Catching Up

So, I know I am stunningly behind on posts. I’ll try to do some catching up over the next few weekends. This post should get us up to when we went to Europe or close. Like many of my in the middle posts it will be a bit unstructured, kind of like our lives.

Dog sweater (we had no heat fro 12 hrs.)

One of our friends that went with us to Antarctica bought us these way cool pens that write upside down, under water, on the moon, and in freezing cold weather. Unfortunately they came after we got home. The box for the pen has a rocket on it. But the rocket looks like a sword also. So when we opened our mail and saw the boxes my writing book nerd child said “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

The same child was excited about dissolving peanuts that came in another package. They are fun to play with. Said child also made me pencil holders out of duct tape rolls for my office space when I can work from home. She set up a few other things for me as well that were good ideas. She turned a container like you carry cleaning supplies in, the ones with a handle in the middle, on its side to make a little shelf to hold lotion, charging cords etc. It was very sweet.

We spent New Years Eve at the beach in Bolivar with friends. I went for a nice run with Stormy and then took Stormy and Sidney to swim in the very cold water. The next morning when we got up Stormy wouldn’t wag her tail or sit and it you touched her tail she yelped. I thought she had somehow broken her tail so I packed her and Sidney and my friend into the car and took her to the emergency vet because no other vet was open. It wasn’t broken she had just over used it and had limber tail. Yes seriously. It was much better with pain meds and rest. However, she was grumpy and got in a fight with another dog. I was dumb and got in the middle and got bit on my arm. Man did that ever hurt and I admit I shocked a bit. It took a long time to heal because they couldn’t be sutured. Really bad move on my part. That was the third worst New Years Eve on record. We may skip celebrating in future years.

We continue to swim with our favorite Coach and team, Coach Dean and the Sharks. He says some pretty funny things when he is coaching. One evening he was talking about his tombstone and the things it would say about coaching like “Eyeballs” and methods of teaching the kids techniques. He also comes up with some special training for them that isn’t just swimming. So for example he has them lay on thief backs and flutter kick, then tells them a stroke and blows the whistle. They have to swim that stroke to the other side as fast as they can and then go back to flutter kick position. The next day their cores cry. He has them swim with drag also. Leggings, shorts, t-shirts, etc. on over their suits. And then one day he told Sidney that she had been given the gift of legs. My thought was how. She didn’t get them from me or Kirk.

 

Some other miscellaneous is that we have seen a guy riding up Kyle Seale, the more major road leading to our subdivision and which is significantly hilly, with his golf bag. Impressive. I also did a half marathon kind of. I was supposed to do it as a relay with a friend where I would run a 10k and he would. But he was injured so I ran my half and walked his half with him. It was actually a well organized and enjoyable event.




We took a trip up to Colorado to visit my folks and family over spring break. We left Friday night and drove part way. It was pretty cool being up in the windmill part of Texas at night. There were windmills as far as you could see in any direction. All of the lights for making sure they aren’t struck by aircraft were synchronized. It was pretty surreal to see all the lights turn on slowly together and then off, after dark, as far as you could see.



We spent the night in a nasty Best Western. I’ll likely never stay at one again. I had been looking for a hotel that would allow Stormy and not cost an arm and a leg and be about where we wanted to stop. Bad move. It was dirty, run down, noisy and generally miserable. We got up very early to get out and on the road.

Looking through dome on Bishop Castle

As we went through Texas towards New Mexico we saw a lot of cotton of course but also Sand Cranes in the fields where they were resting on their way north for the summer. They are always a treat to see. Once we got into the deep valleys on the interstate in Colorado we encountered crazy wind. There were 50 and above gusts as a cross wind on the highway. It required some work to keep any car moving straight. When we were only maybe 25 miles from my folks we saw thousands of Volkswagens that were part of the recall. That location was one of 5 in the US where all the recalled VWs were collected before being sent for repairs or to be scrapped. It is estimated there were 15,000 cars staged there. It was impressive.

Bishop Castle

We did a few things while we were visiting my folks. First we did a lot of chores. I fixed the iPad, washed all the windows inside and out, mopped the kitchen twice, replaced two faucets and three outlets, cleaned the porch, did laundry for mom, and replaced the innards of a really old faucet. I ran a few times and Sidney and I walked through the nature park and along a trail near a prairie dog colony.

We also went to the zoo. Colorado Springs has a really nice zoo, or they did before the recent devastating hail. We watched a couple of elephants entertain themselves by stripping all the bark off of some logs with their tusks and trunks. We also nearly got peed on by a lion. He was able to shoot outside of his enclosure a solid 15 feet, well into the viewing area.  We also fed the giraffes and fed a rhino. That was really cool.

