Landing #9: Deception Bay

Deception Bay used to be a volcano and now the caldera is filled with water but the land portion also has dry craters. It was dusty and really felt like we were on the moon.

We hiked around, visited the black glacier (from the volcanic ash), and went swimming again! This time was colder but super fun because our professor came with us! I really don’t know why we do things like swimming in Antarctica to ourselves.

Landing #10: Halfmoon Island

Our last landing! Ugh, just typing about it makes me sad! Halfmoon is a super little island that is shaped according to it’s name.

We started on one side of the island visiting what would be our last penguin rookery. I spent a long time watching the penguins and a seal nearby, trying to soak it up as much as I could. Then we walked around to the other side of the island where we hiked up a mountain (Lots of hiking the last couple days. We suspect their trying to tire us out before the long journey home). The view from the top looked over the bay and there were humpback whales feeding and splashing their tails in the air. It felt like a good conclusion to our time in Antarctica. But man, I did NOT want to get on the zodiac to go back. I think I was the very last one to leave before the guides did. Our last time in Antarctica. Our last zodiac ride. Our last time on land for the next 3 days. Lots of sad things, but things I will never forget.

Of course, my description of the landings was the short version and there are many things I could never do justice to here. I’m looking forward to showing everyone my pictures and telling people about the little stories and details that happened along the way. But first! We had to tackle Drake again, which will be rewarded by holding penguins and exploring Patagonia.

*On a real-time note: One of my group members made this fun little video from moments of our time in Antarctica. Credit goes to Yvonne! Enjoy!*

Landing #7: Brown Station

An old abandoned Argentine whaling station in Paradise Bay. First we climbed up this hill and had a breathtaking view of the bay. It was so peaceful up there and the only sound was the little penguins calling way below. Me and some of our classmates did a little journaling up there and reflected on our experience so far. After awhile it was time to move on and we used the most efficient method of getting down hills in Antarctica: sliding. Much in the style of penguins, you get your limbs up, streamline yourself, and ride the snow paths down the hill! It was SO fun! And the mix of emotional mountain time plus snow sliding endorphins put us all in a good mood.

Then we went to the zodiacs for some whale searching in the bay. I think Paradise Bay might be the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I couldn’t get over how pristine it is. And the sun was out so everything was reflecting off each other. It didn’t feel like earth at all.

Our mission was to find Minke whales because they are common in this area. We saw a lot of cool iceburgs and a leopard seal.

I had really wanted a leopard seal. They’re known as the “polar bears of Antarctica” because they can be pretty vicious. Unlike most seals that look at humans and then go back to sleeping, leopard seals will attack humans! Not to mention they’re creepy looking! So I had a super bad impression of leopard seals but when I actually got close to one in person it looked so happy and docile! Never judge a seal by its cover.

Also, when we were looking at it our zodiac driver turned off the engine and it was perfectly quiet except for the sound of ice bits clanking together. It kind of gave me an idea of how it must be like for them when we’re not around. It was so peaceful!

After about 1.5 hours we had to go back to the ship. So we were kind of disappointed at not finding the whales. As we were going back I accepted that wildlife sightings are hit and miss, but still appreciated being able to explore Paradise Bay.

But then! My friend spotted whales in the distance! And our zodiac driver was like, “No, no, we must go back now, it will take too long” but we pleaded with him and he agreed to go over there. The other two zodiacs went over too and we turned off the motors and the whales surrounded us! There were 3 of them and they were just as curious about us as we are of them! They would poke their heads out of the water to look at us and swim under our little zodiacs. It was AMAZING to be in such close proximity with such huge creatures!

Do you see the whale under there?!

After spending some time with them we were really late and had to go back. But the whales followed the zodiacs home and when we were all back on the ship they jumped out of the water like they were saying goodbye to us. It’s really something I’ll never forget. As one New Zealand passenger said, “That wasn’t just a highlight of the holiday, it was a highlight of life.” I think it was made all the more amazing because we had already accepted that we weren’t going to see them and they revealed themselves at the last minute!

Anyway, now whales are my favorite animal and I’m addicted to them. I could go on and on about how cool they are!

Landing #8: Neiko Harbor

Our last continental landing. Super sad! We landed on a sandy beach, which was new, and hiked up a hill in the snow which was worth it for the view. The guides also made a huge snow slide that we all went down a few times. Got some quality penguin watching time in again. It’s nice because during the first landings I felt like I had to take a picture of every little thing the penguins did, but now I can just sit and enjoy watching them.

