Antarctica V

Our penultimate shore visit, Deception Island. Through a very narrow entrance to this once super-volcano, now a 15km wide crater bay. The first obvious change is the colour ! Because of thermal activity there is MUCH less snow and ice, everything is Matte Brown and initially you can´t see the many buildings ashore (I expect some of the places we have already been look a lot like this in the high Summer (Jan / Feb). Here, for many years, there was a shore based Whale processing factory. There are many muldering huts, old steel tanks and boilers and wooden whaling boats, very atmospheric and unlike anything we have seen so far.

Then some craziness ensued !!  What should have happened was: A nice tranquil bathe in the 1-2 inch deep thermal waters at the shoreline. What actually happened: Macho Challenge !!  People got changed quickly then Ran Into the Sea (no thermal waters away from the shoreline), & screamed !! and then ran back again !!  I did it myself, I dived in, the shock of the cold water meant I could not breathe for perhaps 5 seconds, and back out again, making ridiculous gibbering noises ! I think this how the expedition crew amuse themselves (or extract their revenge) on a repeating 10 day cycle !!

We had one last run ashore in the South Shetlands, that afternoon, at "Half Moon Bay". We have been very lucky with the weather throughout our time here, calm, sunny days as a rule (the ship´s crew keep telling us how good it is everyday, until it is hard to believe them !). Well on this last visit the weather was probably more typical !! windy, snowy and rough, it made the Zodiac transfers insteresting ! most people got wet.

And then, it is all over !!  We depart the South Shetlands through a wide channel of fasinating rocky spires and precipices. Just as we leave there is an interesting cloud, it´s a Lenticular Cloud apparently, it means there is "Wind Coming" and we are just heading off to re-cross the Drakes Passage, not a good Omen....

The first day on the way back is actually mostly OK, it´s not a comfortable night though. In the morning, I´m surprised to find I´m seasick (the motion does not seem sooo bad), so I miss breakfast, the rest of the day is hard, as reading makes me worse and there´s nothing else to do. The lecture theatre feels like a mangy dungeon if your feeling unwell, but I´m OK by the evening.

The following night the weather deteriorates further, and the ship is flexing a lot when we hit some of the waves. During that morning the wind gets up and up, by mid morning the anemometer gives a steady 60 knots, gusting 80 knots (this is F11 gusting F12 on the Beaufort scale !). Stuff is flying around !!  We are rolling to 45 degrees !!  I am on the bridge when the coffee maker picks itself up and "flies" across the bridge and smashes to pieces. There are ominous sounds from the galley of severe crockery loss ! Because of this we know it is a more severe crossing than usual. The deputy expedition leader and 2nd mate rate it the worst ever Drakes Crossing, the others say worst in years. Fortunately the waves don´t get any bigger than about 12m, for some reason (in this area they can get up to 30m, making it one of the roughest places in the world). .....for a taster watch the video below.....

The weather stays like this until we are in the lee of Cape Horn in the evening. Surprisingly about 1/3rd of the passengers are not seasick at all. When we enter the Beagle Channel, faces emerge that have not been seen for over 48 hours (I´d forgotten some were even on the ship !), some people must have had a terrible crossing....

At anchor in the Beagle channel there is the holiday "round-up", a "certificate" ceremony and Goodbyes all round, with much cheering and clapping. We are invited to a (surprising) crew disco on the backdeck that goes on all night. In the morning the survivors (of the disco, not the drakes passage !) blearily report much "coupling" and post-party antics, crew and passengers. There are a few red faces !! Typically, I went to bed too soon and entirely missed out (the bar ran dry and I can´t dance....).

In the bright morning light we are dumped off on the dock following the usual hearty breakfast and that really is IT !!  Most are flying out the same day. I make my way back to the "Antarctica Hostel" and check in. It all feels a little Unreal. We (those still in Ushuaia) have a follow up drink in the Dublin Bar, that same night.

All in all, a fantastic trip and quite probably the highlight of my whole trip !!