Saturday, December 31
Drake Passage/South Shetland Islands

Drake Passage/South Shetland Islands - We cross the Antarctic convergence during our second day at sea. Our lecture and seminar series continues and we'll be instructed on Zodiac safety and landing procedures. Depending on weather conditions and the speed of our Drake Passage crossing, we may attempt our first landing in the South Shetland Islands. Tonight we'll celebrate New Year's in Antarctica!!

JOURNALS for Saturday (Updated Sunday 10:00 am EST)

Allyson "Ally" Parker
Bransfield Strait, Antarctica 8:30pm

Well, today was definitely the best New Year's Eve ever, and quite possibly one of the best days of my life. We woke up this morning to hear that we had crossed 60 degrees south, and were officially in Antarctica! It was a little windier today, though still pretty foggy. My sea sickness bout of yesterday morning is thankfully gone, and I wasn't tired at all, which was nice. After breakfast, we had Eric's lecture on seawater density and ocean currents, and its importance to the rest of the oceans. I went up on the top deck with some others, including Kelly, Raphael and Orla, where we were treated to Cape Petrels, Southern Fulmars, Black-browed and Gray-headed Albatross weaving around the ship and in and out of the fog. They never touch the water, no matter how low they fly.

Fritz's lecture on ice and its formation was next, but when we returned to outside, the weather had turned to rain and the birds had vanished again. After lunch, Juliet talked to us about the cetaceans of the Antarctic, and I am so excited to see an Orca! We still haven't seen any cetaceans, mainly due to the fog while crossing the Passage, but we should expect to see humpback, Antarctic minke and orca along the Peninsula, near the pack ice. Juliet's talk got us all stoked to get outside and look for something, but the rain kept us in. However, soon land appeared, we had reached the English Channel, in between Robert and Greenwich Islands. And then, after many months of anticipation, and 3 days of going crazy cause I missed both the Magellanic and the Macaroni/Rockhopper Penguins, there were PENGUINS! They were porpoising all around the ship, and the continued rain didn't keep everyone from piling along the sides to watch. Some of them would get quite close, and then jump away once we got close. They were mainly Chinstraps, and would be alone or in groups of up to 20.

Despite the fact that we all could've watched them more, we had to go back to the lecture room at 3:20pm for the IAATO and Zodiac briefing! Geoff explained it all to us, and I for one was bouncing with excitement by the end, and it looked like others were too. We had some time to go back to our rooms and get layered, I was quite snug by the time I had everything on. Loading was fun, and never having been on a Zodiac before, I loved it. I was the first person on the second Zodiac, but Christina and I forgot to flip our tags, so we had to yell up to Juliet to do it for us. Entering into the sheltered harbour of Robert Point, we circled around a few times, and were greeted by Southern Elephant Seals (females only, huge and very lazy) and Gentoo Penguins, with a few Chinstraps mixed in. With landing at 5:10, we were given until 7:30 to explore. After taking some photos on the beach, I headed up to the top to see the rookeries. I had to wait for a group of Gentoos to go first, and it was pretty steep, I can't believe penguins do it multiple times. Once up there, I wandered around, seeing both species of skuas, penguins, and South Giant Petrels on nests. The skuas were so well camouflaged, you wouldn't notice them until they started squawking at you. The smells were definitely interesting, and the noise wasn't too bad, though the wind got worse and worse as we were up there. They were all so calm, and I loved seeing the baby Gentoos being fed. The Zodiac ride was definitely a lot rougher, though the pounding was so much fun! Again, I was the first one off.

Tonight is our New Year's party, and we are currently being treated to a massive tabular iceberg just outside.

Birds species for the day: Black-browed and Gray-headed Albatross, Cape Petrel, Southern Fulmar, Antarctic Cormorant, Antarctic Tern, Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguin, Pale-faced Sheathbill, Antarctic and Subantarctic Skuas, Storm-petrel species, South Giant Petrel.

And to my family back in Cobourg, which seems very small and far away now, Happy New Year's Mom, Dad (I'm at 27+ lifers! Wheee!), Amanda and Oma!! I hope you guys are having a good holidays, and that tomorrow is also fun. I'm having the greatest time ever, everything is so gorgeous and the people are great. And to any of my friends reading, Happy New Year's to you too! Hope you're following me along from down here and enjoying reading about our adventures.

