Voyage to Falklands-South Georgia – ANTARCTICA : January 2019
Introductory overview by voyager Nilanjana Mukherjee
We jump out of our Zodiac rafts into icy, knee-deep water and wade ashore onto a pebbled beach. Bright sunshine from intensely blue skies offers little warmth against the chilly winds descending from the glaciers not too far from the beach.
King penguins standing around in small groups observe us – with distinct lack of interest. Fur seals bask in the sun or slither around in an ungainly manner. Curious seal cubs scamper up to some of us, barking, puppy-like. We have instructions to stay at least 15 feet away from all wildlife at all times – but no one has told them that, evidently !
We follow a path flagged by our expedition crew from the beach towards the mountains, through the sandy plains. Verdant tussock grass and moss mark the courses of the many shallow streams flowing from the glaciers to the sea. They look like streams of penguins from a distance – because the birds like to station themselves in the water . Where the green of the grass ends, there is a wide ribbon of white, black, brown and yellow stretching in a 180 degrees panorama before us, right across the base of the snow-clad mountain range rising from the plains. As we get closer, the ribbon widens , becoming a speckled sheet over the land, shimmering and pulsating. The distant hum is turning into a deafening cacophony ….jaws drop and feet stop moving as realization hits people.
“ Yes, that is around 60,000 King penguins in one place “ says a grinning crew member who has obviously been through this many times .
“ Salisbury Plains is the second biggest penguin rookery on Earth” !
This was our first exposure to the explosive renewal of life that unfolds annually in the Antarctic Peninsula and the sub-Antarctic islands over the Southern summer. Days start getting longer by September and the sun never fully sets during November to February. Increased daylight hours make phytoplankton (sea grass) bloom abundantly. It feeds and fosters gigantic swarms of krill, a tiny shrimp-like crustacean. Krill is at the bottom of the food chain of Antarctic life, on which depend penguins, seals, whales, other fish and sea birds. Abundance of krill in summer attracts them all to the Southern Ocean where it supports their annual cycle of mating, laying and incubating eggs and the breeding of chicks, calves and cubs to self-sufficient maturity before winter freezes the sea around Antarctica, doubling its size. Sub-Antarctic islands like South Georgia and The Falklands become hot-spots for wildlife breeding at unimaginably massive scales every summer, even more so than on the Antarctic Peninsula.
After many years of dreaming about visiting Antarctica, and two years of researching and planning for it, on New Year’s Day 2019 I finally set sail from Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina. Over the next 20 days our 4000+ kilometre voyage sailed a roughly triangular route covering Isla Melvinas or The Falklands, South Georgia island and the Antarctic Peninsula , before returning to Ushuaia through the infamous Drake Passage, which did live up to its stormy reputation. Happy to report that I survived, chewing on fresh ginger root procured from the ship’s kitchen. But nearly half the ship’s passengers were not seen in the dining room for the 36 hour crossing of ‘The Drake Shakes’ !
Our comfortable and beautifully appointed ship Hebridean Sky, categorized as a “small ship”, accommodated 103 guests and almost the same number of crew members – in separate teams for Hospitality, Ship operation and Expedition . We spent 8 days at sea between the various islands and Antarctica locations. The sea-days were filled with riveting presentations about each location and the region, whale and bird sightings, and hands-on learning about polar activities. Twice during these days, schools of nearly a hundred humpback whales surrounded the ship. The captain cut the engine . The whales kept the waters around the ship boiling with their blows and flukes for nearly an hour ! On the rest of the days twice a day we would bundle ourselves up in many layers, top it up with waterproof gear and life jackets, and go ashore in Zodiacs to hike along the beaches and cliffs, take thousands of photos and simply sit and stare at the wonder all around.
There are at least 18 different species of Penguins , of which we were able to see 7 , each with its distinctive look, call and habitat preference. Huge colonies of King, Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins resembled well-organised cities with residential settlements on hilltops, protected creches for chicks in the middle of settlements, clearly marked compacted snow paths and even wide expressways winding downhill to the beach and the sea – where penguins must trek several times a day for food. I made the mistake of stepping sideways out of the compacted snow path made by the Gentoos at Nikkelsen’s Harbour , and promptly sank thigh-deep into snow piled high on each side. Being pulled out by fellow travellers while being scrutinized by a 15- feet long Weddel Seal was a life-changing experience, to put it mildly !
Courting, nesting and flying Albatross made entire hillsides look like flying cloud-kissed rocks. Sometimes we picked our way through beaches literally carpeted with massive and aggressive Elephant seals – thankfully those gigantic tubs of lard can hardly move on land ! At times we did not land on shore but paddled our kayaks or cruised close to shores in Zodiacs, to watch Adelie penguins playing on ice floes and Gentoo penguins lining up to jump off or on to ice banks, all together. A leopard seal savagely killed and devoured a penguin in water a few metres away from us – and then climbed on to pack ice to rest, with a permanently smirking expression. Zen-like experiences abounded …. walking in sub-zero temperatures through steam rising from the black volcanic sand beach of Deception Island. It is the collapsed caldera of a submerged volcano that last erupted in 1948. Another surreal place was a mirror-calm bay known as an ‘iceberg graveyard’ where we floated around nature’s artworks – icebergs sculpted by wind, water and time into spectacular shapes, ranging in sizes as big as cruise ships to household furniture.
Antarctica is impossibly beautiful. Indescribably awe-inspiring. Beyond what words can describe. Beyond what photographs and films can capture. Beyond imagination !!
The White Continent under its two kilometres- deep ice sheet sustains life on Earth in a multitude of ways. Our survival as a race depends on Antarctica remaining unchanged. But, sadly, our planet is under siege today. The myriad ways in which we and Antarctica are mutually connected are still too little understood, by too few, recognised by even fewer, and soon it may perhaps be too late, for both of us.
GETTING THERE
The shortest route to Antarctica is by sailing or flying from Ushuaia (southernmost tip of Argentina). Flights to Ushuaia are available from Buenos Aires (Argentina) or Santiago (Chile). Ushuaia to Antarctica flights are few, more expensive than ships and often cancelled due to bad weather. More than 30 tour operators currently offer voyages of short or long duration depending onthe itinerary selected. All are members of IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators) which requires them to follow stringent norms of operation to protect Antarctica’s pristine environment from human activities there. For a list of tour operators see the Membership Directory at https://iaato.org
Launching subject series
Amazing 🙏