Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Heading Home

Arriving in Ushuaia aboard the G Expedition
That afternoon we started heading north toward the Drake Passage. We put on our seasickness patches in anticipation of a potentially rougher trip than the relatively smooth trip down.

There had been talk of a storm heading that way and I think the captain was trying to outrun it. 

There were clouds, but, south of the Drake was pretty calm; Photos: Scott Stevens
Our route swung wider than the “downhill” trip and we started by passing a number of huge icebergs, a nice farewell to the subpolar region.

These were unbelievably massive; Photo: Scott Stevens
Watch it here.

We marveled at the scenery in the sunlight. 

Can you even??? Photo: Scott Stevens
Amazing!!!! Photo: Scott Stevens
I spent some time on deck photographing the Cape Petrels that became more numerous as we moved north.

You can see the swells picking up
I even got a new bird: a White-chinned Petrel
At this point, it had been five days since our COVID diagnosis. We retested ourselves and Scott was negative. I still tested positive, but apparently I am one of those people who test positive even after the contagious period has passed. 

We got hot food again! Photo: Scott Stevens
So, we were released from quarantine and allowed among the living again. I still had the cough and congestion, so I tried not to get too close. But, the trip was almost over and we hadn’t really had much of a chance to make friends.

It turns out that we did successfully outrun the storm and our Drake Passage was just slightly rougher than the first one (maybe a 3 of 10). Yay! 

See Scott's video here.

Beagle Channel
The two days going north were uneventful. Then, when we reached the Beagle Channel on our last day at sea, I stayed on deck trying to catch glimpses of Sei Whales (no luck there) or any of the birds that I didn’t see on the way out.

Lighthouse and a Kelp Gull with Chile in the background
This really underscored my regret that I didn’t take a Beagle Channel cruise from Ushuaia on that free morning (or as an add-on to our Tierra del Fuego tour). The place is bird paradise.

Of course, there were Black-browed Albatrosses (a fellow traveler saw a Wandering Albatross right before I got on deck, but it never came back).

A very common bird in the Beagle Channel
We saw Magellanic Penguins on a very distant beach and lots and lots of Blue-eyed Shags (now Imperial Cormorants again). 

So many birds that I didn't even know to look for on the way out
I heard that we passed Rock Cormorants as well, but I couldn’t find any with my eyes (not reliable) or my camera (more reliable).

At this point, the ship was being escorted through the Beagle by a harbor pilot, so there was no slowing, turning or getting closer to shore.

The escort approaches
I also saw a huge colony of South American Terns ...

They covered the island
... plus a big haul-out of South American Sea Lions ...

And, they covered this island
It was a beautiful sunny day, so, even though everything was so far away, it was fun to stand on deck and try to get some photos.

Coming into Ushuaia; Photo: Scott Stevens
Homeward Bound
We actually docked in Ushuaia on the evening of the 11th even though departure was on the 12th. I guess that gives you time in case the crossing is rough.

Ushuaia from the ship; Photo: Scott Stevens
Some people went into town after the ship’s farewell dinner that we did get to attend (Hot food! Company! Wine!), but we had already seen what you can see in Ushuaia. And, unlike our time in Ushuaia before departure, it was chilly and very, very windy.

So, we stayed and packed and looked at town from a different perspective.

Ushuaia from the ship with Kelp Gulls in the foreground
The next morning, we disembarked, hung out for awhile ...

Final morning in Ushuaia
... and were then bused to the Ushuaia airport for our flight to Buenos Aires. 

Taking off from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires
It was so crazy windy at the airport, I thought we’d be delayed, but I guess they are used to wind there.

It was a bit rough, but beautiful, as we flew out
Heading to Buenos Aires
This time, we did not stay overnight in Buenos Aires. Instead I had booked a shuttle between airports for our late evening trip home.

I made a stupid American error that, fortunately, had no bad outcome. I thought I booked the shuttle for 5:30 p.m. (and did include my flight number, so ...). Anyway, everywhere but the US that would be 17:30, so I was on the books for 5:30 in the morning. They took us anyway.
 
To the clerk’s credit, he didn’t even roll his eyes at me even though I deserved it
The trip between airports should take about an hour. Since it was rush hour, I anticipated a bit longer. I wasn’t paying close attention until I realized we hadn’t moved at all in ages. Apparently, there was an accident ahead of us that was slowing all traffic and has completely blocked bus traffic (the bus lane has high concrete walls, so we couldn’t change lanes). Just at the point I started to fear we might not make our flight, we finally started moving.