After the zoo we went up the road through the zoo and then past it to the Will Rogers Shrine. I had never been there and it was neat. It is way up Cheyenne Mountain with a spectacular view of the city. The shrine was built in the late 1930’s by Spencer Penrose, one of the most important men in Colorado Springs ever. He named the commemorated the shrine to his friend, Will Rogers, who died in Alaska in a plane crash. Spencer and his wife and two friends are interred in the chapel connected to a 5 story tower. The floors of the tower hold a photographic history of Will Rogers and murals depicting historical people and events of the area.

On another day we drove up to Bishop Castle. This is a castle that Jim Bishop has been building for nearly 60 years. There are interior rooms, high towers and bridges and a fire breathing dragon. It is located in the San Isabel National Forest. Jim is an iron worker by trade and started the castle as a one room rock cottage. The castle is always open and free. Sidney and I covered nearly ever inch while my dad waited. Some of the inches felt terrifyingly unstable. After that we drove up to a cabin that we used to own. Sidney and Stormy played in a stream and we saw a lot of wildlife including big horned sheep, turkeys, and bluebirds. It was truly a beautiful drive and pretty day.

Panorama from Will Rogers Shrine

We made a quick trip to Florida in March as well for the wedding of the young lady who was the flower girl in Kirk’s and my wedding. While we were there but not at the wedding we went for a walk along the board walk in St. Petersburg and also visited the Salvador Dali museum which celebrates the life and work of Dali. The collection includes over 2100 works from all stages of Dali’s career, including from when he was a boy. The museum holds much of the work collected privately by a couple who were also friends of Dali. The work displayed was unique and utterly amazing in quality and quantity. He has to have been a brilliant man. The museum itself is also something impressive. The building has a helical staircase and part of the walls are the Enigma. The Enigma is made of 1062 pieces of triangular glass formed into bubble shapes. It was a really neat opportunity to see some amazing art (and get some A/C for a while).

Dali Museum

Our walk on the board walk was entertaining. There was a woman riding a skate board with her dog on a leash running beside. We saw a horseshoe crab scooting along in some shallow water and a seahorse hanging out nearby. And there were pelicans, plenty of them. I love pelicans and Sidney had to drag me away. I would have watched them fish all day. They were landing within 10 feet of us

My favorite bird, Pelican

Brave

In early March the swim team moved to an outdoor pool at a UTSA. The Monday after our return from the wedding in late March, there was a parakeet drinking from the pool. It was still pretty cold at night and windy and rainy a lot and I didn’t know how long it could survive outdoors here. So I caught it. It took maybe 4 tries with me trying to throw a lightweight towel over it. I succeeded and put it into Sidney’s mesh swim bag. I took bag and bird to Petsmart while she swam to get a cage, food, etc. I am walking around Petsmart with this chirping bag looking for supplies. The Petsmart employee said the bird was a he so one of the swimmers called him Sir Tweety the Brave and it stuck.

We took him to the vet for a wing trim and checkup. The vet informed us he was a she. So we changed her name to Miss Tweety the Brave. We got her trimmed, wings and nails, and took her home. But not before we got to listen to her heartbeat. It was so fast you couldn’t possibly count it. And she breathes once a second. Sadly Tweety died for some unknown reason while we were in Europe this summer. To say the least we were devastated. Even though we had her for only a few months we were very fond of our street bird. 

 

My "Homemade" Home Sign

There have been a few more moments of fun. There was a fly in my coffee that I didn’t know about and drank. I was a bit surprised and almost gagged when I spit him out. I went to a sign making party that a friend won at an auction and we made a sign that says Home and the “O” is a small wreath. It can be changed with holidays and seasons. We also went to Natural Bridge Cavern with a friend and Sidney rescued a three legged stick bug. He was still pretty mobile with three lags but was in a walking path so she moved him to a pile of sticks off of the path.


Our cat catches a critter every once in a while when she is out on the back porch. That is as much outside as she gets. When I see she has a critter I go try to rescue the critter outside. Sidney just opens the door and chases. So cat runs into the house with the lizard. Cat is running through house with lizard, I am chasing cat, Sidney is chasing me and the dog is chasing us all in happy confusion. Cat runs to my room under the bed. Sidney tries to get lizard out of cats mouth and lizard drops its tail. Lizard tail wiggles around on the floor like a dying worm. I catch cat who finally drops lizard who is now tailless. Cat gets thrown in bathroom and lizard captured to take outside. Mom has to talk to herself to get blood pressure and pulse down……Not really that funny……

Feeding the Rhino

The lizard was the night before my last Spartan race. I was supposed to do two races, the medium distance 8-10 mile followed by the shortest 3-5 mile race the following day. The second race was cancelled due to lightning. So now I have to do the longest race, 12-15 miles followed by the shortest, both in Dallas after a week long audit in Oklahoma. I am pretty sure I am gong to get my butt kicked. I wasn’t stunningly fast this year. 20th in my age group of 200, 174 of 1700 women and 1155 over all of about 5000. There was a pretty substantial hill at the start and I was trying to conserve some for the next day. Oh well. Good enough just to survive.

