Antarctica: December 2022: Day 8: Christmas Eve

Antarctica

Day 8: Christmas Eve

Cruisin' between icebergs.

Pourquoi Pas island, off the little bay on the western side.

Imposing peaks.

Sleepy seal.

Could be a magazine shot if I had more skill.

Adelie penguins flapping around on the ice.

Penguin races.

I feel like they're suspicious of all the tall orange penguins that suddenly showed up.

Penguins are pro at this parenting thing.

Good-sized adelie colony.

Very fat penguin all by him/herself.

Waddle: full speed ahead.

Seafood salad and bacon cheeseburger for lunch at C.Green's.

Burger was pretty good.

Massive iceberg just south of Pourquoi Pas island.

Station Y, abandoned by the British, on Horseshoe Island.

Station Y, an abandoned British research station on Horseshoe Island.

Generators inside Station Y.

Helpful hints.

The scenery is spectacular everywhere.

The little bay next to Station Y on Horseshoe Island.

On a short hike.

When the ship's doctor recommends you lay on an iceberg, you follow her advice.

(almost) everyone laying/sitting on an iceberg.

Wet landing.

The chefs are very proud of Christmas Eve dinner.

Whole suckling pig (more than one!).

Old Pumphouse Shiraz was almost too sweet for a shiraz, but not bad otherwise.

Filipino summer roll.

Chicken congee, if memory served-- quite good!

Hungry passengers.

Mesmerized.

Might have gotten too much food.

Cruising into Blind Bay.

Ramming into the ice shelf in Blind Bay.

Apparently hard to find fast ice solid enough this late into the season to do this.

Made quite a dent. Hit it at 9 knots, I think?

Looking aft at the captain's handiwork.

Closer view. Note larger chunks of ice already breaking off.

Descending to the ice shelf.

My, what a big nose you have.

Walking all over the ice.

Pretending to pull the ship.

Or perhaps being dragged by the ship is a better description.

A nearly 13,000GT ship crashed into the ice makes for an impressive sight.

Hiking on Pourquoi Pas Island to start the morning. Rugged mountains, a few penguins and seals, and an iceberg with some potentially picture-perfect penguins posing if only I had more skill. Another Adelie penguin colony as well, complete with the trip's first real exposure to how cute penguins can be, not just waddling but sliding on their bellies. Some great reflections to be had, although I sadly was not terribly happy with what I got despite National Geographic Photographer Jeff Mauritzen's skilled instruction; definitely the student's limitation, not the instructor's!

Passed an iceberg full of absurdly large arches on the way to the next stop, the abandoned Station Y on Horseshoe Island. Gave an up-close taste of living in Antarctica in the 1950s and 1960s, with close quarters for up to 10ish researchers over the Antarctic winter. The radio aerials, generators, and outhouse had to be absolutely essential to life below the Antarctic Circle, epsecially after the bay iced over for the winter.

Unlike most of the sites we touched down on, Horseshoe Island was devoid of penguin colonies and hence free from the most strict biological contamination protocols. So not only did the ship's doctor let us sit the icebergs after a little hike, Dr. McDevitt shared a few stories of life in Antarctica while we waited for our wet zodiac pickup.

The "surprise" for Christmas Eve evening was a walk directly on an ice flow. The captain sailed the ship straight into fast ice in Blind Bay and let us walk on the ice. Waaaaaaaaaaaay cool.

Also apparently pre-planned, not spontaneous-- but made it all the more fun they were able to keep it a surprise; the non-crew-non-staff-yet-still-"staff" guests on the ship, a trio of National Geographic teaching fellow winners and a pair of University of Oxford Penguin Watch reasearcher all managed to not blow the secret either. Apparently this is about as late in the season as they were able to manage it, the crew said it gets too warm later in the summer?

The day's meals were probably best of the whole trip. The bacon cheeseburger at C.Green's was properly thick, beefy extravagance, and the seafood salad probably didn't balance it out. Christmas Eve dinner was a full on Filipino buffet proudly put on by the mostly-Filipino crew, including multiple whole suckling pigs. Extremely tasty, and it was only because the not-a-surprise-surprise crashing the ship into anice sheet that I completely forgot to pack some leftover lechon as lunch the next day. ;_;