12 November 2022
The view I woke up to this morning.
Today we visited what would be my favourite of the landings during this voyage – Danco Island, but first Ice…
Activity of the day – Wordsearch. Picked up the wordsearch sheet at the Touch Table in the Science Centre and was studying it while sitting at the “Whale Table”, coffee in hand, a little early for the first lecture of the day.
“Ice, Ice Baby”.. “Ice, Ice Baby”… Dom comes by singing under his breath and then he sees me.. “I know it’s actually a song about drugs, but it works, OK?” It’s his intro jingle and title to this morning’s first lecture “About water, ice and its role in the Antarctic environment” . To me this will become Dom’s theme song.
I enjoyed the lecture thoroughly, geology being one of my favourite subjects. Given the recent spate of flooding and ultra-high spring tide that hit the Western Cape last year, the impact of climate change and rising sea levels simply cannot be dismissed as fearmongering and conspiracy.
Just after 11am it was the Weddell Seals’ turn to decend on a pristine white snowcovered Danco Island, a small group of Gentoo’s as a welcoming committee. It was breathtaking.
There was a short walk up a ridge that afforded unforgettable views of the Gentoo colony, icebergs and the ship. I still cannot believe the photos taken by my little Sony camera that day.
[We visited Danco Island on my February 2023 trip as well, but there was hardly any snow left and it just did not have the magic of this visit. I decided not to go ashore that time as I did not want to “override” my Danco first impression. Aspies see things as Black/White. There’s hardly any shades of grey – I can either have a pristine white Danco or the muddy Danco – my brain struggles to hold space for both.]
Post Cards have been made available at Reception (for a fee, obviously), but I also purchased a handful at Ushuaia just in case we do make it to Port Lockroy and there is an opportunty to patronise the Penguin Post Office.
Today was the day Port Lockroy was on the afternoon schedule. I was very excited as I was not sure if we would go this far South – having read that early sailings are less likely to make it to Port Lockroy due to ice conditions.
What I did not realise was that three of the ladies who would be “wo”maning the Station for that summer season were on our ship. Hurtigruten was their Uber to work… so to say.
That happens if you miss the Captain’s Welcome event. I can’t remember if I just decided it was too many people or if I was still feeling sick, but anyway – I did not attend.
So as a result I missed what would have been the most helpful of events – The introduction of the major roleplayers from the crew and also the expedition team. I suspect that, together with the guest scientists doing the whale census, they would have introduced the Port Lockroy team as well.
[Lesson learned – I videoed subsequent introductions on my later cruises and could thus go back and refer to the video if I wanted to know who someone was and what their role would be. Super helpful.]
After lunch we headed to Deck 6 for a lecture by the Port Lockroy ladies on their journey from responding to the “Call to Port Lockroy” to shovelling their way into their “home away from home”. Incidently – this home does not have any running water or shower facilities – showers happen courtesy of visiting cruise ships as and when the opportunity arise.
The snow was so thick this season that the cabin that serves as their home was almost completely buried under the snow. A naval ship crew and the other three ladies that arrived earlier have been working to clear a path from the landing spot to the museum, opening up the museum and opening up the residential cabin. Some of the Roald Amundsen crew have also been helping through the course of the day.
Almost everyone in the lecture hall offered to assist – they would not let us help 😦 We would have to make do with a Zodiac cruise around the bay – watching the action and the penguins from the water.
Our postcards will go ashore with the ladies and they will stamp them and send them on their merry way. [All postcards accounted for, ironically the one destined to Mexico arriving first.]
16:30 The guest scientist lecture on Whale Cencus work being carried out while the boat is moving in daylight hours. There were two guest scientists on board that stood in the bridge and surveyed for whale sightings. If there is a sighting, they would record it and obtain the co-ordinates from the captain. This information is used to extrapolate whale population information in the region.
Sometimes the two work together – two sets of eyes better than one, but they also work in shifts.
When the boat is stationary, they join the guests on guest activities and they also have the red jackets, not expedition team gear.
I did not get the lady’s name, but promtly named her “Whale-chickie”. In my defence she pretty much opened her presentation with the confession that she is obsessed with whales. MUCH later I would learn her name is Maru and I now remember it because it is very close to that of her collegue Manu, who did a lecture on Ice Fish (his field of speciality as a marine biologist) a few days later.