Piano Awards

Sidney graduated from Middle School in June. She received the President’s Award for Academic Excellence. She also was published as a young author and received two piano awards, one for theory and one for playing, at the end of the school year. Proud momma.




I think that catches us up to Europe which will be the next post.

Antarctica Part 2

Okay  - I know I am over 6 months late. Sorry.  Here is the un edited version.  Forgive mistakes in grammar, etc. please. 

December 14

Charlotte Bay and Mikkelsen Harbor, sunrise 5:21 am, sunset 2:54 am

We were awoken by an announcement at 6:30 that there were whales all around the ship and indeed there were.  We could see them even off of our balcony.  We spent more than an hour watching a couple of different pairs.  These were in Charlotte Bay.  As such we did not do the intended zodiac cruise as it would have taken too much time to get the zodiacs down.  The viewing platform of the ship was quite good.  It was a treat to get to watch several pairs eating for so long.  The area had a great deal of krill near the surface of the water.  

After watching the whales, eating breakfast, and resting a bit we went to a recap by 3 of the naturalists.  They talked about Seals, particularly the ferocious Leopard Seal, the Adélie Penguin, the Arctic and Antarctic Tern and the Humpback Whale.  The most amazing fact from the discussion was related to the Arctic Tern.  A single tagged Artic Tern flew 97,000 km in one year.  He bred in the Arctic, flew to,the Antarctic for the summer there, made several large loops over the southern oceans, and then flew the length of Europe and Africa in a month to go back south.  

Our stop for the afternoon was at (I think) Trinity Island.  There were both Weddell Seals and a juvenile male Elephant Seal.  All of them sleeping quite peacefully.  There were of course plenty of Gentoo Penguins and scavenger birds like the Skua trying to get an egg.  I know a couple of people actually saw a successful egg theft.  

After dinner we learned some history about Deception Island and it's importance to the history of Antarctica.  It is in the South Shetland Islands archipelago and has one of the safest harbors in Antarctica. It is the caldera of an active volcano which erupted in 1967 and 1969 damaging scientific stations and requiring air rescue for the researchers.  The island also held major whaling operations and processing plants. It now hosts Argentine and Spanish research stations. The bay, Port Foster, is 5.6 miles long and 3.7 mikes wide.  The entrance to the bay is only 750 feet wide with a large rock, Ravn Rock, lying only 8 feet below the surface in the middle of the Channel.  

Ships must have evacuation plans in the event of an eruption.  The ship will leave immediately if there is any sign of volcanic activity because there is only one entry and exit point.  They will leave people on the island and pick them up on the outside.  So anyone left will have to go over the caldera walls to be retrieved on the outside.   

Spotlight: Gentoo Penguins- the Gentoo is recognized by the white stripe that forms a sort of bonnet on the top of its head and a bright orange-red bill.  They are the third largest penguin after the giants, the Emperor and King.  They grow to 22 -34 inches and weigh up to 19 lbs.  Their weight can drop to 10 pounds when guarding the nest and chicks. They are the fastest underwater of any penguins, swimming at up to 25 mph.  They are well adapted to cold climates and eat mainly crustaceans and a small amount of fish.  They are the penguin we saw the most of.  

December 15

Telefon Bay at Deception Island and Yankee Harbor, sunrise 5:20 am, sunset 2:57 am

First stop was Telefon Bay, 62°55.56' S and 060°38.40' W.  It was snowing like crazy this morning.   We couldn't even see land when we dropped anchor.  Many of the first group didn't go on land with the bad weather and longer hike.  By the time we left for the island it was almost sunny.  We had a wonderful time going up to two small calderas. The hike wasn't super challenging but it was slippery with the fresh snow. But it was beautiful. After the hike we found 4 chinstrap penguins who were very curious and busy.  There is not much wildlife here because of the volcanic activity. The water is not as good as outside the bay.  So they were a treat, especially being chinstraps.  And there was a seal resting in the snow.  Double treat!

Evening sailing in the English Channel

Spotlight: Killer Whale - the killer whale is actually the largest of the dolphins.  The dorsal fin is distinctive.  It is sickle shaped and stands tall on females but triangular and almost 6 feet on males.  They tend to travel in small family groups with well developed social structure.  The group normally consists of a dominant adult female, several breeding males, and juveniles of both genders.  They are also highly specialized hunters with varying strategies to hunt depending on their primary food source be it fish, penguins, or other animals.  

