18.56, 4th march 2009, El Calafate, Borges&Alvarez librobar (bookbar), tired after a day at the blue glacier (Perito Moreno)
Well, I guess you all know it, but the penguins didn’t!!
The second day in Antarctica saw us arriving at an Island, Courveille Island. A bit disappointed… very similar to the first landing the day before, penguins all over, some birds, some seals, but not even a lovely Weddell seal. I wanted ice, I wanted icebergs… I had to be patient few more hours! We had seen our first icebergs the night before, to be honest actually only small pieces of ice, nothing more, but enough to get all of us excited! Nothing compared to the next day, the second landing in the afternoon… Paradise Bay. It’s THE CONTINENT!!! Finally we are landing in the real Antarctica. I was excited, like a baby jumping and laughing all the time. Couldn’t wait to set foot on this place, all white around (also the sky unfortunately) and only a handful of us! This is something very good about this trip…we were only 39 passengers, and only 14 “topside” people, which means every time we were landing we were few, you could feel alone. I had almost booked a trip with a bigger ship, 110 passengers…this means 110 people landing at same time, and there is actually a restriction on landings…maximum 100 people, which means I could have missed a landing…mine has been a wise decision!!
Anyway, we landed at the Argentinean Base Almirante Brown, we did not actually went to the base, but we crossed it and climbed a hill in the snow. From its top we had a beautiful view of the bay, but mainly the glaciers reaching the water, it was all so white, but also blue, which is what actually strikes me the most. We climbed up, and then walked a long way in the snow, it was snow never touched before, all so white it was so easy to get lost. I walked on my own, listening to the sound of the ice, and of the glaciers falling apart and crashing into the water. I felt like one of those explorers 20 year ago, with sledges and husky, crossing the white continent from corner to corner looking for a new discovery… ok ok I am exaggerating a bit too much now, but sometimes it good to feel powerful, isn’t it?? Anyway, we enjoyed the great view from up there, I would have loved so much to camp there for the night, must be cool. Unfortunately this was not included in this trip, so missed this chance. They do it normally at the beginning of the season, and another organization, anyway it might have been too cold to sleep, isn’t it??
After the ice walk, we had to get back to the zodiac…and we did bumslide!!! SOOOOO cool!! Downhill on our butt, we got some speed to, and laughed a lot. Obviously I was so wet afterwards, but who cares to get wet when you can slide in Antarctica??? Anyway the day wasn’t over yet, our zodiac driver Dyma took us on a small zodiac cruise next to the glaciers: FANTASTIC (as Jamie would say!). I am unsure how to describe this. I could do it in 5 words: blue color, strange shapes, huge. This is summarizing pretty well the glaciers and the icebergs we saw. But…it’s not my style, to reduce this experience into 5 words…ah ah, Mum made me too chatty for this!!! We got on the zodiac and we got very close to the glaciers, you could clearly hear them moving, luckily we were at a safety distance as few times they’ve been falling apart, with huge noises, something like when your stomach rumbles cause is hungry, like this but much more loud! You see they are breaking, they have holes, and the holes are even more blue than the outside, the blue light is more trapped there. 1 hour we stayed there, we saw seals as well, we went through icebergs and brash, which are those small pieces of ice which is the beginning of the big icing of the water. The zodiac navigates on top of it, and crush it a bit, but mainly goes over it. It was cold, we were wet but we didn’t care, our eyes were all for the ice, I could have stayed there the whole night, shooting pictures and staring at it. But the hour went, and we had to go back to the ship, the day was over, we had to say goodbye to the continent, I kept looking back from the zodiac, and when I was already on the ship, from the portholes of the bar and then the restaurant, I had to grasp each and every second of this fantastic and remote place. Not sure I have mentioned anything about our evenings on the ship…not much to mention to be honest. Dinner always early, too much food, then a bit at the bar to finish off with the chats. Then we would normally watch a documentary about Antarctica and that’s about it, too tired to make it a long night, by 11pm we were in bed. It’s also understandable seen the way TOO early wake up calls in the mornings! One day they woke us up at 6.30am, can you believe? ME UP AT 6.30??? NO WAY!!! But what I hated the most was that they would wake us up at 6.30, then breakfast was starting at 7am till 8am and we had to be ready for the excursion by 8.30: 2 hours to get ready??? 