Antarctic Dream

Go to our blog at www.hoyers.blogspot.com. It's all there.... You can see the entries on or after December 2, 2008. Otherwise, click the side bar and see the pictures that we've posted. They are generally the better ones, pretty well taken with a point and shoot digital. I would love to own a bigger camera but find I don't carry it, too cumbersome. so i create memories, take a few photos and cherish it. Before we board ship, we talk a taxi-hike of Terra del Fuego National Park (at the end of the Alaska to South America highway) with two British ladies, Joanna and Sue, whom we'd met in transit. They were going on the 21 day version of this trip.

Soon after seeing the Southern cross in Beagle Channel, we enter the "Drake Shake"; since then things have rolled about, people are seen doing the watusi, and some we just don't see at all. Food is served on slip proof linen! By nightfall we have found our sea leggs. By nightfall, we have our sea legs, the crowd of 80, is mostly back packers types from all over the world. In between all the non-activity, we have lectures on the sea life, krill (the base of the food chain), an introduction to the albatross, petrels and fulmars who follow our path.

Nightfall finds us sailing around the south Georgia Islands. There is great anticipation of going on land tomorrow, seeing penguins and going for a swim. for others it's their last continent. Today was tossing and turning in sleep, in travel, in dining. Travelers talks centered on circumpolar water currents and various species of penguins we'll see. Flat Stanley, from Indiana, was seen on board today!

Two zodiac excursions today. We were on the water by 7 am to Half Moon Bay where there were many, many chinstrap penguins in rookeries. Low lying mist and rain add to an aura of eeriness. Whalers Bay on Deception Island. there were volcanoes here in 1969; the soil is still warm. There are lots of signs of whaling activity, buildings, boilers, hangars, living shacks, etc. We did the antarctic plunge with lots of others.

Apparently there was a rough crossing of Gerlache Straight last night; I slept through it all. We woke up to heavy snow falling at Danco Island. We made a zodiac landing. The views continue to amaze me beyond words. Neko Harbour; we have finally touched mainland Antarctica, a two hour climb overlooking a pretty bay. We watched several glaciers calve. Saw many rookeries with penguins already sitting patiently on eggs. ... Each day, after the hike, i park myself in the dining room which allows for amazing viewing as we socialize over wonderful food; it is here that I write a few cards and this journal.

Sixty five degrees south. Petermann Island. Three researchers disappeared here a number of years ago and there's a cross to commemorate that. We saw adelie penguins for the first time, sitting on their eggs. Lots of people had never heard of snow angels, so I made it my business to push them into the snow and take photos. The Lemaire Channel was spectacular. It is hard to capture the moment: massive peaked mountains, ice and freezing temperatures. At that point, the crew brought our champagne on deck to celebrate the furthest south we'd reached. In the afternoon, we went on zodiac tours amongst the ice floes. Most of the time was being followed by, and following killer whales (orcas). They swam around us, under us and did some amazing acrobatics

We overnighted at Port Lockroy, a British station (with a post office). I met someone who was able to tell me about people I'd first met in the arctic in 1966 and where they were now. (It was at the Devon Island Research Station - AINA - as a young volunteer, that I'd met Alan Gill and Fritz Koerner, glaciologists) It was a most picturesque spot, but at the time it was snowing fiercely. Finally, at Enterprise Bay, we stopped for a zodiac trip. We saw a whaling wreck, leopard seals and pups, and plenty of antarctic birds. Our engine died and we had to be towed back to the Antarctic Dream.

After reaching King George Island, on November 26th to pick up a Chinese film crew, our own landing was aborted by rough weather. We then headed north to Ushuaia and home. The seas were quite rough those days, and it was a pretty passive passage for all.

We had the real Drake Shake experience overnight and this morning with 3-4 meter swells. We were rejoined by albatrosses and petrels. Fog saw us thru the convergence area and as the skies cleared we knew we had left the southern Ocean.

During the morning we found rougher seas. Those who did make it to the dining room were thrown around a bit, breakfast dishes were available on a need to use basis only. By afternoon we had settled into the calmer Beagle channel

It was superb weather for debarkation in Ushuaia. Couldn't get enough of the beauty of it. Sad to leave for Buenos Aires and the long flights home.

We spent the next 36 hours in BA, mostly in San Telum and the Sunday Markets ( must see) before leaving at 4 am Monday on three flights home and the chance to recover from sleep. I did read 8 books, and started the 9th. Bruce Courtnay - Solomon's Song David Gutterson - The Other Ian Buruma - Murder in Amsterdam John Grisham - The Innocent Man Richard Foster - Celebration of Discipline Richard Mouw - Praying at Burger King Khaled Housseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns Michael Ford - The Fall of Rome Bruce Mortenson - Three Cups of Tea