They happened to be one of the first guests I noticed on the ship – before we even left Ushuaia. They were relatively young – not the general guest demographic, so to me they stood out. They were on Deck 10 when we departed and I think I asked him to take a picture as we sailed away.
18:30 it was time for the Weddell Seals to cruise around Port Lockroy. We were the last boat group for this activity.
I remember going down to the Expedition Launch on Deck 3 – all dressed up and for some reason going via the glass elevator in the Atrium. Normally I use the front elevator close to my cabin and then the stairs at the atrium – from Deck 6. In the elevator I ran into a gentleman – dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. We still laughed at the contrast… as I joked “Maybe I’m overdressed”. He seemed to recognise me from somewhere and I thought he looked familiar – but I don’t know why. He’s not some random fellow guest.
Standing in line waiting to go to the Zodiac they called for a single passenger to fill up a waiting Zodiac. I went forward and got hustled past the queue and deposited on Boat 9 – right next to the driver.
We were waiting for permission to leave the tender pit and he was making conversation with the guests – a familiar phrase came out “Born and raised in Santiago… moved to Puerto Natales”. Ok, so this is THAT musketeer. He also said something to me that made me realize that this was the “History Guy” that did the Polar Exporers talk the other day and that he remembers that I still need to give him the flashdrive. More puzzle pieces snapped into place.
Then it came over the radio they use to communicate with the ship – “Boat 9, you can’t go yet, you need to wait for Nahuel to return.” Although I knew that Nahuel was the name of one of the expedition team, to me it sounded very close to Noel. We have a sarcastic joke in South Africa when someone is very slow – saying “Krismis kom ook” meaning if you wait long enough, christmas will be here soon. Being mid November and relatively close to christmas – I kinda as an internal joke muttered under my breath.. “We can’t wait for Christmas”.
He heard me and immediately wanted to know what I meant. I kinda explained that Noel means Christmas and although it’s November, it would probably not be ideal to wait for Christmas before we do the zodiac ride.
I got a weird look – I tried to explain “Noel is Christmas in French? Like in the song “The first noel”… OK, I know it’s a “western” association and he’s South American, so I didn’t really expect him to understand the reference per se.
[Also, Nahuel means Leopard in the language of one of the last indigenous Patagonian tribes that originally inhabited Tierre Del Fuego. Something he would know, but I wouldn’t.]
Either way – he looks at me and says.. I didn’t know that. I explained that although I realise that they are referring to his teammate and it would be highly unlikely that there is a link between his name and Christmas. He acknowledges this.
“But you know French?”
“A little – I did a year of very basic French at varsity – very long ago.”
Mistake….
This just opened up the whole… “French is the language of love”.. topic. Why does that always happen?
“Do you like French? Do you like French more than Spanish?” I’m not answering this, still wondering how this always happens when French is under discussion and then… “Yeah, French may be the language of love, but Spanish, Spanish is the language of PASSION”…
AAAND THERE HE IS… “Puss in Boots”-guy. Was wondering where he’d got to.
I was not going to entertain this cliche. He was not too happy when I closed the subject saying – “We are not having this discussion – Let’s just agree there’s something about the Latin languages and leave it at that.”
At least now I had context that blended three of the personalities into one musketeer. I made a note on my program upon return to the cabin, but added the name Julio – which was incorrect, but ironic. [Lancy, nametags, I know… 😛 ]
Later that evening in the Explorer’s lounge I would realise why the guy in the elevator looked familiar – He’s the entertainer/piano player and HE is Julio. Puzzle pieces – snap,snap. History guy – He’s Luciano – Sorry Luce, I got there eventually. And yes, the correct musketeer did the flashdrive before the journey’s end.
The zodiac ride was snowy and atmospheric as it was very foggy. We could barely see the station or the penguins. The navy ship lending assistance to the team floated like a ghost ship in the bay. There was a nearby iceberg that looked like the Sydney Opera House – eerie.
The evening after “Information for tomorrow” session, there was a special impromptu feedback session at the microscopes by Zoe (whom I had marked as “The Science Lady”) on some mystery goo they collected during the Science Boat session during the day.
My first experience of the citizen science activities on board – I was sick during the science introduction lecture (and introduction to Zoe) on day one. Late in the game, yet hopeful, I signed up for Science Boat, but I would never get a chance to participate during this voyage.
Later that evening we sailed through the stunning Lemaire channel – light snowfall – just magical.
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