30 minutes were more than enough!!! So I would normally sleep an extra hour than carry myself out of bed down to the breakfast, walking like a zombie for about 45 minutes, looking in the void, not even being able to smile, having auto-pilot breakfast and trying to finally have my eyes open by the time to get into the zodiac for the landing. That 3 days in Antarctica had been the worst one, I have been sleepy till 11.30am, just could not wake up. Petr, one of the guides, kept asking me every half an hour if I was finally awake, and I kept answering no, till lunch time! Not that in that morning there was anything very exciting to do. We went to Port Lockroy, which is an English base where they have a museum and a post office. You can buy souvenirs, see how people used to live there, talk with these guys living there 6 months a year and send a postcard…if the boat would be coming over! But the last mail ship had gone already for the season, next one is gonna be in November, so they don’t get mail anymore, damn it! I anyway stamped my passport, and checked out the museum. Actually what was more curious has been to see the room where this people is living now. They are 3, and they have a room big like my living room in Brussels, and that’s where they have their bed, their clothes, their kitchen, basically their house for those 6 months. Nothing more. At least they receive lots of tourists so they have plenty of chances to chat. I cant imagine living on a base, with little amount of space for yourself (never on your own), with nowhere to go for all the time, cold outside, maybe dark in winter, 6 months with the same 12 people, in same bases there is even less people. But I have to say that they do have things to do. They work with fisheries to prevent frauds, they do research on animals, the collect data that will be processed back in the country of origin, and they take their time to have fun. They do trips into the area (this is what Jamie did when he lived 25 months in South Georgia, but those staying in winter on the continent have nothing to do!), go skiing, Jamie has even organized a half marathon of South Georgia…wow that would be a nice one to run isn’t it? They have lots of time on their own, to read, to watch maybe some movies, to think, to make persona projects, to enjoy nature. Jamie was so enthusiastic of his life in South Georgia, he could not stop telling us to go there once in our life, nature there is amazing and the animals are at their full power. There you can actually see the king and emperor penguins, the big ones!!!
Right, the story was at the post office. That day lunch was very early, because at 1pm we started the crossing of the Lemaire Straight, a channel that at its narrowest point is only 500m wide. I can tell you that down there 500m are just nothing! We were all out on the deck, well not all, most of the people was on the bridge, inside, fearing the cold. No no, not for me, I wanted to see the wideness, the whiteness, the power of this place. So I was in the front of the ship, hearing the ice crushing below us. Our ship is an icebreaker so perfectly done to crush whatever found on its way. I took a video when it was crushing ice, well it wasn’t thick ice, was just again the brash, but impressing for sure. And when you were lifting you head from the sea to the surroundings, you could see glaciers, 100m high above you, icebergs, pieces of ice falling into the water with a big splash. Impossible to describe better, you need to get down there as well!! And there, in this white and cold environment, Renata surprised the whole ship with a typical Pazzaren thing! Jordi the photograph asked if I minded being in his pictures, he wanted pictures of the channel but with people in it. I said of course not (ehi ehi, I am a model then!!!), but then I looked at myself, with my black tracksuit, black jumper, ugly dressed to be sincere. Not a nice model. And then…all became clear in life. This landscape was too white, something was needed to brighten the view, to made this place more charming… something red… a little crazy Italian girl in a red dress! I asked Jordi to wait a minute, I rushed in my cabin, I wore my red summer dress (the same I wore in Buenos Aires to dance tango, 28 degrees there…), I wore my black high heels sandals and I went out on the deck. Under the amusement of the passengers and the crew, I was out there, at 0 degrees, wearing a simple red dress. I can tell you, the effect has been amazing. I had so much fun, and wasn’t so much cold. I was laughing, I was moving around as a model, I just could not believe what I was doing. Jordi shoot the photos, other people did the same, the guys on the bridge could not believe it. Jonas the expedition leader commented that he hoped I would not climb the bow to do like Titanic… did not even think of it, it was crazy enough what I was doing. I loved it, it has been just amazing. Check out the pictures (whenever I will manage to upload them) and tell me what you think! I attach a nice one here too, just to make you laugh!
