The Polar Plunge is not just for Penguins

"Strange. There is always sadness on departure. It is as if one cannot after all bear to leave this bleak waste of ice, glaciers, cold and toil..." - Fridtjof Nansen

One perfect day turned into another; this was truly the trip of a lifetime. On February 3rd at 4am we crossed into the Antarctic Circle (got to 66' 48"). This was a momentous event as only a few times a season can the boat get that far, late into the summer like this, and another milestone for us. We have been in both polar circles and on every continent now. Where is my T-shirt? We were headed to Crystal Sound but our luck left us and the weather forced the captain to turn back so we had a morning of lectures instead.

As compensation in the afternoon the crew found a large area of sea ice and after a test nudge, backed up and charged at it full steam crashing right into it. Once it had settled with a fair portion of the boat embedded in the sea ice they opened up the belly of the beast and we all streamed out, including crew. What a sight: about 150 adults went super childlike, including us, lying on the snow being snow angels, making snowmen, chasing each other with snowballs and generally goofing around. It was just like christmas, that is, if I lived in the northern hemisphere in a place where they get snow for christmas. A couple of seals and a Gentoo penguin looked on with amusement.

The next day we went to Jougla Point at Port Lockroy where we saw a large colony of Blue Eyed Shags, the older, the more sky blue their eyes. Straight after we arrived back, at about 12:30, we were invited to do the 'polar plunge'. My toes were still numb from the excursion so I cracked open my first pack of air activated foot warmers and went down in my shoes and socks, shorts and Lindblad bathrobe. We had to disrobe and wait in line in the mud room for our turn, getting more apprehensive as it got colder as we got closer. At the end it was a quick order to 'jump high and look at the camera' and you were in the barely sub freezing water (they said 29F, about -1.7C), where the cold hit you like 10,000 needles. I just wanted to get out as fast as possible so I scrambled to the platform and pulled myself up and into the boat, where we were greeted with a towel and a large shot of Schnapps (don't tell, but I had two). I then went and put on my bathrobe and got my feet into my preheated shoes, still with their foot warmers in them, keeping my feet toasty for the next five hours. Not something I ever need, or want, to do again, but hey, how many times do you go to Antarctica? FYI, the 'jump high' directive was a trick because that just makes you go deeper for longer; don't fall for it. We were two of 54 that jumped from a ship of 143 passengers, which they said was a record.

We spent the afternoon cruising through the Gerlache Strait and Dallmann Bay on our way back to the Drake Passage and 'home' (Ushuaia). We came across some humpback whales and a flock of penguins swimming in the sea alongside them. The humpbacks were really friendly staying close to the boat and lazily flicking up their tails as they dived down and then came back up floating and blowing and then lazily going down again. The penguins would skim across the water in short jumps as a group cleaning up any leftover krill. It was a marvelous scene that went on for about 90 minutes. We had come across  whales twice before, humpbacks and killer whales, but this was the closest we had got to them.

The next day we were back into the Drake Passage, the most notorious section of water in the world, where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet, creating a whirlpool effect. We were not as lucky as on the trip down. Staff strung ropes all around the ship so that no matter where you were you could hold on to something. The boat bounced up and down, lurched forward and back and rolled side to side. We had one of the cheapest rooms on the ship with only a small porthole and that was closed and bolted in case the glass blew out, the whole day and a half. Many passengers had patches on their necks (most for the whole trip), a protector against sea sickness and only moderately successful from what we could tell. We had successfully avoided taking anything the whole trip (we are very good on planes and boats - Elizabeth even smiles during plane turbulence), and so wanted to try to last. The only time it started to get to me was about the last two hours. We held out and soon we were looking at Cape Horn and smooth seas; it was weird seeing green and trees again.