December 16

At sea in the Drake Passage

Today is full of lectures. The first was whales which we missed because I felt so poorly and the theater camera wasn't working.  The second was regarding if Antarctica was melting.  I attend that one and it was very sad.  Nit on,y the Antarctic was discussed but also the change in the Arctic.  The uniqueness of the actual land under all the ice in Antarctica was discussed and the impact of the shape of the continent has on how quickly further melting of continental ice occurs. 

There was an afternoon lecture on seals.  It was as good as all the other lectures.  There are two seal types in the seal family, eared and true seals. Only untrue seals are found in the Antarctic.  We saw four of the six found in the Antarctic.  We saw the Weddell, Leopard, Crab Eater and Elephant.  The lecture discussed all of the habits of seals and what each of the ones we saw eats and how they live.  Seals need ice primarily to breed, give birth and molt.  They molt once per year and cannot be in the water at that time.

The final lecture was on who owns the poles.  The short answer is no one definitively owns the poles but several nations lay claim to each.  There are treaties and discussions on going regarding how the poles are used and managed including the previously mentioned Antarctic Treaty. 

Captains Farewell Gala - introduced all staff, housekeeping, kitchen, musical, chefs, dancers, laundry, desk, zodiac crew, officers, doctor, nurse, 155 total staff.

December 17

The first part of the night was good for sleeping.  The second half, not so much.  I do t know how big the waves were but 4 hours were rough.  Even the water tight doors on decks 3 and 4 were closed. It was bad. Sidney woke up only for a particularly large crash when something fell but otherwise slept through it. Honestly though the Drake Passage overall was a breeze, or as the Tauck directors said, it was like a lake both ways except over the continental shelf.  They said most cruises are lucky to have a lake one way and a "shake" the other. They even showed us a terrifying video....

Anyway, at about 7 am we started rounding Cape Horn.  It was beautiful and another unique experience. After rounding the Cape I went back to sleep to get a few hours back that I lost in the rough ride.  

We listened to a frozen feathers lecture mid morning and turned in our boots.  We also got our disembarkation briefing.  After that we twiddled our thumbs, packed and repacked our suitcases. 

We arrived at Ushuaia at 6 pm but were spending the night on the ship.  Ushuaia looked much nicer in the sun than it had in the cloudy wet weather when we departed.  

We are a bit sad, a bit ready to go home, and a bit tired. It's hard to believe it happened and hard to believe its over. One part of us wants to live this adventurous and exciting life forever, and the other part us ready for home. 

Both parts and both of us dread the travel in the upcoming 36 hours.  3 flights and from 8 am local time tomorrow (5 am at home) to noon at home the following day.  I hate sleeping on planes.

What an amazing adventure.  32,000 people and 80,000 sherpas climb Mount Everest each year.  44,000 people including those who cruise by or fly over visit Antarctica.  Because of the Antarctic Tourism Agreement there is no trash, pollution, garbage or any other evidence besides footprints in the snow, of that many visitors.  It's an amazing place. You see no evidence if man besides the one beside you and the occasional research station or relic building. 

We had our last dinner at the buffet and packed our bags. They had to be outside of our cabin by 2 am.  

December 18

Well the travel will be more than 36 hours. We found out at 4 am that our Delta flight home was cancelled as part of the fallout after the power outage in Atlanta.  We were already up at 4 am because of another travel problem.  Argentinian airline workers are going to strike to protest pension reform where they are the losers. So Ponant, the actual boat owner and operator, told us we needed to leave for the airport by 5 am to get to Buenos Aires before the strike started at noon.  However Ponant failed to contact all of the guests on the cruise departing today to let them know to be at the airport earlier so they held the plane. We sat around without any word for 30 minutes before they told us we could go back to our room.  We finally departed the ship at 8 am to head to the airport. 

Our plane was quite late and it was chaos at the airport.  We boarded at close to 11 and arrived in Buenos Aires around 3.  Only people on American Airlines were able to get out tonight. Everyone else was stranded.  It was a frustrating situation to not have any idea when you were going home.  Fortunately Tauck, the organizer of the cruise, had arranged rooms for us all that night. We had to pay for them ourselves but can turn it in against the insurance. 

All of us went to lunch at a nice Argentinian restaurant and watched a very nice show.  Two of the four dancers were the same ones we saw in Buenos Aires the first night we were there.  They were so good and this time we could take pictures and record them.  Lunch was fine and although Argentinian beef is fine, I don't find it to be seasoned enough for me. It also can be a bit tough.  So I didn't eat much. 