Of course I stayed out there for 5/10 minutes only, then changed back (together with slipping on the stairs and hitting my leg, was bleeding quite a lot, but it’s all ok!) and enjoyed more the view. The afternoon landing was not a landing, but a zodiac cruise, probably the best part of the trip, racing for first place with the continent landing. I was part of the second group, good choice as the weather got better and we stayed much longer. 2 hours cruising icebergs. You can clearly see how the wind and the sea carve them, shaping them in the most amazing ways. One of them had a clear woman face, check the pics. We also got the chance to see leopard seals very close. In a small bay of an iceberg there were 5 seals playing around us, coming out of water making nice faces to us, going under water and coming up on the other side of the zodiac. The sea was crystal clear and blue (due to the color of the icebergs underwater), and you could clearly see the shape of the seals. Those guys love to play, but sometimes might be dangerous…one bit the Norwegian guy when diving (no problems for him, just marks on the dry suit!). Then we went through the icebergs, at a certain point we went through 2 of them, we could touch them both. Sometimes they have water pools inside, or they are in moon shape making a small bay, sometimes there is a small waterfall. I took hundreds of pictures there, so many to the same iceberg because it was just too much, too beautiful! At a certain point we saw a leopard seal on a small piece of ice, and behind it a kind of a blue cave. We stayed there 20 minutes to admire the view. And I again took many pictures. I got the compliments of few good photographs for those pictures, it made me quite happy!!! This time was really cold, my gloved were completely wet and my hands were freezing, but the rest of the body was still alive, especially my eyes, they had to soak up every single centimeter of the beauty!
But every wonderful trip has to come to an end, and this was the end of our Antarctica experience, or more or less. We still had to enjoy a special party that night, an Antarctic BBQ!!!! Argh, was a bit worried as all my warm clothes were wet after the 2hrs zodiac cruise, but I managed to put together enough clothes to be decent and at 7.30pm we were all out at the rear covered deck. Hot wine welcoming us, bbq meat ready to be warmed up, glaciers and icebergs as panorama: this is gonna be an unforgettable bbq I am sure, and we will help it to be unforgettable!
First we saw a whale very close to the ship, it was going up and down, you could clearly see the spray and the tail, it was so close. Then a big noise of ice, like a bang, and some ice crushing, and an iceberg, just in front of us, 100m from us, started falling into the water, sinking, like the Titanic. It went almost all into the water, the re-emerged again, but its shape was completely changed. It has been such a show! I took pictures of it, you can see all the phases, obviously you don’t hear the noise but I think it can impress you as well!
Food was served and eaten, dessert came along, hot wine was helping to keep warm…and music was finally on for some Antarctic dancing!!!! My jeans were not proper for a real Antarctic disco! So…with Leonie we went to my room and… wore my summer dresses! Of course I wore the red dress, she wore the black with white spots, and later on Gemma (the hotel manager) wore the greenish one, and even later Masheed wore my green skirt. All the young girls of the ship were wearing a dress, flip flops (I had sandals) and not much more. When we appeared on the deck we heard a big WOOOOW from people around, hundreds of pictures, and there the party really started! They were playing mainly Russian music, being a Russian ship. But we didn’t care, we just danced and had fun. Leonie got the hat and the tie of one of the officers, he didn’t let her go for at least half an hour! The most scary bit was when Javier the weird Spanish guy grabbed us for a dance, he was so slimy, we both pushed him away! Another highlight of the party had been a group of people who disappeared having a sauna and came back with only a towel on marching like soldiers, wonderful! As for me, well after my red dress show on the front deck, the captain started looking at me with funny eyes, he was amazed of this little Italian girl, also because I spoke to him a bit in Russian some time on the bridge. So I danced with the captain, under the laughs of everyone! The party went on and on, and I believe at midnight we went inside, it was a bit cold by that time! The bar was big enough for the 20 of us to keep dancing, this time no Russian music, IUPPI! We went on till 2am or later, till we were all exhausted, it had been a very long day, full of activities, amazing sights and crazy things! I believe I will never forget this party, we were all so happy. The people was amazing, everyone was dancing, laughing, joking, just having pure fun.
