WAHOO I (Chad) have now officially stepped foot in all 7 continents!
Where to start about Antarctica…well first of all we are back in Ushuaia. Our cruise technically ended this morning but we made good time coming back so we were at the dock last night around 9PM but we still slept on the boat last night and had breakfast this morning.
Before we get too far, we have uploaded different pictures on each of our websites so make sure to check both of them out to see a larger variety.
Chad: www.traveljournals.net/cyfer13
Scout: www.traveljournals.net/scottr128
The trip took two days to get down to the Antarctic Penisula. So far the score on sea-sickness is Scott 2 – Chad 0. Luckily we were able to get some different seasickness medication and that coupled with calmer seas meant that we were both fine on the journey back to Ushuaia. Unfortunately we heard about a 9 year old girl who threw up 19 times on the trip south. Scott can´t complain anymore.
I honestly don't know where to begin or how to describe anything I've
seen here. The landscapes are varied, and there are glaciers
everywhere. Icebergs float around the boat. The colors on the icebergs
range from a snowy white to a rich royal blue to small pieces being
almost crystal clear. I don't think an artist or photographer will
ever be able to capture. (but Scott and I tried of course!)
As for wildlife, we've seen 3 different species of penguins (adelie,
chinstrap, and gentoo), 3 different seals (leopard, crab eater, and
Weddell), elephant sea lions, fur seals and humpback whales. We're able to get within about 10 feet of the penguins and seals. Sometimes they will walk closer to you though. They are not the type of penguin seen in 'March of the Penguins'. That was the emperor penguin. Penguins are honestly the cutest things ever. We have spent hours taking pictures and just watching them walk, hop, fall down, sleep, incubate eggs, feed chicks, and swim. They are amazingly graceful, yet clumsy at the same time. I'm having a hard time putting there movements into words but all 3 types walk with their wings spread out behind their body. They kinda look like a 2 year old who just learned to walk running to hug their mother with their arms spread behind their back. Did you know that penguins swim and jump out of the water like dolphins do? Very weird. And they are amazingly agile and graceful when they are swimming which is a huge contrast to what they look like walking on land.
We got lucky in the fact that many of their eggs have hatched in the
last week or two. While there are no chicks running around looking
cute, we have gotten to see them in the nest underneath the parents.
The chicks will peck at their mother's/father's (whichever is on the
nest at the time and who knows which sex because they all look the
same to us) beak and they will open their mouth and the chick will
stick their head into the mouth and eat the regurgitated food from
their parents. If you can't picture it, don't worry…we have plenty of
pictures.
We had one great visit by a couple of Humpback Whales. None of them
breached, but we were able to get pretty close and have some great
fluke pictures. More importantly, they started surface feeding right next to the boat…they trapped krill in a bubble net and then swam upwards through the bubble net with their mouth wide open until closing their mouth after they surfaced. Since the whales were about 10 feet from the side of the boat I could have jumped out of the boat and landed in their mouths. I was looking straight down at them as I snapped the photos. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
We also spent a day on Deception Island where we got to walk to the top of a volcanic crater and then later ¨swam¨ in the ocean and thermal pools heated by a thermal zone under the beach. It was definitely one of the crazier things that we have done. It was pretty bizarre to be in our bathing suits, with icebergs floating in the same water that we´re sitting in. Off in the distance is our ship. There is snow and glaciers in the mountains around us. Very bizarre.
So overall, an incredibly cool trip. We have landed on mainland Antarctica twice and on islands on the Antarctic peninsula 5 times. Each time spending about 2-3 hours on land. In order to get to land we all jump in rubber "zodiac" boats (think inflatable whitewater rafting boats with outboard motors).
The food has been good and I've probably gained 5 pounds as it is all
you can eat buffet and Scott despite not eating much early on has been
gaining weight as well. The rest of the time we just sit around, play
cards, read, sleep. We jokingly call it the float and bloat. We're
also experiencing a bad case of FMS. Fear of Missing Something. Always
looking out the windows while you eat in hopes of spotting an allusive
whale.
Scott here…Chad basically covered everything and I have added a couple
of tidbits above. There are actually a couple of families here so
there are about 15 kids here ranging from the ages of 9 to 20. There
are also a couple married couples in their late 20s and early 30s
plus a couple of single younger people around. So all in all a lot
younger group than I think that either of us were expecting.
This is definitely a different type of traveling and traveler than
what I am used to in the hostels. But I guess that would be expected
but I was reminded of it yesterday when I was told by some guy that
they have multiple houses. Definitely not the circles that Chad and I
would normally travel in.
It is amazing how everyday the continent looks and feels different
both in terms of scenary and weather. Even though Antarctica is the
driest place in the world and considered a desert we have gotten some
rain, 50 mph winds, bright sunshine and temps generally in the 30s.
What happened to my plan to have 18 months of summer?
However given all that this is truly a very cool place with so much
diversity and I am really glad that we were able to come down here.
We hope everyone has a healthy and happy 2006. As for us, well Chad is heading back to the US on Wednesday (arriving on Thursday). Scott is going to continue his slow trek north. He apparently has two months to get from the southern tip of Argentina to Peru. First stop is about an hour north of here (by plane) in a town called El Calafate and El Chalten.
Love,
Chad & Scott
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