After lunch we dealt with the hotel check in madness.  The people in front of us were very demanding and took forever to check in. I think the receptionist took pity on us and put us in a super room on the top floor with an amazing view. We could see the park where we walked the third day we were in Buenos Aires before and the river. A very nice young man delivered our bags and told us about his family. There were departing on a cruise to Rio de Janeiro and some other places. He was able to take a picture of their ship from our window as it pulled away from Port.  We asked him about visiting Uruguay and he told us about a place called Colonia.  You can be there in an hour by fast boat and it's a small old historical town in Uruguay.  The dock wasn't far from our hotel but as we didn't all have flight arrangements we decided not to go. 

After some gelato for Sidney and a sandwich and chicken for Theresa we turned in for the night. Theresa's chicken was kind if like breaded chicken nuggets.  But the breeding was very strange and included almonds.  Then there was a very orange cheese sauce that was quite strange.  Theresa does not much enjoy very strange things so she did not appreciate the change from expected chicken nuggets.  My ham sandwich was ok though.  Theresa found a flight home and the travel agent got our other two people on a flight with Theresa to Houston and then in to their home. Sidney and I were still in limbo when we went to bed.  Delta had rebooked Sidney and me in a Aeromexico flight leaving at 3 am to Mexico City with a Delta connection to San Antonio.  Unfortunately the flight couldn't leave because of the strike and would have been so delayed anyway that we would have been stranded in Mexico City for 24 hours because there is only one flight to San Antonio each day.  

December 19

After a decent nights sleep I got on the phone with Delta myself since the travel agent hadn't said two words to us. Delta rebooked us again on a local South American airline to Lima, Pedro where we would get a connection to Atlanta and then another connection to San Antonio. What a mess.  Each layover would have been 5 hours and that seemed like too many moving parts.  Finally our travel agent in theory got us on the United flight to Houston.  But that isn't the end. 

We booked cars for 5 pm and checked out of the hotel. Theresa's friend wanted to cross the big street and tour the Opera house, Teatro Colon, a Buenos Aires historical monument. So we set off in the very steady rain for the 5 mile round trip to do all that. We had two umbrellas between the four of us so two were somewhat dry and two were not so much.  Theresa and I were the not so much. We ate weird cheese cake and had tea, coffee and hot chocolate while Theresa's friend toured the Opera house.  Sidney's hot chocolate was hot milk with a piece of chocolate that you stirred in until it melted. We stopped and got sandwiches and chips before going back to dry out at the hotel.  

Most of our fellow travelers had flights out.  However a few were on yet another cancelled flight and hopefully will get out tomorrow.  Everyone was hanging around in the lobby eating, chatting, and playing cards waiting to go to the airport. 

Sidney and I headed out earlier than the others because we didn't have assigned seats and I was concerned, rightfully so as it turned out.  The airport was beyond any madhouse I have ever been in, even Lima. Insanely long lines with people in various states of distress everywhere.  

So I mentioned before that Delta failed to ticket our change to United to Houston and then San Antonio.  This flight combination would have put us home at 7:30 am on Wednesday.  When we finally sorted out where United's check in was and got to the front, we ha to wait more for them to call Delta to re-issue the ticket.  Delta re-issued the ticket to Newark then San Antonio and at that point there was no way to change it.  

December 20

The flight to Newark left at 1 am, 4 hours late. We had a 6 hour layover in Newark in part because the flight to San Antonio was late. We are running on fumes. The United flight was typical not that pleasant United.  The bathrooms were very dirty and the service poor.  Seats uncomfortable, etc.  

The last 3 day can be summed up as: Early up, then early down, then delayed, then cancelled, then Mexico City.

Next bed, then Lima, then rain, rain, and more rain. Then long walk in rain, cross bug street, visit Opera house, weird cheesecake, then more rain.

Hope for Houston, get Newark and multiple delays.  

There is a bit of sadness waiting at home.  The young lady keeping our house said all of the fish died in a matter of two days.  We have had them for some time so we are both puzzled and sad.  We are ready to be home but getting unpacked and back in working order at home is always tiring.  We have mountains of laundry plus I know the house needs vacuuming, dusting and mopping.  Sidney is off school so she gets to help get us caught up since I still get to work. 

I had about 800 work emails to deal with.  I am down to 100 that need more attention.  That is always hard too and I am down a person again.  It's a little exhausting.  

Antarctica Part 1

Please forgive the formatting.  That is something I still struggle with on the blog.....

