Arrival in Antarctica
So Friday, we technically reached Antarctica when the ship was over the continental shelf. We still had to travel the Schollaert Channel, which would go between various islands (or maybe icebergs -- we weren't sure) and which we would follow to Paradise Bay.
The first thing you notice about the approach is that there are no beaches. Instead, rocks just jump out of the sea (covered in snow) without any preamble. It was getting colder, although the temps were still in the mid-30’s to low 40’s (F). The wind, though, was absolutely wicked!
We got our initial look at the Southern Continent from our balcony, and that’s also where we got our first wildlife sighting. We hadn’t been in the channel much more than 10 minutes when suddenly a whale popped up about 40 feet off the starboard (right hand) side RIGHT UNDER OUR BALCONY and exhaled loudly. Other than a glimpse of his/her back as they dove again, we didn’t see much and it was over in less than 10 seconds. It caused a bit of excitement on that side of the ship, though.
We’d gone to all of Celia’s (Naturalist on board) briefings on the wildlife, etc., including the session where she talked about what to wear – and which has been as open to interpretation by the passengers as a red carpet walk at the Oscars.
We have a pretty conservative bent with regard to being cold; namely, not a fan. We had (courtesy of Duluth Trading and Amazon), lightweight long underwear that are extremely comfortable and warm, jeans, and a flannel shirt. Normal socks, and we wore our tennis shoes. On top of that we added a nice warm parka, gloves and a toboggan. It was pretty comfortable, but remember that we weren’t getting out and climbing the ice or anything; we went back and forth from inside the lounges (where they were set up with hot drinks, “antifreeze” from the bars and snacks) out to the deck to get the best pictures.
Other people were out on deck in a variety of outfits, from flip-flops and a swimsuit (his concession to the cold seemed to be a sweatshirt) to others who looked like the were bundled up to join a walking expedition to the South Pole.
Whatever worked, though, was fine.
Oh, one other thing we learned was about the rules for getting off the ship and doing excursions onto the continent – if the ship has fewer than 500 passengers, they can do excursions. More than that and you are confined to the boat. There’s about 2,000 passengers here with us.
The first thing you notice about the approach is that there are no beaches. Instead, rocks just jump out of the sea (covered in snow) without any preamble. It was getting colder, although the temps were still in the mid-30’s to low 40’s (F). The wind, though, was absolutely wicked!
We got our initial look at the Southern Continent from our balcony, and that’s also where we got our first wildlife sighting. We hadn’t been in the channel much more than 10 minutes when suddenly a whale popped up about 40 feet off the starboard (right hand) side RIGHT UNDER OUR BALCONY and exhaled loudly. Other than a glimpse of his/her back as they dove again, we didn’t see much and it was over in less than 10 seconds. It caused a bit of excitement on that side of the ship, though.
We’d gone to all of Celia’s (Naturalist on board) briefings on the wildlife, etc., including the session where she talked about what to wear – and which has been as open to interpretation by the passengers as a red carpet walk at the Oscars.
We have a pretty conservative bent with regard to being cold; namely, not a fan. We had (courtesy of Duluth Trading and Amazon), lightweight long underwear that are extremely comfortable and warm, jeans, and a flannel shirt. Normal socks, and we wore our tennis shoes. On top of that we added a nice warm parka, gloves and a toboggan. It was pretty comfortable, but remember that we weren’t getting out and climbing the ice or anything; we went back and forth from inside the lounges (where they were set up with hot drinks, “antifreeze” from the bars and snacks) out to the deck to get the best pictures.
Other people were out on deck in a variety of outfits, from flip-flops and a swimsuit (his concession to the cold seemed to be a sweatshirt) to others who looked like the were bundled up to join a walking expedition to the South Pole.
Whatever worked, though, was fine.
Oh, one other thing we learned was about the rules for getting off the ship and doing excursions onto the continent – if the ship has fewer than 500 passengers, they can do excursions. More than that and you are confined to the boat. There’s about 2,000 passengers here with us.
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