The airport was a zoo. Long lines to check in. Long lines to go through immigration. Very little place to sit and wait.

But, on the bright side, after our flight to Buenos Aires, Scott was miserable (as he always in after a flight). I just didn’t want the trip back to be as miserable, so I spent an extra $800 to upgrade us to Business Class. 

Good call!
We had private cubicles with beds and meals and general comfort all around. Scott said he slept; the first time ever on a plane! Now, we’re spoiled.

In fact, it was so nice that I barely noticed how late we were taking off. When we arrived at DFW, we realized that making our connection to Colorado Springs was doubtful. 

That’s not a huge deal because when you’re that close, who cares? And, we could alway chill in Dallas before catching a later flight. Still, it would be nice to get home.

Passport Control was a breeze (with GOES, you hardly have to stop walking), but waiting for our bags so that we could wheel them 100 feet to put them back on another conveyor belt took forever.

When we finally got the bags settled, we had to hightail it to another terminal and we reached the plane seconds before the door closed. We were last on, which wasn’t too bad since we were in first class (part of our upgrade). One bag made it. Two got delivered to our house 12 hours later.

The most amusing part about coming home was that the coldest temperatures we encountered in Ant-freaking-arctica was 33°F. It was -9°F at home. 

Yep, colder than the coldest place on Earth
Sure, it was winter at home and summer in Antarctica. But, still.

A few days after we got home, we got a trip log from G Adventures outlining specifics about the trip and providing some photos from Ship Photographer Sheeren Mroueh.

Good stuff
That would come in handy as we processed and sorted the thousands of photos we took. I always try, when traveling, to download and identify. But, I always end up with a few photos that I can't identify.

Scott taking photos
I told you at the beginning that G Adventures provides a rough itinerary, but no specific details because the trip is so dependent on weather and ice. Now, that we are back, I can show you where we went (ignore their spelling!).


Despite missed meals, airport delays, a cough, a cold and COVID, it was a magnificent trip. I would go again in a heartbeat. Probably won’t, but I would!

Unbelievable!!!!


Trip date: December 30, 2023  - January 12, 2024


Monday, March 4, 2024

The Best Day

Beautiful!
I think our final day of excursions was my favorite, for two reasons: During the day, we actually had some sunshine and blue sky and because of the jaw-dropping grandeur of our morning destination: Heal Bay. 

The bluest sky and sea we saw
Heal Bay
After passing through Freud Passage, we explored Heal Bay. Another cruise-only destination, Heal was a “new” location: G Adventures had never taken passengers there, our landing had not yet been registered among tour operators as an excursion spot and it’s not easily found on the Internet. 

Glacier-topped mountains above the bay
I am not saying that no humans have ever been there, but maybe …
 
Scott, the explorer, on the ship's deck
Surrounded by huge mountains and glaciers, the bay was chock full of giant icebergs. 

Mountain, glacier, ice and sea
When I say, giant, I mean really, really huge. Our ship was 344 feet long and some bergs were easily eight times its length. I can’t even estimate their height. 

It such a vast expanse, determining size is very tricky
The icebergs exhibited all the colors: white, black, brilliant turquoise and a darker blue I hadn’t seen before.

My favorite
To be classified as an iceberg, the height of the ice must be greater than 14 feet above sea level, the thickness must be 98-164 feet and the ice must cover an area of at least 5,382 square feet. 

That's big!
Icebergs are classified as such:

Very Large Berg – at least 240 feet tall and 670 feet wide; Photo: Scott Stevens
Large Berg – 151-240 feet tall and 401-670 feet wide
Medium Berg – 51-150 feet tall and 201-400 feet wide
Small Berg – 14-50 feet tall and 47-200 feet wide
Bergy Bit – 3-13 feet tall and 15-46 feet wide
Growler – less than 3 feet tall and 15 feet wide
Brash – chunks of ice
Here's a really big one, courtesy of Scott.

Of course, measuring icebergs is extremely tricky because what you see isn't what you get. About 90 percent of an iceberg is below the water's surface. That's because the density of ice is 0.92 g/mL, and the density of salt water is 1.03 g/mL. This means that ice has nine-tenths of water's density, hence 90 percent.