December 9

Drake Passage, sunrise 4:51 am, sunset 10:01 pm

Securing the piano is a must

Sidney slept quite well.  As usual in a new bed I didn't.  In addition there was some 8 meter swell in the middle of the night as we went off the continental shelf.  After a rough night for me I didn't want a ton to eat and Sidney was feeling a bit queasy.   We went up to breakfast anyway and nibbled a bit.  Sidney sat outside to be cool which was really cold... she ate some green apple which helped.   Apparently others were sick as well as there were small plastic bags laid over the rails along each corridor.

We met the expedition team and learned their passions.  Some like ice, some like whales, some like birds, and others are more generalist.  

Ponant Themed Dessert

Boots

At about noon we crossed the convergence where the two oceans meet.  It makes an angle from Ushuaia to the south east.  The water is warm to the north of this line (maybe 5C) and cold to the south (-1C.)

I took two naps and so did Sidney.  That helped big of us a bit.  I still struggled off and on.  We also got our boots and did our clothes vacuuming.  The clothes vacuuming is required to not carry seeds in particular onto Antarctica.  We were required to vacuum all zippers, buttons, seams, and pockets of the outer layer and the next layer if the items had ever been worn.  

Sidney and I had the only set of two white pairs of boots as we had nearly the smallest feet on the ship.  Some of the smaller women's boots are white.  We learned how to store the boots, outside the room on the mat by the door.  We also learned about washing them before we got on the zodiac to go on land and as we came back onto the ship.  Washing before going out protects Antarctica and washing them coming back protects the ship (removes the ever present penguin guano).  

Sidney and Jack at the pool

We attended a lecture on penguins.  I won't bore you with all the details but I'll provide some interesting facts. Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere as are Albatrosses.  There are 18 species of penguin. Penguins received there name from the now extinct Great Auk. That bird was of similar color to the penguin and called "Penguinus Impennis" meaning without flying feathers. We should see Adélie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap on this trip. Any others we see are very lost.  Ok I'll stop. I have 7 small pages of notes. 

Emperor penguin feathers are very dense, 10 feathers per square centimeter, 4 times denser than other birds. They have an oil gland that is very important for hydrodynamics and insulation.  The birds also release micro bubbles from the feathers to promote hydrodynamics and can dive and then release bubbles to jump 1-2 meters out of the water onto land.  

The penguins create highways between their colonies and the sea.  These are their travel paths that they have beaten down the snow in. If we encounter them we are to step over.  If we encounter a penguin, it gets the right of way.  

One other thing about penguins is that in general they don't like each other. They live together for survival but are always at least a wing length from each other. They will also steal rocks from each other. Only the Emperor and King Penguins hurdle together for warmth.  In their large group it could be -30°C outside their huddle and 20°C in the huddle.   

The evening held the welcome reception and gala dinner.  This dinner held 5 courses, a starter, a cold appetizer, a hot appetizer, the main course and dessert.  There was also a sweet treat after dinner.  The starter was cold cauliflower curry soup.  The cold appetizer for the vegetarian menu which Sidney and I chose was quinoa with avocado. The hot appetizer was gnocchi with Parmesan and death truffle mushrooms. It was amazing. The main course was risotto with asparagus and Parmesan, also amazing.  The dessert was chocolate cake Le Ponant.  The cake had the Ponant logo on top. Dinner lasted almost two hours and so we crashed immediately after dinner.    

The ship has two restaurants, one is on deck 6 and is always a buffet and requires reservations at night.  The other is on Deck 2 and is A la carte. No reservations are required. It is a much bigger room.   

Champagne on ice

Spotlight: The Drake Passage and Sir Francis Drake- Most visitors to Antarctica must cross the renowned Drake Passage.  Sir Francis Drake discovered this stretch of water in 1578 having sailed through the Strait of Magellan into the pacific and then getting blown far south.  The event implied a connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  The Drake is the shortest crossing between any continent and Antarctica.  It is however one of the most feared passages even if the shortest.  During the passage we cross the convergence where the cold Antarctic water meets the warmer northern oceans.  The water is 5°C above the convergence and 1°C or less below the convergence.  

Walking on water (ok frozen water but still)

Sir Francis Drake was an English sailor going to sea at a young age.  He sailed the Pelican, later named the Golden Hind, he made the second circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580.  He discovered the Drake passage as described above proving that there was no continent connected to South America. 

Antarctic Tern landing on Antarctic lichen covered rock

The wall paper on the ship is almost like stickers.  There are two layers that are the same so they can peel off a layer if needed for an immediate fix.  If needed then the bottom layer can be peeled off and replaced with another set of double layers.  It just needs to be stuck in place and trimmed. 

Above is some amazing geology.  The folds in the rock are beautiful and the green line is copper.  No mining is allowed on the continent so it is common to see minerals that elsewhere would be mined or extracted. 
 