Jason Shim

Today was an amazing day! We made our first landing today at Robert Island and saw the nests of gentoo penguins and a few chinstraps as well. There was so much to take in, I still can't believe I'm in Antarctica! The most remarkable thing I saw was a penguin feeding her baby chick. The baby sticks its entire head into the mother's mouth! The highlight of my day was sliding really fast down a huge hill of snow. The new year celebrations so far have been fun and exciting with everyone having a great time and an assortment of cakes available for everyone. To Mom, Dad, Stacy & Katie, happy new year, I will try to call tomorrow! And, as always, I miss and love you Jenners.

Emily Armstrong

Happy New Year's! I honestly can't think of single better way to have spent New Year's Eve day (if that makes sense.) Today was literally one of the best days of my life, and I'm sure I'll be continually saying that as each new day comes to a close! It was an exciting day of 'firsts'- first penguin and iceberg sightings, first experience with the Zodiacs, and first landing!! Was it ever nice to step on some ground that didn't rock back and forth. We were fortunate enough to be able to land at Robert Point, which is on Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands. We spent about two hours there in the late afternoon with Elephant seals, skuas, giant petrels, and both Gentoo and Chinstrap penguin. I can now say that I have personally seen a genuine Elephant seal burping contest! It was an awesome two hours; we were also able to see a group of nesting Gentoos- a group of proud parents keeping their young warm, and some occasional regurgitation was sighted! Once back on the ship, we passed by an iceberg and witnessed the breaking off of huge chunks of ice that became "bergy bits" and created a massive wave. What a way to spend the last day of 2005! It's just about time for countdown, more to come in the next few days!

H-town crew: Hope you guys are all having an awesome New Year's Eve. Although you won't be celebrating it for another 4 hours! If anyone wants to get in touch with us, contact Gem or Naomz and they will let you know how to go about it! Special note to Gram: Thanks so much for everything you did to get me here!! xoxoxo

Peggy Armstrong

Hi, everybody! A fabulous New Years' Eve here, with RDF (rain, drizzle and fog, for the non-Newfoundlanders.) Howling wind and rain for our first landing, but it only added to the excitement! And did ya' ever think that seals have belly-buttons. Molting Elephant seals, lots of new birds, wet Zodiac ride! Now we have champagne, while bracing against the swells, with Russian music playing in our "lounge!" Thinking of you all occasionally, but they do keep us very busy. The stomach has settled today. Who would have thought that someone brought up in Newfoundland. Love to you all at home.

Wendy De La Rosa

WOW! There are no words that could describe today. After starting the day off with learning about the icecaps with Fritz, (which is always a trip trust me), and learning about the aquatic species from Juliet we were on our way! I learned to do a high screeching bird call, I really don't know what I am doing but I do know that I does attract the birds, and so in like a couples of minutes I saw skuas, albatrosses (not the wandering) and some other unspecified birds.

After learning how to dress from Fritz who gave us quite a show we loaded on our zodiacs towards our first landing. Can you believe it? Land! After more than 40 hours of sea and sea sickness. we reached land. We landed on Roberts Island and were greeted by elephant seals, gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, skuas, and a whole lot of guano (if you don't know what this is, look it up. the smell was very, how would I say .distinguishing). This was so amazing. Everything that I had been studying about the penguins for the last three months had finally paid off! I could actually identify the species! The whole scene was absolutely breathtaking, the feeding of the chicks, the penguin parents fighting to keep their young safe from the skuas, the seals mating and fighting, the struggle between the young and old chicks for the mothers food, and the penguins waddling across the land, and the nesting places on top of the hills. And so, when were coming down I decided to slide down the guano-filled hill. It was great, and dirty, but mostly great!

When we sadly left the island, our zodiacs encountered 5ft swells. It was awesome, especially since Eric went full speed, it was like a rollercoaster!

When we got back on ship we saw an iceberg break apart! And I busted my behind on the stairs up on the deck, it was quite a scene.

Well, bye mates! Happy New Year's, I'm in Antarctica having a party! Hope you have as much fun as I have.