The underwater portion showing through the clear water; Photo: Scott Stevens
Icebergs can have smooth or sculpted surfaces. Common are grooves that result from melting.

The ravages of nature
The water in Heal Bay hovered right around freezing, giving it a silky, mercurial look. In some places it was even forming “pancake” ice, lacy round sheets floating on the surface. 

Pancaking is a precursor to actual freezing
What is amazing to think about when looking at a place like Heal Bay is that the environment is very fragile ...

Small avalanches
... and it changes every day ...

Glaciers calve
Icebergs capsize or float
Ice melts
Snow caps the mountains
Clouds clear out
That means that no one else on Earth will ever see it looking the same way it looked when we saw it. 

A most changeable landscape
Just this way for us
That's pretty amazing to think about
With the smooth water, calm wind and gray-to-sunny skies, there were a fair number of birds.

Southern Giant-Petrel
Blue-eyed Shag flying across the face of a glacier
Blue-eyed Shag taking off from the bergy bits and brash
Kelp Gull flying overhead
South Polar Skua
Southern Fulmars
But, the stars of this excursion were the Southern Fulmars flying about and resting on some growlers. 

Having a conversation
Up to this point, I had been surprised that we weren’t seeing lots of Fulmars on the water. When we were in Svalbard in 2019, we saw hundred of this bird’s relative, the Northern Fulmar, both floating on the water and sitting on the ice along with Arctic Terns and Black-legged Kittiwakes.

A nice-sized gathering of Southern Fulmars
In Antarctica, it seemed that the bird volume was less than in the Arctic. Up to Heal Bay, we had seen just a few Fulmars, always flying quickly by. But, here, we saw lots.

It was nice to get to observe these Fulmars up so close
The Southern Fulmar, also known as the Antarctic Fulmar or Silver-grey Fulmar, breeds on the coast of Antarctica and the surrounding islands, moving north in winter. It nests in colonies on cliffs, laying a single egg on a ledge or crevice. Its diet includes Krill, fish and squid picked from the water's surface.

An indelicate take-off
The name comes from the Old Norse Fúlmár meaning "foul-mew" or "foul-gull" because of the birds' habit of ejecting a foul-smelling oil.

While the birds pictured look small, Fulmars are actually pretty big: 18-20 inches long with a wingspan 43-47 inches.

It is a common species with a population of at least 4 million; a million pairs breed on the South Sandwich Islands alone. 

Heal Bay keeps Giving
We also encountered a couple of Weddell seals ...

One was quite pretty
One was extremely large and suffering from a runny nose
At this point my congestion had gotten worse, so I was feeling the same way as the second Seal. 

I could have cruised this lovely bay for days, but they made us get back onboard the ship.

So special!
Bubble-Net Feeding
Most guests were headed to lunch and we were cruising past some big icebergs, the Captain demonstrating his mad navigation skills. Scott caught some of the action.

It is tricky to navigate around the big ones
Then, we got one of the top wildlife treats of the trip.

We encountered three Humpback Whales, including a calf, “logging” along a “seam” in the water where to currents meet. You could easily see the intersection.

On the left, the water is relatively ice-free; on the right, it is brashy
Logging is how Whales sleep, resting on the surface and gently surfacing to breathe.

Mom and calf at the seam
One was just hanging suspended in the relatively clear green water. You can easily see its huge, white pectoral fins through the water.

If you look closely, you can see the full outline of its head
Scott took a video that caught multiple angles, but not much action (it was SLEEPING!).

As we watched, the Whales woke up and started bubble-net feeding. This feeding behavior is used by Humpback and Bryde's Whales and is one of the few surface feeding behaviors that Humpbacks are known to engage in.

Mom and baby waking up so mom can feed (the baby is still nursing)
The net
Bubble-net feeding is a cooperative exercise where a group of Whales dive below a school of small prey such as Krill or Herring, and blow bubbles as they circle and slowly move to the surface. 

The size of the net they create can range from 10 to 100 feet in diameter. The wall of bubbles confuses the prey, which gathers into a tight ball. Then, the Whales, moving in concert, lunge upwards with their mouths open to feed on the trapped critters.

A deep dive
The Whales can gulp up to 15,000 gallons of water as they feed. 

Grooves that run from the chin to the navel allow them to expand their body to take in the massive quantities of water and prey. 

