Antarctica, Penguins

Adelie looking at me

This is the last Blog about Antarctica as we are nearly back in Bluff, in the south of New Zealand. Of course I have to make at least one Blog about the Penguins as we have seen plenty of them. They are just so cute, have no fear and are tremendously entertaining.

The Penguins on the way to check us out

There are so many different types of penguins the King, Emperor, Adelie and many, many more. They all live in the southern Hemisphere, so it is not possible that a Penguin says hello to a Polar Bear. But in the south, they are everywhere, from South America to South Africa to New Zealand and even Australia.

We stopped quickly at Macquarie Island, and Island that lies south of New Zealand. I have written about it before, so will not go much into the Island, apart from that it is still beautiful, but just want to show you a couple of photos of really cute Penguins we saw there. You sit there and wait and then after a while they come to you and check you out, noisy little birds.

Sandy Beach, full of Penguins

I could sit here for hours and watch them, it is just amazing to sit among thousands of Penguins, hear them, see them, laugh at them and of course small them. Yes a Penguin is really smelly and if you have thousands of them then it smells accordingly. There is Penguin pup everywhere, hehehe, so be careful where you walk.

But to be here, having the possibility to see all of them happily living here, being entertained, that is just an amazing moment and a little pup just gives the extra dimension.Penguins are such fascinating creatures, to see them in the wild is something very precious. It is difficult to imagine that less than 100 years ago they were shortly before extinction because of the oil that humans got from them. 

Orion with Adelie Penguins in Antarctica

Soon we will be sailing around the North Island of New Zealand, stay tuned for more episodes of my travels.

Antarctica, Shackleton's Hut

It happened, something I didn't even dream of it, but really wanted to do. I was down in Antarctica at Sir Ernest Shackleton's hut. The weather was absolutely amazing, sun shine and not too cold, loads of Penguins and of course the hut.

Now I have this thing with Shackleton, since I was about 2006 on South Georgia Islands (South America, then you go direction Falkland Islands and then just a bit further in the middle of nowhere) I have seen this old whaling station and the grave of Shackleton. Then I watched a movie how he went back from Antarctica after being stranded in the Ice, rescuing his entire team. He went with 2 guys on a small life boat, sailed somehow to South Georgia Islands, had to climb over the mountain range to get help in the whaling station. Which they went out after winter was over a couple month later. The entire team survived!

A team of modern Explores re-did his journey, with modern gear and all......just to find out that they were not faster than he was, totally under equipped, not enough food and everything, he became a "hero" for me.

From 3 AM there was no sleep anymore as we tried to break through the last bit of Pack Ice, we were only 40 Miles away from our goal, but the Ice was so thick that we could not get through....was the dream just a dream or will it become reality? The captain turned around, got us safely out of the ice and then sailed along the ice and found an opening.

At lunch time we arrived at Scott's hut, everybody went out to see it and then we sailed the couple of Miles to Shackleton's Hut. Everybody went out after dinner, it is still light and the sun is shining, so no problem.

The hut has actually been renovated as the force of nature is too strong to withhold for too long, but everything inside is still the same, the tins of fruit, the books, beds, stove.....an amazing stove..... where everybody slept, unbelievable. There are more people going up Mount Everest every year than coming here to see the huts......just simply because the weather is so unpredictable. Last cruise we were not able to do any landings as there was too much ice

Now we are on our way back, still have to go through the pack ice belt, then up to New Zealand.....in total 8 days at sea! But it was amazing to be here, I am very humbled by it, the long journey is worth it, the storms the rain, the wind, all has been worth it to be here in one of the last corners of the world, seeing how some explorers came here in 1908 and built this station, just simply amazing

Antarctica, Ice Bergs

The last cruise here in Antarctica and after 4 days of heavy weather, storms and being banged and bashed around, we are back in Antarctica. This time we are in the Ross Sea, a dream come true as I have never been to the Ross Sea. So far the weather is really with us and I was able to do some really cool shots of Ice Bergs. I love them, how they slowly float through the sea, sometime getting stuck in the pack ice, then next year they come free again

The largest Ice Berg ever recorded came off the Ross Sea in 2000 and initially had 11'000 km2, this is just so big, one cannot imagine. Only in 2005 the last remains of this giant have broken apart, so for 5 years the Ice Berg was floating around, breaking up bit by bit

Here I have a photo which I made straight out of the galley, we have wonderful big port holes, so we can see what is happening out there. We are so close to the ice when we go down. There is not much sleep so, as the scratching of the ice keeps us awake the whole night.

