Date of Entry: March 1st-5th
Date of Writing: April 26th 2016, Art Factory Hostel Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Crossing the Drake Passage which separates South America from Antarctica is Long. It’s arduous. It’s uncomfortable. It can be downright scary. Most of all it makes me understand why people take the risk of fly in fly out cruises. (See my upcoming post on the different ways of getting to Antarctica) All those descriptions fit for those going on big cruise ships, doing it in a 55 foot sailboat, well you can look at it two ways. It’s either all of those things amplified by a factor of 10, or just a truly incredible adventure. That being said not everyone wants an adventure like this and while I coped fairly well not everyone was so lucky and might argue with my adventure comparison. I have no doubt that if I’d been dead on my feet,unable to eat or move for 4 days straight, I’d describe it more like a nightmare. But i do believe one thing, adventure or nightmare Antarctica is worth it.
As we start early on the morning of the first of march I almost immediately feel the sickness, by the time I’m out for my first watch I’m throwing up and I’m not the only one. But After emptying my stomach twice in under two hours my body seems to adjust and while it would be an exaggeration to say I feel perfect (I’m still battling nausea as well as a more traditional cold) It’s suddenly in control and I’m able to function and be a useful sailing hand on deck. Sadly half our group is not so lucky and this time everyone throws up minus the professionals, though Ulises, Mariana, James and Enora deal with the most and by the end of a long 4 complete days at sea some of them are too sick to even come out for watch, so we’re all pulling extra hours for our fallen comrades. This help explains why, when halfway through the fourth day we get sight of land again and for the first time my camera comes out.
By the time we reach Cape Horn everyone is pretty damn tired. It’s been an intense, truly incredible and life changing month in Antarctica and my cold seems to have spread to Josh and others as seen in the photos of him passed out above. We’re all tired but in those photos you see a lot of smiles too. Because the expedition was just full of that incredible feeling of awe that only travel and love can provide me.
But anyway, because we’re so tired and seasick that first moment of seeing land after so long at sea is truly magical. This also applies to the first moment of seeing the colour green again and knowing the life that plants bring to the world. It feels sort of like that beautiful first day of spring in Canada where there might still be snow on the ground but it’s suddenly warmer and a few crocuses are growing in cleared patches. Pure happiness.
As we pass by cape horn and enter the beagle channel some magellenics penguins in the water alongside a few southern islands welcome us back to South America.
As we draw closer still to the pleasures of the harbour and all the wonders that Patagonia has waiting for me a bunch of Albatross start to appear before we’ve even reached the Chilean outpost of Puerto Williams. I work hard to get some good photos of these special birds, which are just awesome. They fly with incredible grace and beauty, though the same can’t be said about how they takeoff.
As night starts to fall on the fourth we have a little incident in Chilean waters where apparently we’re not supposed to be but it’s no big deal and we keep going and going passing by more penguins and also getting welcomed back by tons of dolphins, a few separate groups taking turns racing the boat and giving us one hell of a show.
After 3.5 days without seeing land it’s comforting to be in the beagle where you can see land on either side of you at all times, but I will say that actually making it to Ushuaia seems to take forever and it’s about 4 am before we reach port. My last watch ends at midnight though I stay out on the deck until 1 am watching the distant lights of the city that will be home tomorrow. The shimmering buzz of electricity signifying a city calls to me and yet at the same time makes me wish we weren’t back again. Antarctica has been everything I hoped it would be and then endlessly more, and the last month has been one of the most fascinating, exciting and enjoyable months of my entire life.
Sitting up on the bench above the cockpit of The Spirit of Sydney I carefully put my headphones in and press play. Pleasure of the Harbour by Phil Ochs welcomes me back to civilization with eager trepidation in my heart.
Just after one I head to sleep and while we land around 4 am have to wait until the morning to clear customs, so I spend one more entire night in my tiny little top bunk that has treated me so well this last month. Above all the wee hours of this morning feel like an Ending. But as my mind starts to wade through the countless secrets I know I’ve yet to discover I realize it’s just a whole new beginning. Still, I’ll never forget my one month in Antarctica Aboard the Spirit of Sydney with Darrel, Josh, Tash, Enora, Matt, James, Mariana, and Ulises. It’s been an adventure, in all the best way.
Back at the port we do the immigration check in while singing grease tunes which is on tv for some reason at the immigration building and then head back to the boat to spend the morning helping Darrel get everything set up. there we run into people from another sailing yacht we last saw at Brown base who opted to head back 10 days early for a good weather window. The weather turned on them and there boat flipped in the drake,causing a lot of damage but luckily no death. Still hearing that I’m very glad I went with someone like Darrel, who could at times get on my nerves much as I’m sure I got on his, but who certainly knows what he is doing in Antarctica.