December 10

The Antarctic Peninsula, First day to try to land, sunrise 5:29 am, sunset 2:43 am. 

We go to the buffet each day for breakfast and lunch. There is fresh fruit and vegetables, cold cuts, smoked salmon, cheese, breads, a spectacular array of desserts and several hot dishes to choose from.  It is a lovely variety of choices.  

We had the mandatory Zodiac briefing. We learned how to put on the zodiac life vest, how to get on and off of the zodiac from the boat and from shore, and the safety on the zodiac.  We also learned the rules of being on land.  

In the late morning we saw a pair of humpbacks, a mom and her approximately 7 month old calf.  We saw others father away.  We also saw penguins out swimming. 

We found out that overnight to beat storm we were going 15 knots.  But it gave us an extra opportunity to at least get into the zodiacs.

Our first stop is elephant point.  62°35.76' S and 059°30.90' W.  Because of the swell, we did not go on land, only on a 40 minute to hour long cruise.  It was pretty bumpy, wet and cold.   But awesome.  So we haven't set foot on Antarctica yet.  There was also a touch of snow and we can watch them lower and raise the zodiacs from our room.  They are stored on the top deck.  We were able to see Elephant Seals and the occasional Leopard Seal.  The Leopard Seals are often spotted on the ice along the cruise. 

Snowy Sheathbill

Spotlight: The Antarctic Peninsula and Icebergs- The Antarctic Peninsula is he northernmost part of mainland Antarctica.  It is the largest and most prominent peninsula in Antarctica and extends over 800 miles.  There is a string of bed rock islands separated by deep channels and covered in a blanket of ice.  Tierra d l Fuego, on the southern tip of South America, where we visited just before we departed Argentina, is separated from Antarctica by the 620 mile wide Drake Passage.  The Peninsula is subject to claims by many nations including Argentina, Chile, and rather United Kingdom but Argentina has the most bases on the Peninsula.  

The Antarctic ice sheet is the iceberg factory of the southern oceans. There are approximately 300,000 icebergs in the Southern Ocean at any one time.  They can range fro. A few meters, called growlers, to tens of meters, calls bergy bits, to kilometers.  Also at any time there can be several gigantic icebergs, called tabulars, in excess of 30 miles in length. These icebergs can be 150 feet high and 6 times as deep.  The largest iceberg on record was over 31,000 square kilometers sighted in 1956.  It was bigger then Belgium.

December 11

Wilhelmina Bay and Paradise Bay, sunrise 5:27 am, sunset 2:46 am

Bluest water ever

Our first stop of the day was intended to be a zodiac cruise at Wilhelmina Bay, 64 degrees 39.67'S and 062 degrees 05.21' W, nicknamed "Whale-Mina Bay" for the large number of humpback whale.  We did not see any, mostly because at this time of year the bay was covered in sea ice.  The ship broke into it some to test how thick it was and the expedition team went out also to test the ice.  The ice was thick enough for us to land and walk around.  The ice is at least a meter thick over 400 meters of water.  

Paradise Bay (we hiked to the top)

We are in the red group so we were the first to go off today.  When we landed there was champagne on ice!  It was cool.  Because we weren't on land they could take the coolers and champagne out.  We saw several gentoo penguins and a few far away seals.  It was a nice treat to land on the ice even if we haven't yet set foot on the continent.  It was a much shorter ride on the zodiac today and we were actually too hot. I'm learning how to make clothing choices. 

Sidney went swimming after we got back.  The pool is really just a big hot tub. The water is salty but warm.  She swam while we were still anchored so it wasn't super cold.  Still chilly getting out.

My work friends will understand the term "normalization of deviation".  It means that what was originally not normal has happened enough that you accept it as normal.  This normally happens in a negative way regarding safety, where something unsafe happens enough that it isn't reacted to anymore.  Well we have normalized to the beauty here along with jumping penguins and no longer get as excited.

Antarctic Tern

After lunch we really did land in Paradise Bay. Proper ground on the continent, a continental landing, which is a rare occurrence.  The best landing places are where there are research stations and you can't land there if they are occupied.  In a few weeks the place we landed won't be available anymore.  

This officially allowed me to say I have been to all seven continents and it has happened in the last 6 or so years.  This is Sidney's 6th leaving her only Asia to go. 

