6 March 2012 - Scotia Sea

Another quiet day at sea during which I continued to take it easy.  The weather has been "bumpy" with a sea state of 4 - 12 meter swells and 110kph winds.  I tried to walk on the upper deck towards the forecastle for some fresh air but it was almost impossible with the ship going straight into the wind.  I continue to feel unwell and my kidneys are sore which make me feel nauseous. Having light meals with lots of salads and fish and have had to cut out the lovely freshly baked bread and deserts.  Taking medicine to try and improve health prior to tomorrows landing at Port Stanley in the Falklands.

Monday 5 March 2012 - Scotia Sea

Stayed in bed until 07:30.  Have changed eating habits to fruit, porridge and tea for breakfast because i'm starting to put on too much weight with all the choices of food which must be sampled and enjoyed.  I have to start loosing some weight.  My raspy annoying throat bothered me all night so after breakfast had another sleep from 10:00 to 12:00 and then a relaxed hour chatting with Dave and Kerry C before returning to bed again at 14:00, where I stayed for the remainder of the day.  Taking Sudafet and fisherman's friend lozenges. 

Sunday 4 March 2012 - Fortuna Bay & Stromness

Up at 05:30 today for a light breakfast in preparation for a 7:30 landing at Fortuna Bay which is a wonderful wild life location with hundreds of fur seals, some elephant seals and a King penguin rookery.  I took many photos during the two hours ashore.  At 09:30 we gathered back on board for a basic fresh bread and soup early lunch and then return to the island to commence the 5.5km Shackleton's  walk at 11:30.  The weather was perfect and the hike demanding as we scaled the steep, broken slate strewn hills.  In this part of the world trees and bushes do not grown and the only vegetation are patches of grass and moss.  Along the way we stopped on the peaks for photos and rest.  I walked the entire way with Ruediger a retired German professor, often in deep discussion about historical aspects which affected Germany during the last century.  Here's an interesting man with a tremendous knowledge and lively sense of humour.  The descent was dangerous and very steep and I did hear about one of the walkers taking a bad fall on the way down.  When we reached Stromness whaling station (now deserted) our leg muscles knew that they had been on a three to four hour walk in the mountains.  With everybody back on board ship we weighed anchor and sailed past Leith harbour and its large and now abandoned whaling station which still appears in good condition after 50 years.  At sea we sat with friends in the lounge sharing drinks and jokes.  Dinner was a jolly affair.  On the way to bed we checked the lost and found and discovered a large piece of dried fish in a plastic bag (lost??).  Must be the Chinese...!?  Who else would bring that??  Had a better sleep tonight.

Satureday 3 March 2012 - Drygalski Fjord & Grytviken

Today everybody was up early to see the beautiful scenery of the Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia, before sailing on to Grytviken for a landing at the old whaling station.  Sir Ernest Shackelton is buried here as well as the graves of Thorvald Amundsen, and other sealers and whalers, and is probably one of those men that died from typhoid fever.  After viewing the neatly kept little cemetery Malcolm and I walked along the foreshore amongst the numerous seals and the rusty ruins of the whaling station, past the two hulks of beached whaling ships, to the little museum and shop where Malcolm went his own way and I continued onto the beautifully restored little white church which is still in use today by members of the British base.  I then doubled back along the foreshore to the track which took me up the hill to Gull Lake, perched high above Greytviken.  It was a hard steep climb and after too many lazy inactive days on my holiday required extra effort on my part.  At the top I met two Germans and the  Hurtigruten guide Andy Wenzel who took some photos for me before heading back down to the British Base at King Edward Point.  Along the way I joined the small Dutch contingent who had accepted me as one of their own.  Lovely easy going people.  At King Edward Point there were many good photo opportunities of elephant seals, fur seals and King penguins.  The mountain scenery across the water is magnificent and no photo will do justice to it, especially as the sun slowly sank behind the clouds and mountains changing the sky to orange and purple hues.  This evening after dinner I prepared for the Shackleton walk from Fortuna Bay to Stromness the next day.  An early but restless and sleepless night with intermittent coughs and sore throat.

