Torres del Paine and Antarctica Fly Cruise

Jan 23, 2023
Today we fly from Santiago to Puerto Natales where we drove to the Ecocamp office and waited for an hour or two exploring the town until the group transfer from Punta Arenas arrived. Once they did, we set out for a nice lunch at a nearby restaurant before driving two hours the rest of the way to Torres del Paine via the Laguna Amarga entrance to the park. We spot flamingos on the way in! We settle into Ecocamp and explore the property this evening.

Jan 24-25, 2023
These days we explore Torres Del Paine National Park. We end up visiting Grey Glacier, which s a three-hour navigation on a lake to visit three tongues of the glacier. It takes about an hour to arrive and the 150 or so passengers on board are all excited and snap many photos when we get there and celebrate with a drink!. We drove to the southern and western point of the park for this excursion and then have to drive back to Ecocamp. The park is absolutely breathtaking, and though it is rainy and windy here and there,e it is still simply gorgeous and the clouds part enough to give us some amazing views. My husband ends up hiking to the towers the next day, while I woke up sick (perhaps from something I ate, perhaps from the pressure change). I end up exploring around the area and walk down to Hotel Las Torres to check out their property too. We spot a puma at dinner time, which just caps off a wonderful visit. 

Jan 26-27, 2023
Today we drive the 5 hours from Ecocamp to arrive to Punta Arenas by 11 AM. Here we must then get an antigen test before we can be approved to board the ship the next morning. We pass (hurray) and check in to our hotel, the Dreams, for the night. We receive a briefing this evening about what to expect for the flight and boarding of the vessel the next day, as well as an update on if the weather will cooperate with our plan. The visibility of the ground over King George Island must be to a certain height for the pilots to ensure a safe landing, otherwise, we cannot take off.

The next morning we get the all-clear and head to Punta Arenas airport. Here we board our flight, a DAP airlines charter plane, and fly down to King George Island, which is a muddy/gravel-covered base with the runway and a Chilean and Russian base on it. We are lucky in that vans are awaiting to drive us down to the shoreline. Here was take off our other boots, and get into our muck boots we will use for the duration of the cruise on the Sylvia Earle, grab lifevests, board zodiacs, and board our ship. We enjoy dinner and safety briefings the rest of the day while we sail towards the Antarctic Peninsula.

Jan 28, 2023
Our first full day of the cruise did not disappoint. We woke up for a full buffet breakfast at 7:30. They had absolutely everything you could want for breakfast, and my husband and I decided that we might just gain some pounds on this trip if we are not careful!

We then wait for the decks to be called to head down to the mud room for our first landing at Hydruga Rocks in Enterprise Harbour. This is not a peninsula landing, rather is a great location for a chinstrap penguin colony and cormorant nesting grounds. We shuffle down when our deck is called at around 9:45. It has taken them about 45 mins to get others off the ship as they shuttle zodiacs of people to and from the island. The mud room is a nice staging area to get boots and other outerwear on/off.
 
We load up in the zodiac by stepping out a side door and using a sailor’s grip to sit in the zodiac. Then we jet off to the island, which takes about 10 minutes to reach. We do a wet landing on the island and immediately are surrounded by the sounds of the penguins and the sights of sea lions lounging in the sun ready to greet us. We also spot two Weddell seals (that look like snow slugs) lying in the sun soaking up some of the sun’s rays. The temperature is nice, about 30 degrees F I’d guess, and we feel well dressed in our parkas provided by Aurora, as well as an underlayer and mid-layer. We were prepared as if we were hitting the ski slopes for a day in Montana and the gear is appropriate and kept us warm the entire time. We walk around the island for two hours, which spans maybe a few football field lengths, and is mostly covered in slippery, uneven ground and rocks that are covered in guano, as well as some lingering snow at the top. Anybody concerned about balance or mobility would have a difficult time getting around. We see many baby chicks, some of which already look close to being adults. And many cormorants flying around overhead. The seals and sea lions give us little notice, and one almost appears to be posing for us in his sleep with a smile. The views are amazing, and I think we are all in awe of the amount of wildlife just steps away. Due to avian flu concerns, we must be careful to not come closer than 5 m to penguins, but it is difficult at times to avoid them as we have little walking area on the rocky path, and they seem to walk right up to us and cut us off.  Many times, we must backtrack to keep our distance intact. The scenery down here is simply breathtaking, and you get this sense of being so, so, small in the world as you span the landscape. Even the vessel in the background looks so small compared to the massively tall glacier and ice pack on the island next to her.
 