Then, they swallow the prey through their grapefruit-sized throats and stream the water out through their baleen (fringed sheets of keratin that line their mouths and act as filters). Since Humpbacks can eat 4,400-5,500 lbs. of Krill per day, this method is efficient.

Eventually there were five adults and one calf, doing this over and over
Bubble-netting is an advanced maneuver that is not instinctual; rather it is taught. Not every population of Humpbacks has the skill. In the group we saw, the calf was participating as a training exercise even though it was too young to actually be dependent of Krill rather than mother’s milk. Several times, it crossed the path of some adults, demonstrating that it had not yet mastered the skill.

Two adults and the "trainee"
Solitary Whales may engage in similar method referred to as lunge feeding that is similarly executed as the Whale dives down beneath a school of fish and rises to the surface with its mouth wide open. Once it reaches the surface it swallows, separates the fish from the saltwater and spits out the excess water.

From the ship, we could easily see the spiral “nets” the Whales created by blowing bubbles from below. Unlike Whales we have seen doing this in New England and Alaska, these Whales did not breach the surface with their mouths open to gulp prey. That’s because the Krill they were eating was pretty far below the surface. So, by the time they surfaced to breathe, they had already consumed the Krill.

This was right in front of the boat
Although we started with three Humpbacks, eventually there were six. The show was un-believe-able. Watch the video I took here and the one Scott took here. Plus, here's some more he took of the swimming Whales.

With full tummies, swimming away
What a day! And, we still had one more stop.

Hydrurga Rocks
The afternoon Zodiac excursion was also cruise-only with no shore landings. In some brilliant sunlight, we visited Hydrurga Rocks ...

A gorgeous afternoon
... where we saw large numbers of our old friends, Chinstrap Penguins, which we hadn't seen since Neko Harbor. 

Chinstrap Penguins at home
According to my research, about 800 Chinstraps make their summer homes on these low-lying rocky islands. 

But, quite frankly, it looked to me like there might be many more. They were everywhere.

They were on the rock-tops …
... on the shore ...
... in the water ...
... and we even saw some making the transition
We saw Chinstraps ...

... traveling on Penguin Highways ...
... jumping ...
... singing ...
... running ...
... diving ...
... and tending their babies
So nice to see old friends!

Will We See a Leopard Seal?
Named after the Leopard Seal, whose scientific name is Hydrurga Leptonyx ("thin-clawed water worker"), Hydrurga Rocks was our best bet to see a Leopard Seal. 

Rocky places to hide and oceans to hunt in make this a perfect spot
We had been hoping all along, but we were a bit early in the season to see this stealthy and deadly predator. They generally show up when Penguin chicks fledge and all the chicks we saw were still parent-dependent.

We found some Weddell Seals relaxing in the sun and one Seal among them may have been a juvenile Leopard Seal. No one was sure and it didn’t move enough for us to see. But, its longish neck and rounded head could have indicated Leopard Seal.  

After I got home, I decided that it was a Weddell, not a Leopard
Among the Chinstrap colonies were …

Blue-eyed Shags with their ginormous chicks
… Kelp Gulls with chicks …
… and Snowy Sheathbills
Pure white except for its pink, warty face, the Snowy Sheathbill is 16 inches long with a wingspan of about 30 inches. 

Scavenging on the shore
Because it does not have webbed feet, it finds its food on land, making it the only land bird native to the Antarctic continent

Snowy Sheathbills are omnivores, scavengers and kleptoparasites that will eat nearly anything. They steal regurgitated Krill and fish from Penguins feeding their chicks and, given the opportunity, will eat their eggs and chicks. 

They also eat carrion, animal feces and, if available, human waste. They have even been known to eat tapeworms from Chinstrap Penguins' intestines. Yuck!

Although the Zodiacs were exactly the same in Hydrurga, I felt so much closer to the water on this excursion, I think it is because there were many Blue-eyed Shags and Chinstrap Penguins swimming all around us. 

Right by the boat
A cute little guy
Hydrurga Rocks is a special memory of the Antarctic Peninsula because, as we toured, the sky got brighter and bluer, highlighting ...

... the gorgeous glaciers ...
... snow-covered mountains and the deep blue ocean ...
... and hulking icebergs
What a wonderful way to end our trip.

Well, kind of an end; we still had to get home


Trip date: December 30, 2023  - January 12, 2024