Date of Entry: February 27th 2016
Date of Writing: April 21st 2016, Art Factory Hostel Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
We wake up expecting a storm. I’m almost excited for it If I’m honest. but apparently the weather’s late because while there’s some clouds rolling in, the sky is mostly blue and there’s barely a breath of wind. Really, for Antarctica, it looks like a damn fine morning.
Tash and I decide to take advantage and head to shore, me eager to return to one of my favourite places in Antarctica while the original kayaking group heads out to take an unexpected other paddle in. We again find our loveable friend seal in his spot and I begin to wonder just how he got so fat, considering he doesn’t seem to move or hunt at any point. (I know I’m judging off a small sample size.) Still he’s a cutie and might be my favourite seal from our whole trip so far.
Together with Tash we climb out onto the land and head out along the rocks past so many Gentoo penguins who by this point pay us no mind. Unfortunately we’re not quite so lucky today as there’s a cruise ship in, the polar pioneer and it’s 50 plus cruisers are landing here too. It’s just motivation to move fast though as we head around the backside of the rocky Gentoo rookery before eventually heading up to the summit and meeting one of the boat’s staff, an Australian doctor who secured work on board thanks to that and has enjoyed a full season in Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands (Malvinas). Honestly it’s enough to make me wish I had a medical degree. I snap some pictures of him before our chat with the sun fighting a hopeless war against the incoming cloud.
I then head over to my seat on a platform of stone like a mini pride rock overlooking the incredible three hundred and sixty degree view, relaxing and looking out at the incredible world alone for a while before Tash Joins me for a while and we chat before continuing exploring the twin summits of these hills, marvelling at the impressive light show in the sky and the incredible wildlife all around us.
The winds start to pick up slowly though the sky stays more blue than not. Still it’s pretty clear the forecast wasn’t wrong, just early. A storm is coming, I’m just hoping it might wait till night time to show itself. We don’t let that bother us though, climbing around the penguin covered rocks and taking still more pictures, the penguins moving around frantically and just generally being penguins making photos seem new and fresh. Antarctica was undoubtedly dangerous for my camera, I took 6 months worth of pictures there in a month and that’s part of why I’m only just coming to the end of blogging about my adventures a month and half after returning to South America.
Eventually we’re called by Darrel back on board to head back, we’re making our second visit to Lockroy today and the kayakers have just come back to the boat. Tash and I have some additional postcards we’ve written back on board to send and I want to grab a sexy Antarctica tote bag for some reason. (it has since broken, damn British quality)
We get picked up directly from the land mass and join Ulises, Mariana, Josh and Matt who are making there first visit to the base. My package home has already been boxed up so I send the postcards separately, but the stamps are beautiful and only cost 1 USD each to send plus 1 USD for the post card itself so it’s hardly too expensive. Besides they take visa. Ill admit I didn’t really expect to be using my credit card in South America.
The weather’s getting rougher and rougher by the minute and the zodiac ride over to Lockroy is pretty choppy, though the sky is still a beautiful mix of blue and white, and any doubt left in my mind starts to disappear, the latter half of this afternoon is going to be spent hunkered down on the spirit of Sydney, and I just hope that the weather will have cleared enough to let us leave tomorrow morning for our final anchorage in Antarctica, The Melchior islands, a place where we’ve repeatedly heard tale of plentiful whale sightings. So yeah, I’ve got my fingers crossed.
After sending off the last of the postcards I step outside and shake my head watching the British continue with their eternal task of cleaning penguin poop off the rocks. Not unlike Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill, it amuses me no end. It’s also dark to think about treatment of people throughout history during the conquests of the British empire, compared to how well the penguins are being treated. I mean here, they certainly rule the roost.
Waiting outside for the others I get enlisted to help Adele and Laura change the gas tanks with Josh, lugging a heavy propane tank around the back of the base to the living quarters getting a more complete tour of the island and also seeing the warehouse of all the post office operations. I begin to have my doubts my package will be arriving this year though those doubts turn out to be completely unfounded as it took under a month for the parcel to arrive back in Canada.
As the others emerge from the main base Josh and I quickly finish up the job and head back to the zodiac for the choppiest small boat ride yet, though of course it’s nothing on crossing the drake which is beginning to weigh on everyone’s mind, especially those who were sick the whole time on the south bound crossing. I’m hopeful my body will adjust as well as it did, though It would be lying to say I’m looking forward to it.
As we head back to the boat I take some photos of Matt and the mountains. Tinder pics anyone? especially with that sexy hat.
Back on board the wind kicks up even more and any hope of another outing fades away as we prepare dinner and feel immensely glad of our sheltered position behind Lockroy base. Tomorrow morning marks our final journey in Antarctica, heading North to Melchiors where we hope to find whales and much more.
