Monday, January 02
Antarctica

Antarctica- A full day for exploring and making landings along the Antarctic Peninsula. If weather conditions permit, we'll attempt Zodiac landings and cruises in the Lemaire Channel, and the Yalour, Petermann and Pleneau Islands. This is Adelie penguin country! Not to mention the home of some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.

JOURNALS for Monday (Updated 11:00 pm EST)

Jason Shim

Whew, I am exhausted!  Yesterday, my body came alive as I waded out into the icy ocean waters of Deception Island.  As every single inch of me yelled at my brain to get out of the water, I thought to myself, “Well, when’s the next time I’m going to jump into near-freezing water just for fun?”  Probably never.  It’s amazing what our bodies are capable of, if we allow them to be pushed to the limit.  I raced back to the beach with the others, where an impromptu hot tub was shoveled into the beach with the scorching water warmed by the volcanic heat from deep below.

As we ate dinner last night, the winds picked up and started blowing from three directions and the boat started rocking all over the place.  As much as I love the food here, I lay down to avoid having to taste it all over again.  Sorry to people back home who were expecting a phone call!

I went to bed early and woke up to Geoff’s voice over the speaker announcing that we would be going on three launches today.  This morning we went on a Zodiac cruise and saw the beauty of the icebergs right up close.  There were several crabeater seals laying around, basking in the sun and while we were watching them, we saw the dorsal fin of a Minke whale.  We slowly crept around and were lucky enough to see the whale blow a few meters away before going for a deep dive. 

Surprisingly, it can get pretty hot here!  As we were climbing up Danco Island, I took off my jacket because I was getting too sweaty.  When we finally reached the top, we took a group photo and tried to avoid falling into the knee deep snow.  The scenery here is beautiful.  All of us sat in silence for a little while and once the sound was gone, the entire landscape transformed into a sacred space punctuated only by the sounds of penguins.  While the climb up was difficult and sweaty, the slide back down was fun and cold—but that was just the beginning.

Our next launch was right after dinner into Neko harbour, where we set foot for the first time on the Antarctic continent.  Glaciers cracked and rumbled as we took in all the beauty around us.  As the sun set, we made our way up the snowy path and upon reaching the top, we found Fritz in a snow pit and he proceeded delivered a lecture that included the difference between Arctic and Antarctic snow.

After the lecture, we quickly made our way to the great Antarctic snow slide that was even bigger than the one on Danko Island.  The excitement was palpable as all of us slid down at breakneck speeds.  Some of us even managed to catch some air on the way down after hitting the steep drop!  After that, we made our way back to the ship just in time for bedtime.  We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow with three more launches and who knows what other surprises will turn up.

Well, that’s it from me today, will write more tomorrow!  Time to go out on deck and watch for whales!  Miss and love you all, Mom, Dad, Stacy, Katelyn & Jenny. 

Andrea Snider

So…I figured I would write a “pre-journal” of our day so you know what we are thinking before we do something. This morning I was woken up by Geoff’s voice coming over the loud speaker system, and because we are all running on low …

Never mind…this is a perfect example of our day, I tried to start this journal hours ago but there was a whale outside so I didn’t finish, and now it is five o clock in the afternoon….so much for a “pre-journal”

This morning we had two short lectures and then I went on a zodiac cruising around an island covered with glaciers. It was a lot of fun; we saw Fur Seals, a Leopard Seal and a Minke Whale, along with the Gentoo Penguins which we seem to find everywhere. Then we went to a Gentoo Penguin colony, while we where there we saw a single Macaroni Penguin; he looked a little lonely!!

This afternoon we hiked up an island in the middle of a channel formed by huge ice covered mountains. On the way down we had a lot of fun sliding down the snow banks like the penguins do. Now we are going to Neko Harbour for another hike, but right now I aam playing cards and hanging out on deck and on the bridge.

That’s all for now, happy belated New Years!....and happy birthday to my mom!!

Allyson “Ally” Parker
Cobourg, ON, Canada

Off Danco Island, Antarctica

Today has probably been the busiest day yet, and we still have loads more to go! This morning, people seem to be much more awake than the previous morning, probably due to the early night everyone had because of the roughness of Bransfield Strait. We got right to business after breakfast, with lectures starting at 8:20 in the morning, with Juliet talking about seals and Fritz talking about ice caps and glaciers, both lectures shortened to about 25 minutes.

