The Story of our trip to Rio, Iguazu and the Antartic with the MV FRAM, Feb. 09

[caramelo]

And we saw more penguins jumping in the water, and the water was so calm that you could even see the penguin underneath the water…..:

And ……… I even managed to get this image of one penguin jumping out of the water and his reflection below making it look like a second penguin! I was very proud of this photo but it was just luck that it came out so clear and well:

Later we saw two whales but when we got closer they hid away and it was imposible to photograph them, I could only get this image:

And some icebergs with their blue colour:

[caramelo]

These are more images of the way between Cuverville and Neko Harbour, with the reflections in the water so you see everything double:

At about 14:45pm we anchored again, this time at Neko Harbour.

Our group went ashore from 5 until 6pm. We were welcomed by hundreds of penguins who were waiting for us as our boat arrived. We could see them from a distance before we arrived:

[caramelo]

This time the penguins were more curious and very active and the came up close to the people. You can see from the following photo how close they were to the people:

And some general images:

[caramelo]

And with the ship in the distance:

There seemingly had been a refuge, a wooden type of hut, with the Argentinian flag which was here since 1949 called “Captain Fleiss” but it was totally destroyed by storms only about 10 days before we arrived here.

There was a high hill where the people climbed up to see some panoramic views and some slid down again on their bottoms, the say that it takes 20 minutes to get up and 3 to come down!

[caramelo]

We saw amazing sights, again the mothers feeding their young, surrounded by their enemies the Skuas who were awaiting their opportunity:

The young penguins running and falling in the snow, others playing in the water and some more dirty than others, hihihi :

[caramelo]

And eating the snow:

In the morning, this image made me laugh, as it wasn´t a seal, but somebody even said that it was the ship´s doctor:

On the way back to the slip again we were brought amongst the many different icebergs and I was amazed by the blue colour they had. This day alone, I think I went toooooooo far…… I seeming took nearly 800 photos but although it seems a lot there was so much wonderful sceenery on the way and we also had two different landings. Also we were so lucky with the weather. Even one of the Expedition team told us that he has worked for many years in the Antarctica and this was only the second day he had experienced such good weather as we had today.

TO BE CONTINUED…………..

[janisutx]

Caramelo, your photos are fabulous. Now I must see Antartica!

[Jade13]

Carmelo, did your entire trip start on the 9th or was that the FRAM's departure date? I just realized we passed the FRAM, I believe on February 12 as we were heading into Deception Island/Whalers Bay. The FRAM was going away from Whalers (location of the Polish research station).

 

Were you on the ship at this time. If so, I may have a picture for you. Did you pass the Minerva?

 

I just saw one of your programs dated later in February, so it sounds like you were on a later trip.

[caramelo]

Hi Jade13......no we were actually a later date.....we boarded the Fram in Ushuaia on the 24th of Feburary 2009 and finished on the 4th of March...... then we did pivately the few days before we started in Rio and Iguazu and we stayed an extra night in Buenos Aires at the end of the holiday..... I´m glad you like the photos.

 

Here´s more!

 

Saturday, the 28th of February.

We got up at 6:30am to see the passage through the “Lemaire Channel” which is 11 km long and 1,6km wide, although it seems a lot narrower.

With the following image you can calculate how narrow the area is, with the closeness of the ship and the rocks:

[caramelo]

It was funny to see how the ship had to do some complicated manoeuvres to avoid the blocks of ice in its path.

We saw a whale but it hid away quickly before I could take a photo, and then we saw some seals sleeping on some icebergs.

[caramelo]

On the way we saw the HANSEATIC ship which stopped and gave way to our ship first:

Today we went ashore in “Petermann Island” from 10:30am to 11:30am.

These were our first images arriving at the island:

The access was a little more difficult because of the different levels, rocks and ice, but it was also a very nice landing and again with very good weather.

The difference between today and the previous landings is that on “Petermann Island” we saw the penguins playing a lot more in the water.

[caramelo]

They were very funny, trying to climb onto pieces of ice and falling off again. I was laughing all the time just watching them. In the following image you can see a Penguin with his stomach over a piece of ice ........ well the Penguin finished up by falling over the other side into the water again!

General Images:

and with the ship:

[caramelo]

 

 

There was a hill where we went up for some nice panoramic views.

 

 

 

 

In Petermann Island there were mainly the Gentoo type of penguins, but we also saw some Adelie type of penguins which we saw for the first time. You can tell the difference as their faces are totally black without the orange of the Gentoo.

 

This is a Gentoo penguin:

 

 

 

And this is an Adelie penguin:

 

 

 

The Gentoo penguins at todays landing were very curious and came close to the people. I just sat on the ground and did nothing.....just waited, and it only took a couple of minutes until I had 2 of them picking at my boots, my bag and my arm! They we very cute and I laughed a lot with them. In the next 3 photos the blue material which you can see is my trousers, my knee! :

 

[caramelo]

and even one Penguin wanted to help us with our video, hihihi:

There was a wooden hut which was an Argentine refuge from the year 1950 and beside it, to the right of the photo you can see (not very clearly) a cross in memory of three men who didn´t survive their expedition in the year 1982.

When all the passengers were back on the boat, we went back in the direction where we had come from, for the Lemaire Channel. Again we saw more seals on top of ice.

[caramelo]

After lunch, we arrived at Port Lockroy.

You can see from the map above that there are two places marked: Jougla Point & Port Lockroy. These 2 places are nearly together, so first we went to Jougla Point, this time just for 30 minutes, and then we went again in the “polar cirkle” boat to Port Lockroy again for 30 minutes.

