Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well, we did not write our blog yesterday…blame the weather!! (Not that it would have mattered, because frankly, the internet service was down.) But, things are getting blurry in our memories. Well, OK, mine, as Theresa is technically asleep!

The little spot we ended up at on Tuesday was on Joinville Island, and as Theresa said, had a couple of rookeries. We landed literally on a rock and an ice shelf. Now, normally, an Ice Shelf is a glacier that slides down a slope, and out onto the water without dropping off. In this case, the ice and snow from the ground was frozen on top, but eroded below. So, with the tide low, it made for a “shelf”. The landing crew tried to knock it down, but after a lot of efforts, they decided the shelf was solid enough for us to walk on. So, they pulled the Zodiac up nose first, and we stepped from the nose of the boat onto a rock, then onto the ice.

It turns out this little spot really had never been named. That might imply it is “undiscovered”, but at any rate, the passengers were invited to submit names for the new place. Apparently, the name determined was “Stahlberg Cove”, after our Captain, Peter Stahlberg. Seems fair. Additionally, the expedition staff liked the place well enough to plan it into their next trip here. Obviously, the Captain will probably make a point of getting off at that stop, to visit the site named for him.
Wednesday, we went to Whaler’s Bay on Deception Island, an active volcano caldera. Since the center collapsed and filled with sea water, there are “satellite” vents where occasional eruptions still occur, the latest in 1970. The “island” is almost all black, and features “Devil’s Window”, a notch at the top of the caldera. It is a vigorous but brief hike up to the window, and the drop off is awesome! The beach is actually warm, as geothermal gasses seep from its surface, curtaining it in mist. I tried to get Theresa to take a “romantic” walk on the beach, but she found the sleet pelting us in the face, mixed with sulfurous odor to contrast the mood of a “romantic walk”. I tried!! But, they did give us the opportunity to take a swim in the geothermal waters at the beach. I’ll say this much, the water was very warm, and quite nice. But, that turned out to be the last of the good news!! They had benches set up for us to change. Theresa (and many others) had NO intention of taking the dip, but I wasn’t going to miss a chance for a unique life experience. Anyway, the wind was maybe 10-15 mph (not really sure), but at 32F, getting disrobed is not a subtle transition! Nevertheless, I stripped down to a bathing suit (previously donned) and ran across the beach to the water. I should mention a guy had gotten out minutes before I got to the site, and I asked about it. He said “The water is warm for the first 3 feet, then it drops off and gets really cold.” So, while running, I made a mental note to stop as it got to about mid thigh, and before it dropped off. Well…he meant the first 3 feet horizontally, not vertically!! After 2 steps in warm water up to the top of my foot, I stepped on the corner between the warm gentle slope of 10 degrees, to the sharp slope of 60 degrees. You can imagine, by the time I realized the situation, I was in frigid (like 32F) water up to my ribs!! Well, I was committed…so I dove forward, and went “all in”. That folly lasted nearly 2 seconds, and I got out as FAST as I could. Scrambling up the steep slope, stumbling onto the beach, and sprinting across the sand, I grabbed the first towel I could, and tried to dry and wind block at the same time. Once dressed, I jumped the next Zodiac, and headed straight for the ship. I ordered a Hot Toddy, and took a nice hot shower. I think we did something else that day, but I couldn’t tell you what! And, yes, Theresa did get picture, and no, it will NOT be posted!!! I know more than a few people who will make certain use of this picture in ways that will not benefit me!

But the REAL reason we did not do a blog was today’s events. A bad weather system came through the Drake Passage, and the Captain was concerned about the comfort of the passengers. If we stuck to the initial schedule, we would either have to go too fast through the Drake, which would NOT be fun for most (large swells and high speeds make for a rough voyage). So, he wanted to leave early to be able to take it slower. Quite laudable. So, we were to press forward and be at the first site this morning at Sunrise, and disembark on a Continental Landing 30 minutes later. Totally understandable. Oh, did I tell you Sunrise was at 3:09AM? Yeah. So, the Rockhopper group (us) were to leave the ship at 3:30AM. The other group had a Zodiac tour starting at 3:45. We swapped on the shore at about 5AM, and then we toured until 6:15.
On the Continent, we were at a closed Argentinean science station, Almirante Brown. Penguins, and all that, yeah. Penguin pooh, sure. But, the main feature was a beautiful view of the bay from atop a hill. The site was covered in thick snow. Being that it is early in the season, the snow was fresh (well, somewhat), but a little tricky. If we stayed on the (not very) beaten path, it was not bad. If you stepped off, about half of the time, you sunk into snow up to your knee or even mid thigh. Theresa opted to stay at the bottom, but I headed up to the top of the hill. The view was something else, but the clouds were low, so we couldn’t see a lot. The bay had a modest amount of ice, and some sizeable bergs. After enjoying the view, most of us slide down the hill (which was half of the point of climbing up). It was pretty fun! Another guy and I got the idea to tuck our coat into our pants, so it wouldn’t drag or fill with snow. I got most of the way down on my butt, but then swung 180 degrees, and ended up head first. Still, it was a lot of fun.

At 7AM, we left for the second site, where we were to have another Zodiac Tour. This Zodiac Tour was frankly what I really expected out of Antarctica, cold, snowing, sleeting, beautifully blanketed mountains, ice on the water, etc. It was fantastic!! We saw a Leopard Seal, but he was trying to nap (couldn’t blame him!), and some people saw a crabeater seal. Finally, about 10AM, we were all back on the ship and starting back toward the Drake Passage. So, we didn’t cut out anything today, but we started insanely early.

For our Thanksgiving dinner, we invited a couple from Florida and another from Darby (England) to join us. It was interesting explaining to various nationalities what Thanksgiving is. We overheard someone explaining it to a Dutch couple, and we explained it to Australians and British. The Englishman thought it was our celebration from England. The Chef (from South Africa) had turkey on the menu, and incorporated many of the proper elements, but he had clearly never had a real Thanksgiving dinner, so it fancy, but it wasn’t close!! The turkey was white meat rolled in dark meat into sort of a log, then sliced like tenderloin. The dressing had cranberries in it, which was actually the best part of the meal. There were two slices of (undercooked) yams with cranberry sauce on them. No pumpkin pie, but he had a pumpkin cheesecake. But, looking back on previous Turkey days, we have had Thai pizza (Pizza Hut) in Budapest, Indian Food in Japan, and McDonalds on Maui (couldn’t find anything open). So, I guess this was at least the right material. Unfortunately, Theresa couldn’t make it through, and she left dinner early to go lay down. The swells are getting the better of her.
I will take some time to get pix posted tomorrow, given the time, I’ll just get the text up now.
Happy Thanksgiving, and happy shopping for those lunatics out there!