This afternoon we stop in Graham Passage for a zodiac around the harbor. We set out on the boats through lovely calm water to see what we can spot. I join the Citizen Science boat, where they take us out and discuss many of the different ways, we can participate in data collection in this area. Nasa uses a Cloud tracker to discover what kinds of clouds are visible from the surface in certain areas and compare that to satellite imagery of the same location. We discuss types of clouds and as a group decide what we see overhead and upload images and descriptions to the app. Our expedition leader is hilarious in telling us then, we can now claim “I have done research for NASA in Antarctica”. Next, we measure the visibility of the water using sucky discs. This is a project where likewise you can upload the readings to an app that helps track changing conditions in the water. We also discuss the algae on the ice edges and can track and mark the extent that we see in our area to report the changing algae conditions. This makes the ice looks reddish-pink and is critical for the ecosystem, as the plankton eat this, the krill eat the plankton, and pretty much the rest of the ecosystem relies on the krill in the food chain. We continue to zodiac around, taking pictures of the beautiful hues of blue in the icebergs before returning to the ship two hours later.

Jan 29, 2023
Today we wake up in Paradise Harbor and gorgeous protected area which is also the site of a base for Argentina that is manned in summer and conducts fish research. We are far south on the Peninsula now, and I believe will start to cruise northward the rest of the way and make it to the Weddell Sea. We get to take part in our first continental landing this morning! We hop into zodiacs and scoot to shore where we unload on the ‘beach’ made of rocks and covered in about 1-2 meters of ice. We spot some gentoo penguins on shore that let us watch them as they play and jump into the water. We walk around on the ice pack and take in the spectacular views. Being here is so hard to describe or capture in pictures. The landscape is just so vast and the sense of being so small in it is so hard to put in a photo. We next zodiac around the cove, again admiring the icebergs in the lake and taking in the glaciers coming down from the dramatic mountains around the edges. We get to see gentoo penguins, a cormorant colony, a deposit of copper in the mountainside which has turned turquoise from oxidation, and many hues of blue in the glacial ice. We are cruising through a pace of ice when an iceberg comes apart and rolls right in front of us. It was a small one and we were perfectly at a safe distance, but it shocked a bunch of us! I can see why they don’t want you to get too close to them, as they are very unpredictable. As we cruise around for another hour, we spot a leopard seal lounging on some flow ice. He barely lifts his face to look at us as we cruise by and snap some photos. He looks so at peace in his nap on the ice.

We cruise back to the boat where it is shortly announced that we will do the polar plunge in twenty minutes! Sounds like they want to take advantage of the calm waters to do one. I must decide if I will partake or not and decide I must try everything at least once. So, we change into our swimsuits and wander down to the back of the boat. About 40 to 50 of us are huddled together in our swimsuits and bathrobes waiting for our turn. We jump off the launch pad into the water and feel the shock of cold around us.  The water is very cold, and it takes my breath away, and all I can think is ‘get out, get out, get out!’. We crawl up on a pontoon with handles to get back up quickly where we are promptly handed a towel and a shot of vodka to warm us up! What a great memory! I am glad I have tried it, if even only due to peer pressure. 
 