That night we had a pretty emotional class session again. Afterwards I went out on the top deck of the ship and I was the only one up there which made for good reflecting time as we left the continent. The moon looked awesome and the sun was setting on the glaciers…it was breathtaking. I never wanted to look away. The last time I felt that awestruck was at the Taj Mahal. The moment got even better when my friend and I saw two whales swimming about 30 feet away from the boat. We were the only ones that saw them so it felt really special and a fitting way to be seen off.

Landing #5: Palmer Station- American Antarctic Research Station

It was weird being around other Americans other than our group. We learned a little about how research is done in Antarctica. The U.S. has three stations in Antarctica: including being the only one to have the station at the South Pole.

Two annoying things about America in Antarctica are:
1. The U.S. has the South Pole station, not Norway or Scotland who were the first ones to discover it. When asked why this was the presenter said it was for “political reasons”. Sounds dirty to me.
2. The Palmer Station empties their human waste into the water outside their station! They’re the scientists that are supposed to be conserving and preserving Antarctica! Not throwing their shit in the ocean! I’m just so confused!

Still, it was cool to be able to walk around the station and see what it was like. And they made us brownies! It was super lucky we made it there in back in the zodiacs because on the way there our motor broke down and the way back we were almost trapped in by ice!

Landing #6: Lockroy

Lockroy used to be a British whaling station (booo) but the British still own it, restored it, and turned it into a museum of sorts. Which is really weird to go to a museum that’s just hanging out in the middle of nowhere Antarctica. You have to take a zodiac to get there!  Such an interesting place.

Lots of whale bones. This place had a whole skeleton!

Another fun happening this day was whale watching on the bridge and seeing seals float by on an iceburg. I ran on to the deck and waved “goodbye” to them and one of them picked up its tail and waved it at me! It was the COOLEST!!!

Landing #3: Hydurga Rocks

Saw our third penguin species: the Chinstrap penguins!

Also had our first close encounters with seals!

I like getting right down on the same level as the animals so I usually come back covered in poop. It’s so worth it though! At this landing there were a lot of mom’s nesting with chicks too. Almost too cute to handle.

I should also note how much I love riding in the zodiacs. The drivers have been doing this for a long time and like to show off. Hence coming back from Hydruga Rocks my driver and another zodiac that was going back had a race and ours drove DIRECTLY to the front of the boat and turned at the very last second. I couldn’t help grab on for dear life. It was exhilarating!

Landing #4: Culverville Island

Fortunately no relationship to the popular home of the butterburger “Culvers”. This landing was more of the Antarctica that we were expecting: snowy! We hiked up a huge hill which had a good view that was a little difficult to see due to fog. But it was still fun because there was a big snowfield up there and a Gentoo colony.  I think it was here that I perfected my Gentoo call. Also, there were whale bones all over the place! They kind of look like driftwood but were super heavy.

Some of the lads in our group made their first Antarctic snowman.

We all were soaked because of the heavy wet snow, but before we went back the zodiac showed us some cool glaciers around the island. My pictures look a little grainy because of the snow, but you can see how beautiful they are!

We rarely know what to expect at the landings, but after while it didn’t matter because we found out how awesome each one is. I always try to be on the first zodiac to leave and the last one to come back!

Landing #1: Our first time off the boat! We got bundled up, put on our life vests, rubber boots, stepped in some sanitizing chemicals (to make sure we don’t bring any foreign substances from our boots to land), hopped in the zodiac rafts and off we went! The island was home to over 150,000 Adelie penguins. As far as interacting with the wildlife, they threw us in there immediately! At each landing we usually had about 3 hours to explore. The penguins there have no reason to be afraid of humans so if you sit down on the ground they’ll come right up to you and peck your boots! They are such curious little creatures with so much personality. They’re so much like little people and I could watch them for hours!

Getting from the boat to the zodiac which takes us to land.

Before heading back to the ship for lunch, our zodiac driver took us on a little iceburg tour around the island. I wasn’t expecting to love iceburgs so much! They are the most brilliant shade of blue underwater! They’re in such unique shapes and it’s fun seeing the animals hang out on them.

Landing  2: Brown’s Bluff
Our first landing on the actual continent of Antarctica! This landing had a different kind of penguin (Gentoo) and we also climbed up this ridge to see the rare Snowy Petrel! It’s a bird that I was really hoping to see and we found one nesting in a cave!

We also went on our first Antarctic swim! Our whole group ran in together and it actually wasn’t that bad! It was pretty cool having glaciers in the water and penguins running in and out of the water right besides us too!

It was such a perfect first day in Antarctica! In the evenings we have dinner at 7:30 and then usually have class which is always a good part of the day. We have some very meaningful discussions.