Friday 2 March 2012 - Scotia Sea

Like yesterday we are running a very relaxed routine with lectures and plenty of time for reading.  The evenings when at sea are formal dinner sittings at allocated tables whereas when we are undertaking landings passengers may choose where they wish to sit.  The companions at our allocated table, number 10, are all German and generally kept to themselves and did not engage us in conversation.  I do find that the Australians are probably the most outgoing and gregarious bunch on the ship.  This evening we prepared for tomorrows landing at Grytviken.  All passengers were required to sign a statement about not bringing anything foreign matter ashore and bags had to be vacuumed again to ensure that there were no pollen spores, soil or other dirt contaminants that could conceivably pollute this lovely piece of land and wild life.   

Thursday 1 March 2012 - Scotia Sea

A sleepless night because I kept sliding up and down on my bunk and an annoying phone call from the bank in the middle of the night did not helped.  I was awake at 06:45 and read "Caravan" by James Mitchener for an hour before getting up and going to breakfast.  Today was a quiet day at sea with numerous lectures on the wildlife of the Antarctic, exploration and geological overview.  I'm starting to put on weight from all the good food and many choices which I feel obliged to sample.  A very relaxing day watching the waves and reading.

Wednesday 29 February 2012 - Hope Bay & Brown Bluff

An early start at 05:30 to catch the rising sun on Iceberg Alley which is on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.  Although the outside temperature is two degrees the 19 mile per hour wind chill takes the temperature down to minus seven degrees.  The sea state continuous to be amazingly calm and gentle but in the end our landing on Brown Bluff was called off because of the treacherous wind conditions at the landing site.  Further entry up Iceberg Alley was also impossible due to the large number of icebergs blocking our entry and the inherent danger of trying to proceed further.  the ship thus continued to weave its way through the many channels and between islands but the wind conditions prevail and make it impossible to attempt any further landings.  At this stage it looks as if we will not be leaving the MS Fram again until reaching the South Georgia islands.  Current wind conditions have now reached 112Kph, Beaufort scale 11, with a 12.5meter swell with very large patches of foam, driven before the wind, covering much of the sea surface.  The ship is fitted with stabilizers which did their job well although the number of passengers moving about the ship was noticeably smaller.  The remainder of the day we sat around and relaxed, chatting and wondering if Lyn had arrived in Chile yet.

Tuesday 28 February 2012 - Frei Station & Bellinghausen/ King Island

With a change to the program there was an opportunity for a sleep in until 07:30.  After a leisurely breakfast I sat in the observation lounge with Aussie friends for three hours enjoying the magnificent view from the large scenic windows.  At 12:45 we entered the harbour at King George Island (Maxwell Bay) and by 13:15 the first boat was ready to go ashore to the Chilean Base, "Frei Station".  Malcolm and I followed in the last boat at 15:15.  The harbour is shared by both the Chilean and Russians bases, the Brazilian base having burnt down the previous day.  "A fire in a room housing energy generators led to an explosion that killed two navy personnel, injured one person, and left 80 percent of Brazil's Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station incinerated on Saturday. Located in Admiralty Bay, on King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, the station was Brazil's only permanent Antarctic base."   When we arrived the Brazilians were clustered on the beach awaiting evacuation and we were requested not to approach them as many were still in shock with the loss of friends. With the Antarctic being the driest continent on earth any moisture in the air freezes immediately and the threat of fire is extreme.  Malcolm and I visited the Chilean base and were shown around by an air-force flight lieutenant who did his best to explain the base functions in broken English.  This station was also involved in the rescue operation of the sinking cruise ship MV Explorer which sunk on 23 November 2007 after being holed by an iceberg.  With plenty of time on our hands we wandered around the base first looking at the Chilean church which was made from a number of old shipping containers joined together but very nicely fitted out and then walked over to the Russian side of the harbour and the lovely wooden Russian orthodox church prefabricated in Russia and erected on the hill overlooking the base.  This little church is manned all year round by a couple of Russian Orthodox priests.  On return to the ship I had a hot shower and then went down to dinner at 19:00 and joined Lynn McN and friends to say farewell before she was evacuated by boat to the Chilean base hospital at 20;00.  Tonight everybody was a bit flat although there were complaints from some of the other passengers that they had missed out on another landing in the Antarctic because of the changed sailing plan.