Afterwards, it was very shortly that we were loading onto the Zodiacs to head to Cuverville Island, while the other half of the people took a zodiac cruise around the island looking for seals and whales. I went to the shore first, and we spent the next hour and twenty minutes wandering amongst the Gentoo rookeries, moving from one group to the other. They paid no attention to us, being more concerned with heading to and from the ocean, cleaning their feathers in the water, and finding rocks and stealing them from each other. An Antarctic Minke Whale was seen offshore, and as a real treat, Geoff found a lone, confused-looking Macaroni Penguin (species #31[ish] for the trip!!) at the edge of one of the groups of Gentoo nests. As Orla and I were watching the Gentoo clean themselves in the shallow water, a couple of penguins walked up to check us out, and then went on their way. I could never get tired of watching them, they’re so neat.  Next was the Zodiac cruise, with Eric as our chauffeur. We found lots of Crabeater seals, up to 5 on an iceberg, most of which didn’t even wake up when we went in to take pictures. We drifted out into open water in between Cuverville and the Peninsula, and were suddenly surrounded by 25+ feeding Gentoos! With the clear water you could see them swim under and around the boat, and they kept circling us while coming up to breathe. Though we hadn’t seen any Minkes, Diz’s zodiac did, so we joined her and had a look at 2 of them.

Returning to the ship, we just had time to eat lunch before it was time to get dressed again in preparation for our hike up Danco Island, and when I say up, I mean to the very top of the island. The hike was fairly steep. I have no idea how those Gentoos do it so many times, but once at the top, there was an amazing view of the Peninsula and the channel of entry. We wandered around on the top, frequently sinking into the snow up to our knees. We took a group picture at the top, and then a group hug, which ended as a group fall. The way down was much better, with the last bit being a slide down. Currently, we have just set off to our third landing at Neko Harbour. I’m having a great time, and the scenery and wildlife definitely doesn’t compare to anything back home. Hope everyone else is having fun too!

Jenny Chimbo

We finally got to Antarctica, the mainland. We saw more gentoo penguins, our first macaroni penguin and adelie penguin, a weddell seal, and a cormorant. We did three landings which was fun, specially the last. We hiked up a hill and then slid back down. This was kind of scary but it was so exciting as you are coming down. It was a very steep hill so imagine that! Just picture going down frozen slide. This was just one amazing day.

Aryana Jacobs

Today was one of the best experiences ever.  After swimming in the Southern Ocean yesterday, I didn’t think the trip could get any better.  The day started with a zodiac cruise.  There I saw a minke whale, a crabeater seal, and of course more gentoo penguins.  Following that, I went on a walk on an Antarctic beach to see more gentoo penguins, but at least there was one very lost macaroni penguin to spice up the bunch.  After lunch, we made another landing for the day.  This one had a monstrously huge hill that we all had to hike up.  It was like a slow and painful death.  It was all worth it at the end.  The spectacular view was breathtaking, but that wasn’t the best part.  It was the tobogganing down hill, the tackling and snow fight, and the huge slide formed by footprints from other people that made the hike all worth it.  For the day, we still have one more landing.  I hope this one is even better than the last!

Kathryn Jordan

Each day I say wow, today was the best day ever, but today was even better. As of 5:15 PM we already had two landings and hopefully there’s another one to come within the hour. We have already been to Cuverville and Danco Island and each had their high points. In Cuverville we got to go cruising in the Zodiacs and for all those who don’t know what zodiacs are, they’re small inflatable, rubber, motorized boats. On the cruise we saw crabeater seals, minke whales, penguins, icebergs and glaciers.

Through pictures and videos, I tried my best to capture the essence and meaning of the moment, but nothing beats the first hand experience. In Danko Island the worst part was climbing up this humongous hill that took 35 minutes just to go up. The weather was so nice! I mean it was so hot that we all took our jackets off and some of the layers. I was wearing a thermal and a turtle neck. The view from the top was worth it, the snow was so deep and it just felt great to fall in and have snowball fights with. Although, I would have to say the highlight of the landing was making a human pyramid in the snow and coming down the hill. As the saying goes, “what goes up, must come down.” We came down sliding down the hill with great speed, with an occasional, running and rolling down the hill. It was such a hilarious moment when people were getting their boots stuck in the snow, or even better when chaperones were being tackled by the students. As well as being tackled into the snow, they had snowballs being thrown at them from every direction, it was such a funny sight.

The karma on the trip has been remarkable; everyone has had such positive energy. Today the bonding that happened, as cheesy as it may sound, has really uplifted me. As an example, yesterday after a great day of taking a swim in the Antarctic Ocean, it was ruined by the immense swells that hit during dinner time. I spent the rest of the evening sleeping due to my seasickness, and people we’re being really supportive, checking up on me here and there. Well I think I wrote enough today! I hope my family and friends are following along our journey through the journals on the website.

Big Hugs and Kisses from the Antarctic

White Time Memories

Whiteness of the day
And brightness of the smiles
The view from Danco island
And the mountains, ice and miles

Another day of thinking
About the way it is
Friends to share the chilly air
With leaders Geoff and DizWe wonder where the world will be
As time slips by the sky
The blue and dark of waters deep
And where one’s heart could lie

Remember the life we’ve seen today
The birds and whales so close
A time in our being that won’t erase
A time that we’ve made the most.

Dr Brad