Photo from the Galley, who can work with such a view?

We even have some wild life here on the ice, I had to zoom it in a bit, but you can see the penguins nicely and as well the seal, they were all not too far away from the ship. That is why I love going to Antarctica, the nature, the wild, the animals, all is so wonderful and I feel humbled to have the privilege to see it with my own eyes.

We are busy sailing south, so far we are OK with the pack ice, this cruise even the sun is out (at the moment at least) and we are making good headway. If everything goes well we are actually able to set foot on Antarctica and see Shackleton's hut. This would be absolutely amazing.Just imagine that more people have gone on top of Mount Everest than people have actually been in Shackleton's hut, that just shows how remote the hut is. If we really get there, I will make loads of photos and post them here on the Blog!!!

Let's hope we get there!!!

Antarctica, rough seas

Time can drag along when one is on a small ship and outside the weather conditions are not perfect. We are going through another storm here in the Southern Ocean. I have to admit, it is nothing like you see on TV with "the deadliest catch" but it is bad enough for us.

The ship is safe and the swell is maybe good 4 meters with 45 knot winds, so one can still walk around the ship, has to hold hand rails, but it is still all good and the guest are enjoying the lectures given by our knowledgeable expedition staff, just work is not so fun. Sometimes during service everything stops and we hold ourselves.......then everything continues like nothing happened. Of course everything is secured very tightly and we have nearly nothing that falls on the floor.

Most of the guest are still looking really good, I can see that the crowd booking for an Antarctic cruise is more hardened, only at the beginning of the cruise we had a dinner with less guests, now everybody comes to the dining room and sea sickness seems to be not an issue

I made some snap shots of the sea outside, it doesn't give you the 3 D feel but it loos bad enough. We are now on the direct way to Bluff, we had to cancel Snares Island as it would be totally impossible to get anybody safe in the zodiac. Pity as Snares is an amazing Island, I will write more about it if we go there on our next trip. The endemic Snares Penguin lives there, and he is such a quite Penguin.

We are docking in Bluff, the southern most town in main land New Zealand. It will be so nice to have one night sleep without the constant up and down, left and right movement

Antarctica in the pack ice

I am travelling again, this time down to Antarctica, the white continent. This is the third time that I am sailing down and like the first time, I am very excited. This is a place that it absolutely tremendous. One cannot imagine the vastness if one hasn’t been there.

Most of the Antarctic cruises sail from Ushuaia, Argentina. It is just a short trip of a god day or two at sea and one is there. I am going down from the Australia/New Zealand side. We are talking of a 6 day trip to get to the ice, with one stop at Macquarie Island. I have already written about Macquarie in an older post when I did some Sub Antarctic Cruises

I am on my favourite Cruise Line, Orion Expedition Cruises. We have 99 guests on board and 79 crew and will be on the way for 18 days. We have just reached half way and are in the middle of the pack ice, a short way from the continent. We have spent the past nearly 2 days trying to find a way through it and finally, I think, we have found a way. It won’t leave us much time at the continent, but we are happy to get through. The ice this year is extremely difficult. There is just too much ice.

We had some really rough sea after leaving Hobart, on the beautiful Island of Tasmania. After getting a bit of sunburn during loading, already the following day it was really cold and windy. But now, there is very little wind and the sea is completely flat while we work our way through the ice.

We see the occasional penguins, even Emperor Penguins and seals, but otherwise it is just ice. It is amazing to be outside, nicely wrapped in warm clothes and see the ice floating past; it has a serenity and is very humbling.

Just some useless info about Antarctica:

It is the Earth southernmost continent, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle.

98% of the continent is covered with the Antarctic ice sheet, a sheet that is on average at least 1600 Meters thick (more than one mile)

The continent has 90 % of the world’s ice which means 70 % of the world’s fresh water.

If all the ice would melt, the sea level would rice by 60 meters.

Antarctica is considered a desert, it is the coldest, driest and windiest continent.