A map was kept up to date on our travels

The trip was over, probably the most amazing of our amazing lives. At first glance a lifeless, white, barren, cold but stunningly beautiful landscape, in reality teeming with an astounding array of life. We saw penguins feeding chicks, gathered together as families, collecting twigs and fortifying their nests, waddling, swimming, sliding. And seals and whales and a large variety of birds. We are so lucky, or as Spock would say 'random chance favours us'. Next stop Peru where we try to give back a bit by doing some volunteering in Cusco.

This is Part 3.

Part 1: http://travellingcoeliac.blogspot.com/2016/02/there-are-penguins-in-antarctica.html
Part 2: http://travellingcoeliac.blogspot.com/2016/02/cruising-with-national-geographic-crew.html

Cruising with the National Geographic crew, Antarctic ports and Climate Change

Seen on the wall of the ship

The Bridge

Cruising with National Geographic was not only an adventure but an educational experience. Everybody and everything was approachable and accessible. The ship had an open bridge policy, which meant you were allowed on to the bridge any time to talk to the crew, look over the maps, have a naturalist point out birds for you and more. The ship was filled with naturalists and had a global perspectives speaker. All the staff would eat with the passengers so you could find yourself dining with several naturalists, the expedition leader or even the guest speaker.

Peter Hillary

Early on I was having a discussion abut the ice shelf collapses and how that will accelerate glacier melt with a particularly cluey staff member. After our discussion I said to Elizabeth, 'That guy knew what he was talking about' and she said, 'That guy was Peter Hillary.' Doh! Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary, was our Global Perspectives speaker.



Whenever conditions would cause plans to change and a morning or afternoon would end up free we would get presentations from the naturalists and photographers, as well as during evening 'recap' when they would do short talks on their favourite topics. As this was also a research ship, presentations could include videos, photos and information on research they had just conducted during a dive while we were out on excursion. Talks included:

• Historical account of whaling

• The skua support society. Skuas were generally not liked because they attacked the penguins, but they gave a more balanced perspective on the circle of life in Antarctica.

• Ice and frozen oceans

• Krill

• Shackleton's amazing 1915/16 adventure in Antarctica

• Their research on leopard seals

• Killer whales

...and many more.

Palmer Station

Refreshingly most talks would include references to climate change and its effect on Antarctica and the wildlife there in a matter-of-fact scientific way. No debate, no hesitation, just straight out this is what is happening and why. Our trip also included an excursion to Palmer Station, a US research port that only allowed eight visits from ships this summer and we were one of them. The station presented a lot of local information on climate change:

• Long term data shows temperatures at Palmer Station have increased 7 degrees Celsius since 1945. This is more than 5 times the global average. Antarctica in general has increased temperature at about twice the global average.

• The station used to get fresh water from a nearby glacier but since it has receded so much they now use osmosis to purify seawater.

• The Adelie penguin numbers have decreased from 15,000 in 1974 to 2,000 in 2014 due to the decline in sea ice.

• Krill numbers are falling in the area and are affected by warming oceans. 70% of the krill population might die due to climate change. This is a huge issue as krill are near the bottom of the food chain and are eaten by penguins, seals and even whales.

• Phytoplankton has decreased by 90% north of the station but has increased 60% in the south. Phytoplankton produces about two thirds of the planet's atmospheric oxygen. New research indicates that as oceans warm photosynthesis in phytoplankton may shut down.

• There is accelerating glacier loss in West Antarctica.

• The Larsen B ice shelf in West Antarctica is almost all gone making a total of 5 ice shelves that will have collapsed since 1989. Larsen C is showing signs of beginning to collapse. While ice shelves do not contribute to sea level rise they hold back glaciers that do contribute to sea level rise. These collapses are partly due to warming oceans melting the ice shelves from underneath and were unexpected, meaning current sea level rise projections are greatly underestimated.

Coming to Antarctica was always planned as an educational experience as well as an adventure; that was why we chose National Geographic. But it was frightening to see and hear how fast climate change is affecting this pristine and crucial part of the global ecosystem. One only hopes that the world makes good on its promises in Paris.