February 10th – A Beautiful Introduction to South Georgia

Sadly, Covid restrictions wouldn’t allow us to come ashore at South Georgia’s tiny little capital Grytviken – but, this is one of the few capitals in the world that looks as good from the water on a zodiac ride as it does from the land. The population numbers in the 10s of people (all researchers, no natives, and we only saw one of them!), and everything there is to see is within 10 metres of the water’s edge.

The setting was absolutely majestic – jagged hills of green slopes, backed by snowy mountains and glaciers in the distance, all of it mirrored on the glass-calm water of the fjord that Grytviken sits at the end of. And, on a beautifully sunny day with scarcely any wind, I don’t think that this elemental place could have looked any better.

There was a post-apocalyptic feel to a town that was devoid of people, and seemed to have been taken over by the wildlife – king penguins gathered in groups by the water’s edge, while fur seals slipped in and out of the water. The only sounds to be heard were the fur seals barking, penguins arguing, and elephant seals grunting noisily. 

The main feature of Grytviken is its rusting old whaling factory, where thousands of whales were slaughtered and boiled up for their oil. The rotting factory looked like something left behind from the industrial revolution, but it was only abandoned in the 1960s – it was hard to imagine that somewhere as serene as this could have been the site of such terrible scenes. The horror film setting was completed by the ghostly wrecks of a couple of rusting old whaling ships on the shore – their harpoons still pointing out menacingly.

Fortunately, it’s obvious that nature has won out in the end, as we got some up-close views of the endearingly mindless king penguins all trooping after each other. And then, a huge elephant seal lolloped on its belly down to the water, like a giant slug, grunting furiously whenever his exertions got too much for him (every few metres), before sliding into the water next to our zodiac. Just for good measure, on our way out of the harbour, we saw some spouts from the whales that now safely sail these waters.

This being Silversea, of course, we had a little stop for a glass of champagne half-way round. What an introduction to South Georgia – I can’t wait to get in amongst those penguins!

February 7th – Ice, Ice, Baby

Unfortunately, strong winds scuppered our landings on our final day in Antarctica, however we got to see that sometimes the White Continent is as spectacular from the sea, as it is on land. We cruised to Antarctic Sound to have a look at the so-called “Iceberg Alley”, where huge icebergs are swept up from the Ross Sea through this narrow sound.

Now, a ship hunting for icebergs in high winds and foggy conditions might not sound like it’s a good idea to many people, but the Captain knew what he was doing, as he steered us through the procession of glaciers coming towards us. We saw glaciers in all shapes and sizes, from ones looking like ski jumps to one that looked a bit like Sydney Opera House.

However, the star of the show were the massive “Tabular Icebergs” – flat sheets of ice (like tables – hence the name), the size of small islands, that left you utterly in awe of Mother Nature. The largest we saw was around 20 metres tall (taller than the ship) and at least 200 metres long. When you consider that only around 10-15% of an iceberg is actually above water, that was an enormous moving object that were sailing so close to – something like 250 times the mass of our ship!

As we sailed, we saw a lot of leaping penguins, penguins hitching a lift on passing icebergs, and spouting humpback whales – for the past three days, this cruise has been like the best nature documentary that you could imagine. Let’s see what South Georgia brings us in three days time?

February 6th – Spectacular Antarctica

If yesterday was just a taster for what Antarctica had to offer, then today was a six-course feast. With our visit to the spectacular Danco Island (just off the Antarctic Peninsula), we were seeing the Antarctica of the TV documentaries – I was half-expecting David Attenborough to wander past at any point.

Under bright blue skies, the landscapes of the jagged ice-covered mountains all around us looked unbelievably beautiful, while the wind-sculpted icebergs floating past us looked like works of modern art – it was simply magical.

From the zodiac landing point, we climbed up the snow-covered hillside straight into a busy Gentoo penguin colony. It was just so fascinating to watch them trek drunkenly along their little highways up and down from the sea to their hillside homes in the rocks. On land, these creatures are so endearingly ungainly that they’re constantly stumbling and toppling over, like a bunch of arthritic old men who’ve over-indulged at a black tie dinner.