In the afternoon we land off Culverville Island and it has started snowing now. It is shocking, as this morning it was ‘warm’ and sunny, and now we are in an area with thick cloud cover, and snow with the wind. We land at Culverville Island and wander around the very numerous Gentoo penguin colonies here. There are many who have nested high up on the hill and watching them waddle their way up and down the hill to get rocks and access the water is entertaining.  Here we can see many nests and babies being kept warm. Most are sitting atop only one chick, but some even have two they are taking care of.  We learn that the likelihood of laying two eggs, and those two eggs surviving are very rare, so this is a unique sight. There must be around 1500 pairs or so on this island, and it seems to be that numerous. We can walk the expanse of the rocky beach and admire them. We also spot a weddell seal camped out on the ice that is posing nicely for us. At this point, I am feeling already a bit ‘penguined’ out – and it is only Day 2 of full excursions! They just are everywhere, and I can’t believe how lucky I am to witness their hilarious behaviors.  This evening we enjoy a lecture during our evening debrief on identifying various types of penguins as well as identifying whales by their tales and how to participate in citizen science with the happywhale.com project.

Jan 30, 2023
Today we rise early for our crossing through the Lemaire Channel at 6 Am. The fog has socked in the view a bit, and the numerous icebergs have crowded our path which makes for a slower move forward. We find out that our planned zodiac at the end of the Lemaire will have to be canceled, so instead, we will cruise around Penola Strait and pass back through Lemaire Channel northbound this time.  The views are stunning though, and we enjoy photographing the steep edges of the cliffs plunging into the waters below. Here we spot some gentoo penguins swimming and floating on an ice floe, weddell seals, Antarctic terns, and kelp gulls. We decide to take a jacuzzi outside in the back of the boat while we pass through. While in the jacuzzi we spot a pair of humpback whales following the wake of our ship.  What a treat! They follow the boat for a good 20 minutes but never do show off their tale for us! We also spot a small sailing vessel down here cutting through the Lemaire next to us.  It gives one an appreciation for how treacherous it could be for a small boat of that size down here. We watch him sail dangerously close to the shoreline with overhanging glacial snow looking ready to calve on top of him! I don’t think I could be a risk-taker like that in this environment, but it is amazing to see what some are capable of doing, just as the former explorers were.

After lunch, we prepare for our disembarkation in Port Lockroy. First, we hop in a zodiac to explore Jougla Point, which is a small area on Wiencke Island.  We get lucky with a nice warm and sunny day today, which makes for some breathtaking photographs of the penguins with the shimmering snow behind them. Again, here we see some chicks with their mothers, many of which are much closer to us than on Culverville island. It is so fun to watch some of the penguins doing their ‘job’ of finding rocks, waddling back to the nest, dropping one, and waddling back down to get another rock. This is how they build their nests, and they are very hard workers as you watch the purpose of the waddle. We spend some time wandering the shoreline here as well as admiring some impressive whale bones lying on the beach. It is hard to imagine being so close to a creature that big, or even to imagine trying to ‘catch’ a whale in a small dingy or fishing vessel! When it is our turn, we taxi across the water to Port Lockroy. This is one of the first bases established by the British back in the 1944-1945 Operation Tabarin. The base was used first to establish a presence during what was originally looking to be a race to claim land in Antarctica but also to conduct research on the Ionosphere and the use of radio waves for communication. The base was closed in 1962 shortly after the Antarctic Treaty and then nearly 30 years later the decision was made to revive it as a historic site. The base now houses a museum and has been reconstructed the base to look/feel exactly as it did back during its operational heyday. It also is the world’s furthest south post office and will mail a postcard for you to anywhere in the world for one stamp! The journey the postcard takes is traveling by ship first to the Falkland Islands, then it boards an RAF flight back to Britain. Then from there is distributed for regular postal delivery throughout the globe. We send a postcard to our kids, our parents, and get excited to see how long it will take to arrive! The small gift shop here too is the world’s ‘Southernmost mall’, or so they claim! It was neat to hear and learn about the history of the base once back on board during the evening debrief, along with some tips from the onboard photographer about how to capture the best shots. We finish the day off with dinner, which was intended to be an attempted outdoor BBQ, but as we know in Antarctica, the weather changes every 15 minutes. They decide to move the BBQ indoors and we enjoy a festive dinner with silly party hats this evening.