Also, I realize some of you may have been worried about the earthquake that happened in the Southern Ocean as we were crossing it. But worry not! I didn’t even know about it until we got back to land. I am starting to see a theme of earthquakes happening close to where I’m studying away for J-term though. (i.e. the Haiti earthquake happening when I was in Tobago two years ago.)

The first portion of our Antarctic adventure begins with the infamous Drake Passage. Since all the world’s oceans empty at the south, the Southern Ocean just kind of churns around Antarctica. Sometimes it’s pretty calm: the Drake Lake. Other times it destroys people: the Drake Shake.

We boarded our ship, the Ushuaia, at about 4pm and we had a champagne toast as we embarked. It was so exciting to be on board after months and months of waiting. It was also fun because all the other passengers seem really cool and are from all over the world. Including one woman who has been to EVERY country and Antarctica is the only place left she has to go!

Our ship is that little blue and white one in front of the mammoth cruise ship. It’s 300 feet long (football field) and has room for about 80 passengers.

Our lovely cabin.

The crew and expedition guides are all hilarious. And they feed us a lot of good food- including vegetarian options. For the first time since leaving the U.S. I feel like I’m actually getting proper nutrition!

During our days at sea there is tons to do. They have presentations about different animals and parts of Antarctica, movie showings, games, in addition to the homework we have to do for class. I had on the lifesaving seasickness patch and felt pretty good most of the way there, unlike some people who couldn’t get out of bed or eat. It’s funny because during Drake Passage crossings the staff tapes up barf bags everywhere.

I have never experienced anything like living on this ship. It’s like living in a washing machine. I love motion things like rollercoasters and turbulence, but living in it is completely different. It’s such a weird experience to be literally thrown to the other side of the room without warning. We all look drunk walking and falling on someone or getting fallen on is a normal occurrence. Walking in a straight line is a joke and getting dressed takes about 15 minutes. During the 2.5 days crossing the kitchen doesn’t use glassware or serve soup, for obvious reasons. My favorite part is going up stairs! I don’t know how the physics of it works exactly, but as the boat sways when going up stairs you either:

1. Have to use all your strength to pull yourself up against the G-forces
or
2. Experience something close to weightlessness and get floated up the steps.

It’s so weird and literally gravity defying! And as long as you aren’t feeling nauseous, it’s pretty fun!

Another super weird part of the Drake Passage has been the side effects of the seasickness patches. Now, I’ve put my body through a lot of crazy situations while traveling. I thought my malaria medication “vivid dreams” was bad, but I think seasickness patches one-uped it by changing my vision. I have always had perfect eyesight but the patches have made me far sighted. This was a terrifying realization and now I can empathize with glasses wearers. I felt super old having to hold our class readings at arms length to be able to read them. Even so, I guess it’s better than puking my guts out in bed all day!

One of my favorite ship past times is bird and whale watching. The bridge is open for passengers all day and it’s always nice to bring my binoculars and check things out. It’s the thrill of the search! The seabirds are awesome too! Like, I don’t know if you know about albatrosses, but you should! They don’t go to land for years! They just use the ocean wind to glide around seamlessly. It’s extraordinary. It’s amazing how us humans are completely dependent on this little boat of ours to survive out here, and even so, people are still getting sick, while the seabirds thrive here naturally. As I will continue to learn over the course of our trip, we simply do not belong here.

Seeing the first glimpse of Antarctica was sublime. We all ran out onto the deck and were so giddy. We made it through the Drake Passage! We made it to ANTARCTICA!

We’ve been able to explore a lot since it does not get dark until about 11 pm. I thought that would weird me out and be disorienting, but I actually really like it! You can do so much!

Part of our town wanderings included visiting the maritime museum which was in the old prison. It was part a muesum about the ships that explored this area, but also party a museum about the prison, which I guess was like the Alcatraz of Argentina. It was random, a little creepy, and pretty cool.

We had an extremely fun night two days ago because it was one of our group members 21st birthday. To celebrate we went out to a club which we later found out was gay bar! Then we went to another bar which was so packed you couldn’t even move in it. There was lots of dancing and inside jokes that were created that night. It was definitely a group bonding experience, and I’ll leave it on that very censored note!

The next morning came very early but it was worth it because we went hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park! The landscape was a mix of water, mountains, and meadows. Sound of Music-ish. It was our first day since we left that we weren’t on an airplane and it felt so good to be in nature moving around! We went on one hike, then got our passports stamped at this cool little post office.

(I really don’t know why my vertical pictures are uploading sideways! Sorry about making you have to turn your head! I’ll try to figure it out for the next post…)

After that we went to the park visitor’s center and hiked to a spot by the river to have lunch. From there we continued on another hike to the end of the Pan-American highway! This is the highway that runs from Alaska, all the way to where we are in Tierra del Fuego! Before we went back into town we stopped at a beautiful lake that Argentina shares with Chile.