There is no permanent human population, but there are anywhere from 1000 to 5000 people living on the different research stations

So what are we doing here the whole day? Cooking!!!!!! I have a great team here and we cook some really amazing food. Check out my other Blogs with the recipes, that is the food we serve here on board.

Glühwein after a cold walk on Campbell Island

Campbell Island? Yes I am still somewhere out there, but coming slowly back to New Zealand. Actually I am on Dent Island which is part of Campbell Island which is still far south of New Zealand. Not many people come here. Of the 150 people on board only 2 have been here before, the captain and one of the expedition team so I expected it very much deserted, but no, there are quite a few buildings and research is going on.

Campbell is most probably best known for its Campbell Island Teal, a bird which was thought to be extinct for more than 100 years until a small group was rediscovered there in 1975. Of course for most of us it means very little, as we are not Ornithologists or bird lovers. I actually went for our hike here because I simply enjoy a good walk and I wanted to see the Albatross from close. OK, the walk ended up to be about three hours long, but it was just amazing. We walked on a narrow but well made board walk through the hills of the island till we reached the site where the Albatross breed. It is just fantastic to be amongst these beautiful and gracious birds.

On the way back to the ship we came across two very grumpy male fur seals, not something to joke with, so we took a safe way around them, hopped back into the zodiacs and then back to the ship.

After a cold day, there are not many things better than a good, hot Glühwein; and that will be the recipe for today. I love Glühwein and enjoy making it. I always feel that one needs to take special care in making a good Glühwein, it must not boil, just be heated and then at the end a little tot of rum, ohhhhhh yes, now we are getting already warmer. OK, here it is

1 L Red Wine

200 Ml Orange Juice

100 G Sugar

2 Ea Tea Bags

1 Ea Cinnamon Quills

1 Ea Cloves

1 Ea Bay Leaves

3 Ea Juniper berries

1 Ea Star Anise

Rum

Rum is optional, but I feel it just gives the kick. Add all ingredients in a pot and heat up, but don't boil. Strain and serve with the rum, drink while hot and see how you slowly warm up from the inside.

Scones at Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island? Where is that?

It is a small Island south of Tasmania and new Zealand, about half way down to Antarctica. We sailed for two days with good winds and arrived here yesterday, one day early. There are quite a few people living here, mainly for research purpose. Winters are very long and cold and even now in summer it is still chilly and when the wind blows with 30 to 60 knots it is 3 o C, so not a beach holiday destination.

There are many plant species endemic to this island and of course, like so many other islands in the Antarctic have a rather infamous past with humans coming here for whale hunt and boiling down seals and penguins for the oil. People were just dropped off and then hopefully collected again about a year later, sometimes even longer. So to make sure they had a bit variety in their meals, not just seal, penguin and whale, they introduced rabbits, which still today are a pest as they have no predators and there is a big program to get rid of them. Then as a welcome supplement there is a plant called Macquarie Cabbage, now of course under protection. It is very rich in Vitamin C so the people living here had no problems with scurvy. Here on the photo are still the old boilers for the penguins.

Now of course all these people here on the island have to be fed and the man in charge for the kitchen is James. He cooks every day for the crew, including vegetarians and any other special request. He says so, that they are a good bunch and make his life easy, lucky otherwise the year down at Maquarie would not be fun. The young lady next to him is Trish, she is on kitchen duty and helping him today.


Now, how often would he go shopping. ......shopping????? There are no shops and a ship makes a delivery only once a year. Yup one delivery every 12 month. So there is a lot of planning to make sure he has enough stuff in the freezer. The kitchen is well equipped and nice and spacious.

There is even a small library of cookbooks, actually quite a big one, so only the sky is the limit for the cooking.......and of course what is in the freezer

We were all treated to Scones with Jam and Cream and of course a cup of hot coffee. How nice after being out in the cold for nearly 2 hours, walking amongst seals and penguins, having very cheeky Giant Petrels walking around and actually just enjoying the roughness of the island with a light drizzle of rain and quite a bit of mist. It is nice to work on a ship that sails on "the path lesser travelled". Now the scone recipe will follow shortly, not the one from Macquarie, but my favoured, I am sure you will enjoy.

We are now on the way north again heading towards Campbell, Auckland and Snares Island, all stunning islands with plenty of wild life