Blog
Sunday 23 January 2022 ~ Pontificating for Punta Arenas
Greetings from Santiago, Chile. With the cruise industry in chaos due to Covid, we were unusually fortunate in being able to complete 4 cruises, as planned. Many companies cancelled their entire season, some cruises were abandoned on day of departure. The Ushuaia bay...
20 January 2022 ~ Catamaran tour in Beagle Channel
After having to rush back to Ushuaia a full day early, it appears we have had a run of good fortune. The weather in Antarctica on the day we were forced to forfeit was so windy, that safe operations were extremely unlikely. Yet the weather today in Ushuaia was almost...
16/17 January Antarctic Sound Brown Bluff Mikkelson Harbour and Cierva Cove & 18 January 2022 At Sea heading North
With the vagaries of Internet connectivity onboard, I sadly lost two days blog last evening. This type of inconvenience drives me crazy, so I am going to try and recreate what I had put together.Steven Magee maintains that he wishes to visit Antarctica before global...
Saturday 15 January 2022 ~ Penguin Island and Turret Point South Shetland Islands
"Polar Exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time that has been devised" - Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard is the man who wrote The Worst Journey in the World, and trekked 96km in complete darkness in the 1911 Winter to...
12/13 January 2022 ~ Gold Harbour Cooper Bay and then at sea between South Georgia & Antarctica
"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." - Jerome K. Jerome 'Three Men in a Boat" We discuss this often, the massive advantages of accurate weather/wind forecast in...
Tuesday 11 January 2022 ~ Stromness Harbour, Moltke Harbour and St Andrews Bay
"Half the fascination an Antarctic expedition possesses in to be found in the sharpness of the contrasts experienced during its course, for it appears to be true that a hell one day is liable to make a heaven the next." - Raymond PriestlyPriestly is the same fellow...
Monday 10 January 2022 ~ Fortuna Bay Maiviken and Grytviken on South Georgia
"Southwards a magnificent Alpine country, illuminated by the rising sun, rose slowly from the sea; there were mighty fells with snowy crowns and with sharp, uncovered teeth, around the valleys through which enormous, broad rivers of ice came flowing to the sea." - J....
Sunday 9 January 2022 ~ Day 3 on Scotia Sea to South Georgia
The Captain mentioned that the sea would strengthen on day 3 of our crossing between Ushuaia and South Georgia. Indeed, it has. Powerful, deep swells thankfully running in the same direction as we are travelling. As a result the ship is very comfortable with the...
Saturday 8 January 2022 ~ Crossing the Scotia Sea
"Half the fascination an Antarctic expedition possesses in to be found in the sharpness of the contrasts experienced during its course, for it appears to be true that a hell one day is liable to make a heaven the next." - Raymond PriestlyToday has been a quiet day at...
Friday 7 January 2022 ~ Riding the Scotia Sea again en route to South Georgia
After writing daily blogs for 5 weeks, I took a two day break. Certainly don't wish to bore readers, nor do I wish to "pad" the blog content.Our crossing of the Drake Passage on 4/5 January was uneventful - rough as we approached the mainland, but certainly what we...
3 January 2022 ~ Dallmann Bay and Cuverville Island in Gerlache Strait Antarctic Peninsula
'I am hopeful that Antarctica in its symbolic robe of white will shine forth as a continent of peace as nations working together there in the cause of science set an example of international cooperation'. Richard E. ByrdLet's all hope the Antarctic Treaty...
2 January 2022 ~ Mikkelsen Harbour and Cierva Cove Antarctic Peninsula
"We must always remember with gratitude and admiration the first sailors who steered their vessels through storms and mists, and increased our knowledge of the lands of ice in the South." Roald Amundsen, in my opinion the greatest Polar explorer of them all. The...
1 January 2022 ~ Active Sound and Brown Bluff Antarctica
"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ít will be happier'." - Alfred Lord Tennyson. After the past two years for so many, I presume many are hoping for a considerably better/happier 2022.After failing twice to launch the Zodiacs yesterday...
31 December 2021 ~ Arriving at Elephant Island
"The New Year is a painting not yet painted. A path not yet stepped on, a wing not yet taken off! Things haven't happened as yet. Before the clock strikes 12, remember that you are blessed with the ability and choice to reshape your life."- Mehmet Murat Ildan.I was up...
30 December 2021 ~ Crossing between South Georgia and Antarctica
"The thing that is most beautiful about Antarctica is the light. It is like no other light on Earth, because the air is so free of impurities. You get drugged by it, like when you listen to one of your favourite songs. The light there is a mood-enhancing...
29 December 2021 ~ At sea between South Georgia and Antarctica
"For scientific leadership give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton." so said Sir Raymond Priestley.I have completed my lectures...
28 December 2021 ~ St Andrews Bay, Stromness and Leith Stations
"South Georgia is for those who grew up dreaming of a Garden of Eden, where you walk unharmed among abundant and fearless wildlife in a beautiful wilderness - an oasis of serenity in a world increasingly out of step with Nature." Tim and Pauline Carr, Antarctic Oasis,...
27 December 2021 ~ Maiviken, Grytviken and Fortuna Bay
Ernest Shackleton maintained that superhuman effort wasn't worth a damn unless it achieved results. Mike Holdcroft always said if you push against a wall all day, and the wall doesn't move or fall over, you have achieved nothing. Surgeon Alexander Macklin's efforts...
Cruising South Georgia ~ 25 & 26 December 2021
25 December Christmas day en route to South Georgia"Christmas, a perfect time to express affection for your family, to forgive those who failed you and to forget past mistakes." - unknown writer. These words resonated powerfully with me on this 3-day crossing from...
23 December 2021 ~ In the Scotia Sea
"The old man knew he was going far out and he left the smell of the land behind and rowed out into the clean early morning smell of the ocean." - Ernest Hemingway, the very man who encouraged Donald Morris to write a book about the Zulu people. The Washing of the...
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