Those mountains are Chile. A few of us ran in for a quick swim but it was very brief because it was frigid! But it woke me up! So it was all good!

(Remember you can click on any picture to make it bigger!)

Me and my friend Alexis are making a video blog of our time here! We’re having A LOT of fun making them, so we hope people check them out! Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/LasLocasJourney/feed

You guys! I’m going to Antarctica TODAY! I’ll be gone for the next 10-11 days and wifi on the ship is $3 a minute. So I doubt I’ll use it at all, but I might cough it up for just enough time to put up another post while we’re there! Did you know as of a few years ago if you a filled up a football stadium that it would hold more people than the amount of people who have EVER been to Antarctica?! Man, I feel so lucky I could burst. And I’m just so excited!

I got my parka, I got my camera, and I got my (as always) sense of adventure. Let’s go!

I’ve never been so immediately in love with a city like I have been with Buenos Aires. I’m just smitten here!
They call it the “Paris of the South” and I can totally see why! It kind of feels European. Only warmer, not just in the temperature sense, but the people too. Everyone is so eclectic! There’s music and street performers all over the streets. I remember times in Paris when I’d try using my French and the waiter or hotel staff or whoever would get frustrated and start speaking in English. In Buenos Aires when I try using the approximately 3 Spanish phrases I know they laugh (in a friendly “that was cute, nice try” way) and help me through it. People in Paris wear black. People in the Paris of the South wear every color you can imagine.

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE! It feels so good to be here!

One challenge that I detect being in Argentina is being a vegetarian. Argentinean food is meat. I haven’t seen fruit since being here! It’s all good though! India spoiled me so it’s time to pay my dues as a vegetarian traveller.

Speaking of India, I find myself constantly comparing Argentina to India since it’s my first time traveling since then. The first observation being that it is about the same temperature right now (super hot), but in India we had to wear long pants, long shirts with sleeves, and SCARVES. Buenos Aires is skin exposure friendly so that’s been really nice! Also, Argentines are varied in their appearance, so I could pass off as one. This was simply impossible in India which made being stared at a daily occurrence. It’s nice to blend in more here!

This morning we had a painfully early flight to the very bottom of South America. It is outrageously beautiful here and we’re gearing up to hop on a boat and sail away to the “the white continent”! I’ll hopefully put up another post about our time in this mountainous port city tomorrow before I become internet-less for the week.

I hope everything is well “up there”! I’m sending you some sun from a place where it doesn’t set until 11 pm!

If you are reading this blog to join in on my adventure this month to Argentina and Antarctica- welcome! If you were a regular blog reader of mine- thanks for sticking around! Approximately one week after I declared a blogging break I was already missing it! Unfortunately a busy fall semester prevented me from getting back in the game. Not blogging made me realize how much I like it! I found myself doing something new and exciting and thinking about how I would describe the experience to other people. I’ve been lucky to be able to do some pretty cool things and I want to share all about them!

So I figure what better way to start back in with
1. The New Year!
2. Traveling!

I leave tomorrow and will head to Buenos Aires, Argentina by way of L.A. and Lima, Peru. Then after one day in the capital of Argentina I will fly down to Ushuaia- the southern most tip of South America and spend two days there before boarding a ship to sail to Antarctica for about 11 days! On the way back I will be spending more time in Patagonia (the rugged southern regions of Argentina and Chile), and finally revisiting Buenos Aires before heading back to the states. It will definitely be a whirlwind of a month!

I’m going as part of a January term class at PLU called “Journey to the End of the Earth”. Technically it’s a writing class in which we focus on natural history and conversation issues. I will be making a short film while there about the human impact on wildlife in Antarctica. I’ll be going with a professor and 18 other students and we’ll be able to see lots of animals and amazing landscapes. I’m particularly excited for crossing the Drake Passage- known as the roughest seas in the world! Ahoy mateys! Hopefully getting my sea legs is a quick process.

I feel sooooooooooo lucky to be able to go to Antarctica because it’s a place not many people get the opportunity to visit. After this I will only need two more continents (Africa and Australia) before I have been to them all! I am absolutely giddy about being able to travel again and will try to blog as much as I can! My internet access is TBD, and I definitely won’t be able to blog while at sea/ Antarctica, but I’ll try to make up for it!

I was planning on doing a little semester re-cap on what you missed during my blogging hiatus, but I think I will save that for after I return. There is too much packing to do tonight (all those warm clothes I got for Christmas) and I’m just so focused on the awesome adventure that I’m about to go on.

See you in the Southern Hemisphere!