Chile and Antarctica cruise

[love_the_life]

Penguinos! Might be the rarer Chinstraps. I'll have to ask.

Or as VPS says 'pinguinos', they do look like they have the identifying strap. They are a very cute looking penguin.

 

[Seat0B]

YOUR PHOTOS ARE A.MAZ.ING!!!

 

[SuePa]

Sorry, I see that I didn't really answer the gist of your question.

No problem, I appreciate the detailed reply second time around.
I agree with what you were saying about the variable zodiac drivers, they can really make a difference to your experience.
Great photos. I'm enjoying the trip.

 

[RooFlyer]

Penguinos! Might be the rarer Chinstraps. I'll have to ask.

Yes, chinstrap .... pinguinos

 

[RooFlyer]

Another zodiac drive-by of the beach. Although there were again penguins, fur seals and elephant seals, for me the real stars were the glaciers and surrounding scenery. Panorama of the bay



and continuing to the right, the iceberg field we snuck through



The hanging glacier and the other tumbling down to the sea









Elephant seal. I have days like that sometimes.



But mostly happy-clappy

 

[RooFlyer]

There were the usual King penguins and fur seals here, but what was striking was the number of seal carcases lying along a tidal strand line up the beach. Bird flu and there is little to eat them - skuas mainly.











But back to the glaciers

 

[RooFlyer]

With everyone back on board, the zodiacs circled to begin retrieval



while I had a nice G&T in the afternoon sunshine. probabky the last opportunity as we are about to begin 2 sea days to get to Elephant Island, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula





Again, we picked our way through the iceberg field out to sea and there were large numbers of them.









Just as were about to go to the evening briefing, an announcement came that there was a large iceberg in front of us, and the Captain had approved access to the forward deck 5 area, at the bow. It turned out that we weren't headed for this, but the Captain changed course a bit and slowed the boat, then to a stop, so we could see it. @Port Power and I are both on deck 5 so shot along the corridor to beat the queue.



But it was better with some people in the foreground to give scale. It was huge.










To be honest, I thought we got a bit close, knowing that 4/5 of a berg is under water. But obviously the bridge knew what they were doing.

 

[RooFlyer]

Both Port Power and I have been a bit dissatisfied that in the evening's briefing, it was all forward-looking and no discussion of what was actually seen that day. On the Ponant cruise to the Kimberley, every evening the Exped leader got pictures from the pro photographer and used them to go over what we'd seen. I'd already gone to our Exped leader and asked if that might be done and he said that yes, it would be, but little evidence of it so far.




The weather changed that evening. Port Power had arranged dinner for a group of us at The Grill on the pool deck, expecting the weather to be better than it turned out. It was a full exped jacket occasion



And yes, I succumbed to a blanket. It got pretty cold.



Menu



So the thing to go was go 'hot rocks where you cooked your own meat over a very hot square of granite delivered to your table. This night's experience brought together just about all the deficiencies in the restaurant experience so far.

It took ages to orders to be taken; ages for orders to be entered into the ipad thing; ages for wine to come around; individual's meals served disjointed-ly. For instance, fries and mushroom come out, but meat (still uncooked) much later (when the hot rock had cooled quite a bit). Or meat and veges there but side sauces didn't arrive - and so on. Also check the sequence for the person opposite me.








When it was time for dessert, they suggested we move to the Panorama lounge and they will deliver them there. No problem, there was a social occasion on and it would be warm! The desserts came un-accompanied by spoons in some cases, and other stuffing around.

 

[RooFlyer]

So ... 2 sea days crossing the Scotia sea to Elephant island. Orcas and Fin Whales were soon spotted










As I'm posting this, the next day, one popped up right outside my suite window.

Later that day I took a tour of the Bridge with an affable and helpful officer hosting.





He explained that, as the Antarctic peninsula area 'isn't completely mapped' , they use this chart, showing routes of other vessels in the past, to give them a path.



I asked how they get their weather forecasts - answer: Windy app (and one other). Geez, so as good as I can get on my phone!

 

[Daver6]

With everyone back on board, the zodiacs circled to begin retrieval

View attachment 362277

while I had a nice G&T in the afternoon sunshine. probabky the last opportunity as we are about to begin 2 sea days to get to Elephant Island, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula



View attachment 362278

Again, we picked our way through the iceberg field out to sea and there were large numbers of them.

View attachment 362269





View attachment 362273

Just as were about to go to the evening briefing, an announcement came that there was a large iceberg in front of us, and the Captain had approved access to the forward deck 5 area, at the bow. It turned out that we weren't headed for this, but the Captain changed course a bit and slowed the boat, then to a stop, so we could see it. @Port Power and I are both on deck 5 so shot along the corridor to beat the queue.

View attachment 362271

But it was better with some people in the foreground to give scale. It was huge.

View attachment 362274


View attachment 362275

View attachment 362272

View attachment 362276

To be honest, I thought we got a bit close, knowing that 4/5 of a berg is under water. But obviously the bridge knew what they were doing.