When we arrived at Jougla Point our first image was that of a load of old whale bones:

It was here that we saw the smallest baby penguins which we had seen up until now.:

[caramelo]

We even saw 3 recently born ones:

We were not sure as to whether these penguins being so young would survive or not being so late in the season, but one of the expedition team told us that they had a good chance....... it would all depend on how soon the extreme winter conditions would start.

The following image is not a penguin but a comoran bird, we saw a lot of them at the stop:

And some general images of Jougla Point:

[caramelo]

 

 

 

The penguins together with the comorans……. It is difficult to distinguish between them!!!

 

 

One, two, three, and jump………….:

 

 

Splash…., hihihi:

 

 

And again a mother feeding her young:

 

[caramelo]

When we finished at Jougla Point we took our boat and within a few minutes we were at Port Lockroy.

The first image arriving:

Port Lockroy is a British base which was set up in 1941 to control ships of the enemies and to destroy old fuel stored there.

[caramelo]

Here is some information about Port Lockroy and its history:

[caramelo]

and this is what I saw ............... today it operates as a small museum:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

and at the same time it also operates as a small souvenir shop:

 

 

 

If you look at the shelf above the window in the photo above...... well I couldn´t resist in bringing a penguin home with me .......... even if it is only a cuddly toy one!!!! I introduce you to my adopted penguin!!!

 

 

 

 

And as I knew I would bring one home, well I applied for his passport back in Ushuaia, hihihi:

 

 

 

and the base in Port Lockroy is also a postal office Collection point:

 

[caramelo]

and you can also have your passport stamped there:

However, you are warned that post can be slow and take from 6 to 8 weeks to arrive, but this is because seemingly the post goes first from Port Lockroy to the Falkland Islands and from their back to Britain and from their to their final destination: Europe, America or to wherever you have posted them to.

I was delighted of the possibility of sending my postcards from the Antarctica..................but the anecdote of the day was later on when were back on the ship there was an announcement over the interphones which said that the last ship of the season to leave Port Lockroy and which should have taken our post with them had technical problems and had been cancelled and therefore all the souvenirs and the postcards had been locked into the shop until next November, so they would be posted in November and then take from 6 to 8 weeks so they might arrive at their destinations next Christmas!!!! I thought at first it was a joke…… and then we thought why our ship hadn´t taken the post with us …… but that was because we were not going to the Falkland Islands, but the store is true……. So once we have totally forgotten about them the cards might arrive at Christmas.

And some general images of Port Lockroy:

The man in the following photo is one of the expedition team……… and you can see how close the penguins came to him:

[caramelo]

 

 

That night after dinner we had a Cognac Presentation given by one of the owners Mr. Antoine Braastad with 3 different samples that we could taste. The Braastad Cognac only represents a 1 ½ % of the world market, and although it sounds little it is actually a lot, and I was amazed as to see how natural and friendly a person Mr. Braastad was and he spent the whole trip just mingling amongst all the other passengers.

 

http://www.braastad-cognac.com/

 

http://www.braastad.com/

 

 

Of this cognac they have prepared some bottles of a special edition called “Adventure XO Cognac” distilled in the icey water of the 2 Arctic Poles (Greenland) and the Antarctica (Port Lockroy), and the cognac “XO” is between 13 and 20 years old. Even though we don´t normally drink cognac, the simples we tasted we lovely so we ended up buying a bottle which has a picture of the ship Fram on its lable and is signed with a dedication both by the captain and by Mr. Braastad on the bottle. Every time we take a little cognac we will remember this wonderful journey.

 

 

 

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED ......................

[caramelo]

Sunday, the 1st of March.

This morning on the web cam tv channel in our cabin we could see that it was raining, and when we went for breakfast it had even started to snow. But as we had had such wonderful weather up until now well nobody complained.

On the way towards “Decepción Island” the ship went through an area called “Neptunes Bellows”. The entrance is only 200m wide and there are some places where there are rocks below the water so the ship had to make some maneuvers in a space of only 100m.

You can imagine how narrow the area is from the photo above, its the space between the rock on the left hand side and the area on the right.

This was our first view of Deception Island when we were getting close to land:

We started to get ready to go ashore. It always is a lot of preparation and you need plenty of time: first the thermal clothes, followed by all the different layers, normal socks, then thicker socks, sky type of pants, then a light waterproof pants over them, a fleece top, the ship jacket, the waterproof bag with the cameras etc, the life jacket, gloves, hat, the ship card needed for leaving and returning to the ship, the boots, etc.

And when we went out ready to go ashore, what was our surprise…… well, the sun had come out and we had blue sky and another perfect day. We really were lucky with the weather. One of the expedition team explained that one group had been unlucky and they had had bad weather every day of their trip.

We went on land in “Deception Island” at a beach called “Whalers Bay” which in the old days had been used as a base for boats that operated like floating whale factories.

We were welcomed upon arrival by a group of seals playing. We were warned that they can be quite aggressive and that we must keep away from them with of 15 metres:

[caramelo]

On shore there used to also be a base called “Hector” used to process the meat and the bones left behind by the boats. This station was closed in 1.931 for 2 reasons: a slump in the prices and the demand for whale oil and also the advanced technology now made it possible to carry out the complete process on the boats so they no longer needed the station ashore.

Today you can see the remains of their sheds, and the rusting boilers and deposits which were used to produce the whale oil on the beach of Whalers Bay:

And this building was the hangar for the planes:

Deception Island is a sleeping volcano. Under the earth there is still heat which escapes through the grids of the underground volcano. In the past the people used to dig out some of the sand to make an area the size of a bath which filled up with the water from underneath which was warm and they would bathe there in warm water surrounded by the ice and landscape of the Antarctica. These are some images, not mine or of our trip but they are images found on the internet, just to give you an idea.