The next morning breakfast was not an option, we all needed sleep, and anyway, there were no activities planned, just full recovery, trying to be in perfect shape for… Mr. Drake! At 6am we started our way back, and by 11am we hit the Drake, and this time it wasn’t that flat sea we had found on the way down. Big waves…big rolling in every direction…seasickness hit me, damn! Really not nice at all. More than 24 hours feeling shit. On that first day back I could not eat anything, I would just vomit it. Even the seasickness pill, so I had no chance to recover but to stay in my bed, sleep and hope it would disappear somehow. I still woke up for the lessons, and for the meals, but I was feeling really bad. The good thing is that there was nothing else to do, so staying in bed was not a bad option. I also started watching “Coupling” (yes Italo, started it, and I like it quite a lot!) and survived those infamous 24 hours. But we still had 2 days on the ship, some whale watching, penguins, albatrosses, reading and lots of chatting down in the bar. I learned about photography asking dozen of questions to Jordi. I discovered what’s the meaning of the RAW on my camera!! Now I just need to upload the program on the computer to be able to play with the pictures!!! – I also discovered that photographs do not do fake pictures, they just use the information available in the RAW file to make the picture look better, I discovered the function of all the buttons on my camera. I saw millions of stars in the night, I enjoyed chatting about differences between English and Italians, politics and automotive crisis, played some stupid artic games (with polar bears!!), had weird discussions (about Antarctic being a chicken farm!) with the weird spanish, spoke hours about life with Jordi and Leonie. We basically just enjoyed each other’s company and got the most out of it.
It was then our last night, the last meal, the last recap meeting, the last party, the last chance for chatting.
During last dinner we had the chance to thank the captain and the cook. I was forced to rush to the captain and to hug him to thank him…so funny his face when I did so!! Then Jamie and Jordi draw a cartoon on the board… it reflected maybe 8/10 characters of the ship, like me and Leonie, Jamie, Joe the “I am the best” man, the Americans looking like terrorists, the arm of the Norwegian bit by the leopard seal, and so on. The staff had also prepared a video with the best moments/pictures of the trip, very nice one. They gave it to us, will be a memorable memory of this adventure!
We stayed at the bar till 3am chatting, wakeup call was at 6am, but we didn’t care, we had to “disfrutar” as they say in Spanish.
Breakfast was somehow sad and happy. Good to touch ground again, but sad to leave all this people, to finish this adventure, it was really over, the dream holidays for so many people, and I did it, and I was back to normal world. We hugged everyone, we waved goodbye to everyone. Myself and Leonie were the last ones to leave the pier, with our big backpacks and our eyes filled with all the beauties seen.
It’s always like this, something good has to finish (well, let’s not be so pessimistic, there are good things everlasting, isn’t it??? Like our friendship!!!).
So, final words about this trip… AMAZING! FANTASTIC! BRUTAL! That’s the only way I can express myself.
But…there is a but. They do sell this very expensive trip as a 10 days trip, but you actually start in the evening of the 1st day and end in the morning of the 10th, so it’s actually 8 full days. Then you spend 5 of them on the Drake, which leaves you with 3 days in Antarctica. And you land on the continent only 1 time, you spend more time seeing animals than ice. This disappointed me a lot to be honest. I wanted to see ICE!!! This is Antarctica for me, not animals…well ok, penguins are Antarctica of course, but, I mean, ICE is what I want!!! Still I enjoyed every minute of every landing (maybe not much the one at the post office, we could have spent there 30 minutes and then done something else!), and I had what I wanted, the continent! So I am overall super happy, amazed by what I did, what I’ve seen, the people I met and the memories I will keep in my heart. I hope I have been able to share this experience with you guys, it’s not easy to explain what is ice, but… I tried my best!
Wow, this ia a very long mail, sorry, but there was so much to tell!
And I have so many other stories…it’s already the 11th of march, and the above story ends on the 28th of February…when am I gonna find the time to write you? I will, I promise! And for now…enjoy the pictures!
WhiteAndRedRen
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