Jan 31, 2023
This morning we sleep in a little, as we are still tired from the previous few days and feel the need to recoup. While getting ready for our landing, we spot humpback tales out of our balcony cabin in the distance. We try to coo them to come closer to the ship, but they simply won’t listen to us! Our only landing for the day will be at Mikkelsen Harbor, an old whaling station still with a hut and remnants of whale bones and an ice vessel on shore. We wander around the island, again spotting gentoo penguins in nearly every rocky area. We did identify one chinstrap penguin, making friends with the gentoos, which was interesting to watch. On the back side of the island, we spot five weddell seals and three fur seals lounging on the shore. They acknowledge our presence somewhat with brief glances in our direction, or a small adjustment of position or a scratch before returning to their naps. The landing started out all sunny, but then quickly changed to snowing and cold, so we decide to head back earlier to the ship for some hot chocolate.

After lunch, we have a zodiac cruise planned around Spert Island, located just west of Trinity Island. We load up and head out around the bay, spotting some fur seals on the shore, and admiring some breathtaking rock formations. Next, we round the corner facing the open ocean and sail through some steep vertical rock formations. The channel reminds me of Kicker Rock somewhat in the Galapagos islands, although with much mightier water currents. We continue along in the open bay. The swells on this side of the rock formations are quite large and after a time of trolling along the coast, the decision is made to return to the ship instead of continuing.  This evening we enjoy our recap and discuss the plan to try and forge northward towards the Weddell Sea.
 

Feb 1, 2023
After a very windy sailing the night prior I woke up quite tired. We receive the news that the morning outing, which we hoped would involve Astrolabe Island, cannot take place due to high swell. We continue north to round the trip of Weddell Sea, enjoying two interesting lectures during the morning, one about Shackleton’s famous expedition and another about plate tectonics. After lunch, we receive the news as well that the afternoon zodiac excursions around Gourdin Island will also have to be canceled due to high swells. So, we continue to round the cape into the Antarctic Sounds and towards James Ross Island in the Weddell Sea. I have to confess, while I did want to maximize my time down here, I am feeling very tired from the schedule we have been maintaining up until now and am grateful for a day of ‘nothing’, where I don’t feel like I’m missing out on excursions to just hang around on the ship most of the day.  We are lucky as we have a ship of fewer than 100 passengers, which means we get to maximize our time on landings. We have also been ‘lucky’ in that our fly-cruise sailed on time, and until this day, we’ve largely had very good weather for every landing. Out the window, we can see Hope Bay, an Argentina base that boasts the first recorded human birth in this region. We take a group photo out on the deck with a touch of sunshine before sailing on. We continue through to the Weddell Sea, ending near the opening to the Antarctic Sound where we anchor this evening.
 

Feb 2, 2023
Today we have a beautiful shining day waiting for us in the Weddell Sea. It definitely looks and feels different out here. More icebergs float by, and huge large tabular icebergs can be seen every which way you look from the bow. It is no wonder the explorers had such a difficult time in this sea in particular.

We’ve been told we will get this day only in this area. At Brown Bluffs, we go ashore and get to really spread out in the area. The Brown cliffs are eroding all over the glacier nearby. We climb up to have a look and go for a walk on the glacier. Paulina, the geologist on the expedition staff, shares a bit about the various kinds of rock we can see and what caused them. After this, we wander around to look at the various adelie penguins on the island. Here there is an adelie and a gentoo colony and they seem to mix together in their interactions on the beach. We spot as well Weddell Seas lounging around. Amongst them, are the petrels and skuas, which all seem to be very active around here. As we are continuing back, we hear that a leopard seal has killed a penguin in the water. We travel out by zodiac and by the time we get there, we see various seabirds fighting over the carcass in the water. It is a fascinating site to watch. Next, we sail around some of the large icebergs out hear, and spot penguins atop many. How they get up there I do not know, but it is such a hilarious site.