PS. The convergence was at 9:30. so I was close but no cigar. And so again I say goodbye 2005 and hello 2006! What a way to end a year eh? (ha the Canadians are rubbing off on me)

Cheryl Horton

We are continuing our way to Antarctica. We spent yesterday in the Drake Passage, which was a fairly smooth crossing (for the Drake, that is.as was told this was a 3 on a scale of 1-10). We have had fog but no wind.and we are making great time because of the mild seas and no wind. We spent the day on deck looking through the fog, listening to very good speakers, reading, and resting. We are close to 61 latitude (60 marks actual Antarctica), and it is indeed much colder. We passed through the Convergence without even knowing it---convergence is where the Pacific/Atlantic meets the colder Antarctica waters.I guess the red dotted
line had been accidentally removed.or we slept through the "bump".

We had great lectures today regarding ocean currents, glaciers, and whales of Antarctica. And then we were out of the Drake and into an area called the English Channel to Robert Island (one of the South Shetland Islands) and took the zodiacs to Roberts' Point where we were among elephant seals, gentu penguins, chinstrap penguins, and many different kinds of birds on the island. There was a glacier coming off this island.so there were icebergs in the water. We spent 2 ½ hours on this island---really great to see penguin rooks (the nesting areas). One of our speakers was saying this morning that he wasn't getting old and forgetful.only that when he was listening to others, he found his thoughts more entertaining.and tended to
ignore what was being said...rather profound, if you ask me. Merriness is
happiness at the moment---another of his sayings. Tonight we will be having a New Year's Entertainment. I wish you all a very safe and happy New Year. Talk to you again soon.

Jenny Chimbo

This has been one of my greatest days so far. We finally went on our first zodiac. The zodiacs were incredible since I was able to see penguins, elephant seals, and a couple of other birds. Seeing the penguins made my day since these creatures are so beautiful specially the newborn penguins. I just wanted to hug them but unfortunately this was not possible. The two species of penguins I saw were the gentoo and chinstrap. They looked like stuffed animals, so unreal. I still cannot believe that I was close to these spectacular animals. The seals were also fun to see while they were lying down next to each other. They were cute! But the penguins were cuter as they hopped or just simply walked! The landscapes are hard to describe and I must say that as we continue with this trip nature gets more and more beautiful. We get to appreciate what we have and all this world has to offer.

After dinner we saw an iceberg, the first one I got to see. It was big and we got able to perceive the moment when parts of it were breaking apart. This last day of 2005 will definitely be unforgettable. The New Years Eve celebration was great as well with all the comedians on board, especially Fritz.

Happy New Year to Everyone, specially my loved ones!

You all now who you are!

Sophie Breton

Premiers pas sur le continent Antarctique

Salutations à tous!!

Enfin nous sommes arrivés. Les deux derniers jours en bateau ont été nuageux et brumeux, mais ça n'a pas empêché les manchots et les oiseaux marins de faire un p'tit bout de chemin avec nous. Nous avons mis pied à terre il y a environ 3 heures sur la pointe Roberts, nous avons été accueillis par des éléphants de mer et les manchots (malheureusement je ne sais pas les noms en français) Gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua (environ 80 cem), et Chinstrap penguin P. antarctica (environ 60 cm). Des moments qui vont rester toute une vie!

Ce soir nous nous préparons à fêter le nouvel an à la lumière du jour parmis les icebergs, les manchots, et peut-être quelques baleines, pourquoi pas?!

Que cette nouvelle année vous procure des moments aussi intenses que ceux que l'on vit ici,

Très sincèrement,

Sophie Breton

Becky Hamilton

Happy New Year's!!! Greetings from Antarctica! What a way to end 2005 and bring in 2006..witnessing a large tabular ice burg crumble into the southern ocean. Gentoos, Chinstraps, walking into a petral's nest, surviving the Zodiac at max speed, and salsa-ing away into the bright "night" (sun is still shedding light at 1:10am) and ringing in the New Year. Spirits are high and kharma is on our side with our calm Drake's passage. No sea sickness for me! Tomorrow we become members of the Antarctic swim club! Wishing a Happy New Year to Mom, Dad, Brian, Jaclyn, I-LEAD/Liberty staff at Bank Street College & Sleepy Sleeperson. J

