Antarctica's White Wilderness Day 9

DAY 9 - Friday, January 22, 2016 - Cruise the Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands; View Glaciers; Variety of Antarctic Wildlife

At 6:30 am Claudia announced we were entering the Lemaire Channel. We could see the sun peaking over the jagged mountain peaks. Another beautiful day in the neighborhood!

As we were navigating the channel, we had incredible views of the tall mountain peaks, the huge icebergs, and crabeater seals on floating ice blocks. The sun had long been blocked by the fog and falling snow.

From the daily information sheets we learned that the Lemaire Channel is 11 km long and as narrow as 800 meters in many spots. Along with the huge icebergs and small chunks of floating icy slush called brash, navigation was very tricky. Claudia and our Captain made the decision to press on but at times we wondered if we would make it to the other side.

Our goal was to land on Petermann Island for a morning excursion ashore. At 65°10’S, Petermann is the furthest point South that we will travel.

At 8:00 we reached the island, but because of a recent snowstorm that left considerable new snow, the scout team went out to see if we could safely go ashore. We started getting our cold weather gear on, just in case.

Cold weather gear consists of multiple layers. The first layer is light silk long underwear, followed by Under Armour pants and shirt. The next layer is a fleece jacket or sweatshirt. The waterproof outer layer of snow pants and our red parkas completed our “go ashore” gear.

There was a delicate balance between over-dressing because it was difficult to move and under-dressing and being cold. After two days of excursions, we seem to have the right combinations.

When we went ashore on Petermann Island, we saw exactly what the scout team had told us – about 8 inches of new powder and it was still snowing. Trekking directly to the top we watched more of the Gentoo penguins. Climbing higher to another colony we saw the Adélie penguins, a new species for us on this journey.

Claudia gave us ample time to view the penguins, we watched them slide down the snow on their bellies, and we even saw them feed their chicks. To let others have a chance for photos, we walked down to the island’s research station and saw several elephant seals lazing on the rocks.

The last zodiac left the Island at 11:15. On our way back to the ship, our zodiac driver spotted some very clear ice floating in the bay. She picked it out of the water and told us because it was so clear with very little air bubbles, it could be thousands of years old.

The air had been compressed out of the ice from the pressure and weight of the snow. Vic took the ice to the bartender and will have a little taste of twenty year old Scotch over thousand year old ice. Only in Antarctica!

When we returned to the ship the crew helped us by power washing our boots before taking them off and storing them in our locker. The next step was flipping our numbers on the board so the crew knew we were back on the ship.

Imagine the disaster if a person would be left on one of these remote islands while the ship steamed away? Once we had checked in, we were offered a hot towel to wipe our hands and a cup of hot tea, coffee, or in Gennie’s case, hot chocolate.

After our buffet lunch, our next stop was Pleneau Bay. The plan was to divide into two groups for zodiac tours of the iceberg fields.

This area is known as an iceberg graveyard as the ice calves from the main glaciers and then floats to this bay. Because there are so many icebergs, they get stuck here.

We were in the first group out with Vicky as our captain. She was excellent in explaining the history of these tall towers of ice, some larger than our Corinthian. As we motored in and around the ice we saw the magnificent shapes and colors of the blue reflecting off of the bergs as well as crabeater seals, Adélie penguins, and brown skuas resting on the icebergs.

About an hour into our outing, Vicky got a call from Claudia saying that her outboard motor had failed and she and our fellow passengers were adrift, heading straight for a huge iceberg. The danger being that the currents are so strong around the ice that small inflatable rafts like our zodiacs can be sucked under if the iceberg were to flip or calve and swamp the Zodiac.

Vicky pulled our zodiac up and we carabined our boat to theirs and towed them back to the ship. The maritime duty of a mariner is to assist less fortunate mariners in peril on the high seas – our Scout Good Turn of the day!

Back aboard the Corinthian, we took time to sort photos and write the journal for the day. At 6:45 we went down to the Lounge for the Recap and Briefing and then straight to dinner at 7:30.

Accommodations: Corinthian - Meals: B, L, & D