As we cruise onward deeper into the Weddell Sea, we spot orcas off our stern and stop the ship to admire them. It is quite difficult to spot orcas, so we feel lucky with the visit. Next, we land at the Naze, a spit of flat land off James Ross Island. Here we again see abundant fur seals, many of whom are quite active. We are also able to climb high to the top and spot fossils in the rocks. We have a bit of a scavenger hunt seeing how many fossils we can find as a group atop the gorgeous scene. The Naze offers some of my best photos of seals as well, as many are varied colors and quite unafraid of us.

This evening we enjoy a debrief. We also prepare for what will be a rocky cruise back through Antarctic Sound, with the ship listing quite a bit and swell expected all evening.
 

Feb 3, 2023
Today we cross Bransfield Strait in the morning. The weather and wind are quite nasty, but we cross Bransfield Strait without much of an issue this morning. Again, I am grateful for the free morning to be a bit lazy. This morning we are presented with two hour-long lectures to fill the time. One discusses the volcanic activity at Deception Island as well as the history of the seal and whaling commercial enterprises that took place here 120 years earlier. And a second lecture covers the expedition of Larsen and Nordenskjold. To this area, resulting in an additional year trapped out here and a very happenstance reunion of three different parted groups in the midst of the Weddell Sea.

We enter Deception Island (named that due to the original explorer who spotted it thinking it was one solid island, but 10 months later another explorer discovered an inlet and that it is actually a flooded caldera inside).  We enjoy a ship’s cruise to the back of the caldera and return to the opening to take anchor at Whaler’s Bay. Here we get out on shore and have a big expanse to walk. This is the first landing where we really feel like we get our steps in. We admire the old British airplane hangar. A gentleman was the first to fly down here by creating an S-shaped runway. Next, we explore what is left of the Norwegian whaling commercial station as well as the British base (Base B) from Operation Tabarin in the 1940s. This base was active up until the volcano erupted in 1967 and they have to be emergency evacuated from this very cove. After another eruption 2 years later the base was abandoned. We walk along the beach and hike both the hill to see to the West and Neptune’s Window to see to the east. Along the way, some very territorial fur seals jest with charging our group multiple times. It is the first time we’ve seen any of them get aggressive. They are small however and scaring them off an attack by making yourself look large is easy to do. We also see one large but lazy leopard seal lounging on the beach as well.  We enjoy a long time on shore, more than 3 hours, and some of our group take part in a micro-plastics Citizen Science program, which helps to measure and collect data on what pieces of plastic we find in the soils down here. This has not been surveyed much so the data collection by expedition tourism really helps aid in filling data gaps. We find no microplastics in the soil at Whaler’s Bay.

This evening we sit down for debriefing and then dinner. And again, we are blessed with a huge pod of orcas right out the window at dinner. They seem to almost be dancing around our ship and we spot so many of them right off the stern. It is truly a magical end to a breathtaking day.
 

Feb 4, 2023
This morning we anchor near Half Moon Caye (Island) and disembark in zodiacs to the shoreline. We are able to admire again many fur seals, many of whom appear to be playing or vying for territory with each other. We explore the island by walking down to the other shoreline along what looks to be a ‘penguin highway’, or a broad trail and area where the penguins now love to walk. Their colony and nests are set way up high on this island, so they have quite a trek from their nests to the shore.  We return to the ship a bit early on this and sneak in a workout in the gym on the Sylvia Earle, before lunchtime. We have heard that our flights may be delayed tomorrow, but we are all crossing our fingers that this does not happen and that we can fly as planned. We see that other ships are again delayed flying down and back the last two days, so there is a bit of a lineup in front of us. But we also see that a few of them have taken off today, so we are hopeful we will fly out as planned.