Lucas Alvarez

Okay. so how can this day get any better? Today started out as usual with us going to breakfast. It didn't really feel like New Year's Eve. We then went to our lectures and lunch. Right after that, we had our briefing about IAATO and safety on the Zodiac Boats. This is when the fun really started! I went to my cabin and prepped myself for our first landing! After an anxious wait, I finally went down the gangway and boarded the Zodiac. All I have to say is that Robert Island was AMAZING!!! As we approached the Island the strong smell of guano entered my nose. As soon as we got off the boat, we saw hundreds of Gentoo Penguins and more than ten Elephant Seals. These animals were breathtaking. It was so cool to see each penguin with his or her own personality. Then, there was one single Chinstrap Penguin that tried to get on top of a single Elephant Seal. I could really see a curious child in that penguin. After that, we went up the hill to see the many rookeries of penguins protecting their chicks. After watching them, I got to walk up some more to see an amazing shore with beautiful glaciers. We then started our decent which ended with a slide down a snow/guano mix. I boarded the Zodiac boat and the ride was a bumpy one. I got soaked wet with the super salty Antarctic waters. After dinner, the wonderful Akademik Shokalsky pulled very close to a 150 foot high ice berg. and that was only over the surface. As if that majestic sight wasn't enough, the Iceberg started to crumble into the sea. It was an amazing display of the power and awe that nature has. It was amazing to see these billions of tons of ice teeter in the deep blue sea. Truly I can't find any adjectives adequate enough to describe what my eyes saw. The wind was overpowering and I truly felt as a small part of the nature around me. The bow of the ship was filled with laughter and good times. I can't believe I spent my New Years like this. You would think that the day culminated with that, but there is more! Our evening is ending right about now with a New Years Eve party. The salsa music is blasting and Wendy, Jenny, Juanita, Becky and Daniel are having a blast dancing. We ate cake, drank punch and had a night full of laughter. Fritz filled Aryana's face with cake and he also learned how to dance. Right now I am 35 minutes into the new year and it is still bright outside in the Antarctic sky. I could not have asked for a better time!

I want to wish my family in New York, Santo Domingo and New Zealand a very happy New Year. Shout outs go out to Celines Toribio Academy, Cardinal Hayes High School, Diandra, Tai, Zaira, Reyes, Gerry, and all those who make my life special. Much love goes out to all and I hope that everything is well. Mami. no te preocupes que todo esta de lo mas bien. Te Adoro! Estoy disfrutando esto tremendamente.

MUCH LOVE TO ALL!!!

-Lucas Alvarez

Christina Service

Today was a great day to conclude the year with and the most exciting day by far! It started out with an amazing lecture by Eric on currents of the south sea. Next we all scuttled to the decks with our hopes high to see all of the famous Antarctica wildlife. Unfortunatly, due to the fog, our vision was limited. However a few people with keen eyes managed to spot a few penguins swimming by, a fur seal playing and a minke whale. Afterwards we filed down to the lecture hall for Fritz's lecture on polar ice. With heads stuffed to the brim with knowledge we excitedly hurried to the lunch room to stuff our stomachs as well.

In the afternoon we all attended Juliet's lecture on Cetaceans informing us on the types of whales we should keep our eyes peeled for. Inspired and in awe of the huge size and beauty of these creatures we rushed to the deck only to be surprises by the sight of land. Ice shelves lined our journey and penguins frolicked in the waters next to us. Shortly after, the first iceberg was spotted and the excitement of the staff and students was purely infectious. With multiple layers of long underwear and warm clothing we waited on the gangway to load into our zodiac vessels to transport us to our first Antarctica landing!

We were greeted on the shore of Roberts Point located on Roberts Island by many curious gentoo and chinstrap penguins. Also on the shore was a baby elephant seal accompanied by some very large adolescents. Fascinated by the penguins' awkward yet purposeful walk and the elephants' large gazing eyes we were entranced by the beach for some time before heading up the step ledge to the penguin rookeries. As penguins and humans alike trudged up the snowy slope the overwhelming presence of Antarctica overtook us all as we passed giant petrel birds scavenging and penguins tending to their chicks. So we braved the ferocious slopes to climb atop Point Roberts to reward ourselves with a most splendid vista of the seas and shores on the other side. The wind blow billowy gusts as our troop trudged onwards. The trip ashore ended with a rocky ride through the swells of the savage sea towards our ship.

- Christina Service

P.S. - Hi Mom and Dad, I hope you guys have an excellent New years and all is well. I also wanted to thank my sponsors Wilderquest and Sidney Kiwanis, without them I surely wouldn't be here.