Surprised you didn't ask them to get a little closer so you could chisel off some ice for your G&T

 

[TheRealTMA]

So the thing to go was go 'hot rocks where you cooked your own meat over a very hot square of granite delivered to your table. This night's experience brought together just about all the deficiencies in the restaurant experience so far.

How very French.

 

[RooFlyer]

Lunch again at The Grill on the pool deck. Like last night, very cold, but not raining and sheltered from the wind. Even a bit of (transient) blue sky! The red wine is served at 'room temperature' - about 1 degree C. I've given feedback about that, and suggested glühwein would be a good idea!!





Rueben sandwich



Here we are


And I saw this on 'ship's position' screen and was wondering what was up.



What was up was iceberg A23a, the world's largest iceberg at the moment. It broke off from the ice shelf about 40 years ago, grounded itself on the Weddell sea floor but now is on the move again. The Captain once again deviated so we could view it, and hove to quite close to it.





Its about 4,000 sq km (74x59 km) 400m high (so about 75m out of the water and weighs about a trillion tonnes, we are told.

 

[RooFlyer]

The ship moved up quite close to it (they wouldn't say how close) and access was again granted to deck 5 forward, but the best views were on deck 8. Its ridiculously big - like trying to get a photograph of the Grand Canyon.





Four times this is submerged.







A nearby calf iceberg

 

[RooFlyer]

Forecast for Saturday - first stop, Point Wild at Elephant Island (where Shackleton's men were marooned for 4 months awaiting rescue).



then we move around to the far eastern Point Valentine, described as a 'whale hot-spot




Then somewhere on the southern coast (TBA)

 

[latawiec]

What was up was iceberg A23a, the world's largest iceberg at the moment. It broke off from the ice shelf about 40 years ago, grounded itself on the Weddell sea floor but now is on the move again. The Captain once again deviated so we could view it, and hove to quite close to it.

View attachment 362584

View attachment 362335

Its about 4,000 sq km (74x59 km) 400m high (so about 75m out of the water and weighs about a trillion tonnes, we are told.

Thank you for this information. As it was already submerged, than it will not much contribute to the increase in the sea water level ?

 

[RooFlyer]

A smooth journey overnight and I was able to catch up on some sleep, at last.

At 7:30am I heard the anchor go down and opened the curtains to a breathtaking sight (actually taken a bit later with the scout zodiac in the water).









I was in one of the later zodiacs, which was good, as the weather kept improving (and continued to do so, right through the day).



Approaching that rock with precariously placed penguins



The obvious question - why climb all that way up to the top? That's where the snow melts first and earliest nesting spot.

 

[RooFlyer]

Elephant Island was where Ernest Shackleton's men were marooned for 4.5 months in 1916. There is a good article about the whole show, here Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Point Wild is where the men camped awaiting rescue. Yes, this tiny bit of rocky land; they survived under their lifeboats.





There is a bust of Luis Villalon, the Master of the rescue vessel on the spot. The plaque reads

"Here on August 30th, 1916, the Chilean Navy cutter Yelcho commanded by Pilot Luis Pardo Villalón rescued the 22 men from the Shackleton Expedition who survived the wreck of the Endurance living for four and one half months in this Island".

Although landing is permitted here, its impractical beacuse of the rocks. Often, elephant seals will block the way, too. We just did a drive-by.

 

[RooFlyer]

I guess we haven't seen enough penguins yet, so here are some chinstraps. This porpoising about is very common, everywhere we go.











Yeah, because the rock isn't cold enough










Landslide

 

[RooFlyer]

I know you have been hanging out for the geology, so here it is. No further explanation needed, really.



In fact, its a mess. An untidy corner of the interaction of the major tectonic plates. But Elephant Island is a 'melange'. If you understand that when oceanic crust (heavy) meets continental crust (lighter), the heavy oceanic crust slides down under the continental crust - subduction. As it dives down, the oceanic slab melts and the rising molten rock comes out as volcanoes (ie Andes).



But of course the ocean floor has a huge pile of sediments on it. Some of those sediments would have accreted to become rock. When I was at uni, a question was - were these sediments scraped off, or subducted down?

I'm not sure if the answer is properly known yet, but in the case of Elephant Island, the sediments were scrunched up into the 'accretionary wedge' in the above diagram, and buried, heated and squeezed to hell in the process, highly metamorphosing them into the 'blueschist, greenschist, almandine bearing rocks found today. Classic.

 

[RooFlyer]

The weather kept improving and as the last zodiacs went out, it was pretty amazing.



Time for a nice hot chocolate and Kalua, plus choccies after my zodiac cruise.



and then we set sail for the south of the island, via Valentine Point where whales are promised. The coast was magnificent. Pictures can't do it justice. Valentine Point, the eastern extremity of Elephant Island, on the left.



Just about to enter the channel



And on command, dozens of whales. Sometimes 6 or more spouting at the same time. A few tail breaches, but I think some people had some quite close encounters. Just a couple of shots here





Obligatory iceberg - sea, sky, berg, all blue



They began filling the pool. Hopeful?



Lunch in the sun was the place to be, as the sky opened up to an almost complete blue