratified in 1998, that means than no mining can happen
on the continent till 2048. Learn extra about this here. |
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| Our “sunny luck” continued on March 2, 2024 once we woke as much as good sunshine at Port Charcot |
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The vacation spot was the monument on prime of the hill within the higher proper, constructed by the first French Antarctic Expedition
in 1904 |
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| Beautiful early morning mild on Le Boreal with Sales space Island within the distance |
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| View from the monument |
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| One in every of our passengers shared this picture of me on prime on the monument hill |
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| The superb half on this wonderful morning – no wind! Take a look at that “glass” on the water! |
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| On the way in which down the hill, a number of humpback whales got here to check out our ship |
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| Whale and ship |
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They got here proper as much as the touchdown deck and hung round – in actual fact scuba divers had time to decorate and enter
the water with them |
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| One in every of our passengers shared this picture with me, taken from an the deck of the ship whereas I used to be in a Zodiac close by |
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Crusing away from Port Charcot we handed some good icebergs – in actual fact it’s the icebergs that preserve calling me again
to this distinctive and particular vacation spot |
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| Zodiac cruising in excellent circumstances close to Petermann Island |
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| Wanting north into the Lemaire Channel the place we encountered Le Boreal’s sister ship, Le Lyrial |
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| Sundown close to 11 PM on March 2, 2024 from close to the Lemaire Channel |
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| In Foyn Harbor on Enterprise Island is the wreck of the whaling vessel, Gouvermoren |
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| Whaling was fairly energetic right here from 1915 to 1930 |
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| I used to be lecturing on this journey within the companies of Smithsonian Journeys, which I’ve been main journeys for since 1995. |
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| One in every of our final stops was in Port Foster, an enclosed bay that sits inside a volcanic caldera |
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| View to the southwest in Port Foster and Kroner Lake, an Antarctica Specifically Protected Space |
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The British Antarctic Survey established a base right here within the Nineteen Forties full with an airstrip and hanger for Twin OtterÂ
plane. On my first few visits to this space within the early Nineteen Nineties, an airplane nonetheless “lived” within the hanger. |
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| Crusing again to the north previous the South Shetland Islands, we nonetheless loved sunshine |
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| Livingston Island |
I shall be returning to Antarctica in 2025 for 2 extra cruises – I by no means tire of the pristine panorama, contemporary air, and icebergs. I will be crusing for the primary time on a bigger vessel, the Regent Seven Seas Splendor. Thanks for studying!
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