Sarahn O'Uhuru

"From New York City to Antarctica," is continuously repeated to us New Yorkers, but not until I saw a Chinstrap penguin within one foot of me did I realize that, "I am definitely not in the city anymore." Yes, today we made our first landing. It was much more than I ever expected. On the way to the landing site we saw blue ice (it is so pretty) Of course when you get over the excitement of seeing Gentoo penguins, Chinstrap penguins and elephant seals up close, you begin to contemplate. You are realizing the patterns of the penguins. You begin to question certain things. You wonder why do they nests so high up where the skuas have more accessibility to their chicks. The smell is not the most pleasant, but it is the greatest thing to watch the elephant seals burp and a huge cloud appear (a bit weird but it is really great). It is so exciting to watch a couple of Chinstrap penguins walking (well waddling) down a hill. It is amazing to see the Gentoo feed their chicks. It is also the most heart racing thing to see a skua attempting to take a chick. The way the skua circled continuously then dove (a real life soap opera).

Traveling on the zodiacs was also an experience. It seemed for some reason that I left the zodiac soaked when everyone was extremely dry. I am going to most definitely have to get use to the zodiacs. We also saw an iceberg today. This is not something we see everyday. It is extremely beautiful.

It continuously amazes me that we have some great experts going on these landings with us and giving these lectures to us. They are almost always accessible to us and we can ask questions and get really great answers.

-Happy New Year. Hey

Amber Church

I don't even know if I have words for today, but I feel like I have to give it a try. The day is a blur of amazing moments: Getting ourselves soaked in the pouring rain for our first glimpses of icebergs and the South Shetland Islands; Staring into the eyes of an elephant seal; Watching gentoo penguins build a nest one carefully placed pebble at a time; Watching albatross skim the waves through the mist; Getting soaked on the zodiacs when the swell picked up; Watching a major part of an iceberg collapse and riding the waves of ice that it produced as the sun set (yes we actually did see sun today). And now as we count down the final moments to the New Year I don't think I could be happier. To everyone back home I wish I could share this with you.Happy New Year everyone.

Hugs and Kisses

Amber

Kathryn Jordan

Oh my gosh! This has definitely been one of the many exciting experiences yet. We just passed an iceberg.an ICEBERG! There are no words to describe what I saw and pictures don't do the justice of the experience. Pieces of ice were falling off the iceberg and our ship was breaking through ice, followed by a beautiful sunset. My fingers are freezing, but it was so worth it!

Today has been nothing but nonstop action and excitement. Today we finally got to go on land and see what we were all waiting for.PENGUINS J. We headed to Robert Island and saw penguins waddling all around and lazy elephant seals lying on rocks. We all got to climb this big hill, but I soon turned around because my feet we're soooo cold, even though I had two pairs of socks on. Even since day one this experience has been crazy.are you ready for this? My luggage was LOST at the airport and we were about to go on a shopping spree about an hour before departing on the ship, but we finally found it and imagine that was just the beginning of the trip.

There is so much to write about, but so little time to catch in between events going on. Today is December 31, 2005 and it's my first New Years away from home. I miss all my friends and family and I hope they're thinking about me! We're having a New Years Party here, but obviously it's not the same as home. I'm having so much fun, but of course I'm also excited to go back home. I just want to let everyone know I love them a lot! Until tomorrow have an amazing New Year! I would start listing names, but if I leave one person out, someone's going to be mad.so I'll leave it general and keep it brief. It would be great if even some friends came to pick me up at the airport :::wink::: wink::: but I'll let you know all about that when the days get closer to coming home!

Love Always,

Hugs & Kisses,

Kathryn

Jason Shim

Today was an amazing day! We made our first landing today at Robert Island and saw the nests of gentoo penguins and a few chinstraps as well. There was so much to take in, I still can't believe I'm in Antarctica! The most remarkable thing I saw was a penguin feeding her baby chick. The baby sticks its entire head into the mother's mouth! he highlight of my day was sliding really fast down a huge hill of snow. The new year celebrations so far have been fun and exciting with everyone having a great time and an assortment of cakes available for everyone. To Mom, Dad, Stacy & Katie, happy new year, I will try to call tomorrow! And, as always, I miss and love you Jenners.