The great thing about penguins is that they constantly look confused – like they’re not quite sure where they’re going, or what they’re doing – but, they just pick themselves up again and carry on their mission to and from the sea. As they pass by each other, you can’t help but imagine their conversations – you could watch them for hours.

Sadly, we didn’t have hours – but, today ticked off all the Antarctica essentials, and left me totally in awe of Mother Nature. A day not to forget.

Thanks to Agata, our personal paparazzi!

February 5th – Setting Foot on Antarctica!

There aren’t many places that can get my adrenaline going these days, but today was one of them, as I finally got to set foot on my seventh continent – Antarctica!

When you travel a lot, you can become a bit blasé about where you’re visiting; but just looking out of the window and seeing the thick ice shelves ahead of us and the lumps of blue ice floating in the water, was enough to get us over-excited about a place that we knew well from the TV programmes, but didn’t quite dare to think we’d reach.

I’d had a lengthy build-up to this long-awaited visit. I’ve had two previous trips to the White Continent not come about through cancelled flights and cancelled cruises; plus we had the will-we/won’t-we because of Covid; and then onboard, you have so many briefings and bio-security checks that you can physically feel the excitement building. Then, in the morning, you dress in all your many layers of Antarctic gear and anxiously wait for the call to go down to the zodiacs before you pass out from heat exhaustion.

But, it didn’t disappoint. Our first stop was in the South Shetland Islands and Yankee Harbour – home to a Gentoo Penguin colony and various seals. Actually, from some angles it didn’t feel like how you’d expect Antarctica to be. We were dropped off on a bleak shingle beach with scarcely any ice in sight – that’s until you turn around and see the hills covered in thick glacial ice.

Some people who’ve been here before commented that it had looked better on their last visit (blue skies and more penguins), but all that was going through my mind was, “I don’t care - I’M IN ANTARCTICA!” – a cloudy day and 30 penguins was more than enough for me.

What struck me most was what an alien environment this was. That beach had a (quite literal) end-of-the-world feel to it – the pebbles were littered with the bones and carcasses of penguins, seals, and goodness-knows-what creatures. Seals would lumber across our path like we weren’t there, and the penguins stood still as statues like they were waiting for something exciting to happen.

After 2 years spent behind face masks, the air felt so incredibly fresh and pure. While, the sounds were strange too – lumps of ice hitting the pebbles as they washed against them; fur seals barking like dogs; and most strangely of all, a fat weddell seal lying lazily on the beach singing like a chirping bird.

To me, this was one of the highlights of my life of travels. People in the know tell me that this was a low-key day in Antarctica – if that’s so, I can hardly wait for more.

February 2nd – Glacial Progress From Chile

Covid restrictions have meant that we haven’t got the best from our land experiences in Chile (Punta Arenas wouldn’t even let us off the ship!); but at least it gave us more chances to appreciate the stunning scenery in the south of the country.

We headed away from Punta Arenas a day early so that we could explore the dramatically bleak landscapes around the Beagle Channel, a place that’s like a geography lesson in glacial features. As we explored the network of channels and islands, it made you wonder how on earth the first European explorers down here in the 19^th century ever made it through this dangerously windswept labyrinth of waterways, in what must be some of the most inhospitable environments in the world.

As the snow-capped mountains of the Cordillera Darwin approached, there was scarcely any vegetation clinging onto those barren hillsides, but there was plenty of birdlife to appreciate, and even the swish of a whale’s tail to get us excited (by some miracle, Tracy was taking a picture of something else, so you might spot it in the corner of her second photo).

We then reached the star of the Beagle Channel show – Glacier Avenue, where 5 different glaciers make their way down the hillsides to the sea. It’s always astonishing to see the deep cobalt-blue of the glaciers – dense ice packed so hard by the thousands of years since it started its downhill journey, that the daylight gets absorbed and the red light is filtered out, leaving only the light at the blue end of the spectrum to be transmitted through it.

These incredible natural sights have left us with a spring in our step before we head into the dreaded Drake Passage tomorrow – forecasts of moderately rough seas, are only slightly tempering our excitement for our arrival in Antarctica!