After lunch, we head over to Fort Point, a tip of Greenwich Island. The expedition team heads out to see about offering a landing and quickly finds that there are simply too many fur seals on shore to do it without disturbing the wildlife, so it is shared this will be a zodiac cruise instead. We head out for our zodiac cruise and quickly find ourselves in one of the most stunning weather scenes we’ve had all week. The sun is shining, and the blues off the glacier and into the water make for magnificent photography. The cliff-covered shoreline makes for an excellent backdrop to the shots of the glaciers, and snow-covered mountains in the distance, and we are able to get up close and spot our first Elephant seal at this location. We cruise around to the north side of the point to explore a cover surrounded by glaciers plunging into the water below. As we enter, you can feel a noticeable drop in air temperature and we are able to get fairly close to the glacier for some amazing photos of it with the sun glistening off the top. It has truly been a great end to the trip and stands apart as one of my favorite zodiac cruises. We return back to the ship and hear this evening that our flight has been delayed to the evening, but that hopefully, we will be able to fly out after the wind blows some clouds out mid-day. We prepare for a day on the boat with no activities planned.
 

Many of our travelers ask us how to pack for Antarctica. That obviously is a tricky question and can be almost as complicated as “how do I pack for the jungle”. I would advise anybody from cold weather climates who ski or partake in outdoor sports, that it will be very similar to the gear you use for those activities. For those from warmer clients who need a little bit more handholding, let’s chat in more detail! The important part about Antarctica is to always be prepared for weather changes. What looks like a sunny day can quickly turn cold. The answer to this is to bring layers. You will always want to wear a pair of base-layer polypropylene or something that keeps you warm but also wicks moisture away from your body. I brought three pairs of base layers, and I felt I could wear each one a few times before needing to launder it. The next layer consists of your ‘warmth’ layer. This would consist of Polartec pants or fleece pants, and a fleece or ‘puffy’ jacket that keeps warmth in your body. This is a layer of personal preference, but the idea is warmth. You can’t bring anything too bulky, as you still need to put your outer layer on over it. Your last layer consists of your waterproof layer – this would be a thin shell or even insulated parkas and pants that are completely wind and rainproof. This usually is Gore-Tex or some other version of it and is designed to keep you dry more than anything. On some vessels, your parka is provided for you, so you don’t need to worry about the jacket, just the pants. Lastly, you want to be sure to bring two sets of waterproof and insulated gloves (two in case one gets wet, which frequently can happen). I brought also a thinner Smartwool glove set with touchscreen usability so that I could slip my inner glove out of my outer shell glove and still be protected when using my camera. You will also want a wool or fleece hat (preferably with ear flaps) and a neck gator or buff. Bring plenty of wool socks to keep your toes warm as well.  Muck boots were also provided to us, but you will want to check with your operator to see if you are provided with these as well.

Other items of course will be comfortable clothing on board the ship. I recommend a good slip-on shoe or boot with good traction, clothing for around the vessel (especially for bad weather days), PJs, workout clothes if your ship has a gym you’d like to use, and of course a bathing suit (if for nothing else but the polar plunge)! Toiletries of a personal nature and medicines, etc. are a good idea. It is also a good idea to bring eye drops, cough drops, and anything else you may need as the climate is very dry and can catch up to you. Likewise, lip balm with SPF and sunscreen is needed, as on sunny days it can really reflect off the ice and give you a burn! Polarized sunglasses or ski goggles are also recommended, as are binoculars, and a dry bag or waterproof day pack especially if you will pack around camera gear for your excursions. The bags can get wet in the zodiac, so a dry bag is best. Other items to consider are a water bottle that you can reuse, a backup storage drive for your camera to transfer photos, and a good adventurous spirit!  If you are particularly sensitive to smells, the guano smell will likely cause some gagging. Bring some smelly oil of your preference with you to dab inside your neck gaiter and pull it up over your nose when it gets too overwhelming.