Paradise Bay

It was an amazing experience.  The Bay and surroundings were beautiful.  I can see why it is called Paradise Bay.  It was even a bit warm.  We took a healthy hike in the snow out to the top of a ridge. We left our coats part way up because it was warm.  We did use our poles though as it was quite steep and slippery.  After our hike, we took a zodiac cruise to check out a variety of birds including the Antarctic Petrel, Antarctic Shag, Blue Eyed Shag, Snowy Sheathbill, Subantarctic Skua, Antarctic Cormorant, Arctic Tern and Antarctic Tern.   And yes one of those birds is Arctic, which is the opposite end if the earth.  They migrate from the Arctic to the Antarctic each year.  And they are tiny.

We got to see nests and the Cormorants bathing and also the penguins porpoising very close to our zodiac.  We also saw veins of copper in the rocks and the lichen that grows here. 

After we got back to the ship Sidney swam again before dinner.  After dinner we sat in the lounge and listened to the pianist for a while.  It was a day that could almost not be topped. 

Spotlight: Research Stations in Antarctica- Several governments maintain permanent research stations in Antarctica.  They are either constructed on rock or permanent ice.  Some are staffed year round.  30 countries, all signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, operate summer and year round research stations on the continent. The population of all of the stations in the summer is approximately 4000 and down to 1000 in the winter.  There are also approximately 30 field camps established each summer to support specific projects.  The first station was established in 1903.  Research regarding weather and other sciences was not widely sobered until WWII when the British launched Operation Tabarin in 1943 to establish a presence in Antarctica.  Operation Tabarin is the same operation that established Port Lockroy, one of our stops.  After WWII there was massive increase in internationally activity in the Antarctic.  

Port Lockroy

December 12

Lemaire Channel, Port Charcot, and Peterman, sunrise 5:25 am, sunset 2:49

Lemaire Channel

We made an attempt to go through the Lemaire Channel this morning but it simply wasn't passable yet.  Too much sea ice and too many icebergs.  So we turned around and headed for our first stop where we took a zodiac tour.  65°03.56' S and 064°01.09' W.  we got played with by a Leopard Seal on our cruise and also were able to see Kelp Seals resting on sea ice.  There were thousands of penguins swimming around us and amazing amounts of ice.  It was a breathtaking site to see some of the icebergs.  We spent over an hour on the zodiac looking around at wildlife and ice.  The Leopard Seal was the best though.  He came right up to the boat to show off his penguin devouring mouth of sharp teeth.  

Port Lockroy

Our second stop was at Peterman Landing, 65°03.57' S and 064°01.11' W (yes very near our first stop).  This landing was a true water landing where we were glad for the boots. The water was only a foot deep but there were several rocks and opportunities for mis-step.  After our landing I chased Sidney and the other young person on the tour, Jack, up the slippery, icy trail to the top of the little peak.  Since we were the last group to land the trail was completely packed to ice. Our poles would not even grip.  The kids had way more fun than me.  The view however was spectacular.  You had open water to one side where the ship was and packed sea ice and icebergs on the other side.  Plus it was a beautiful day.  After chasing the kids I was hungry!

Each short zodiac ride offered a chance to look at ice or birds.  The Naturalists do a wonderful job making sure we get to see everything and spend lots of time outside and off ship.  However our zodiac ran out of gas maybe 100 yards from the ship.  Of course there was a spare tank but it was funny. 

The light in the evening was super for pictures of the landscape.  Sidney and I also went up on the bridge.  The Captain was working very hard guiding the ship through the ice.  There were many small direction changes to weave around and through the larger ice.  Smaller ice was sacrificed.  Unfortunately I am coming down with a cold which stinks.  My throat is sore and I'm coughing a lot. 

Cross the Drake in what, a sail boat?

Spotlight: Port Charcot and Jean-Baptiste Charcot- Port Charcot on Booth Island on the northeast part of the Whilhelm Archipelago, was discovered and named by a German Expedition under Captain Eduard Dallman.  Booth Island was named after Oscar or Stanley Booth, members of the Hamburg Geographical Society at the time (1873-1874).  On a small hill here the remains of the Charcot expedition can be found.  It was the overwintering site of the French Antarctic Expedition(1903-1905) on board the Français under command of Jean-Baptiste Charcot.  Both Adèlies and Gentoo penguins nest here. 

Jean-Baptiste Charcot was originally going to take his ship, the Français, to the Arctic.  However in 1903 news arrived to Europe that Swedish explorer Otto Nordenskjöld and his ship the Antarctic, were missing. Charcot headed south to the Antarctic to search for the missing explorer instead.  Thus the French Antarctic expedition was born. The voyage was held as a success for both science and public perception.  More than 600 miles of new coastline and islands were surveyed. Maps made from the expedition were still in use 25 years later and a second French expedition surveyed 1250 miles of coastline and territory. 

December 13

Port Lockroy and Neko Harbor, sunrise 5:23 am, sunset 2:52 am. 

Our first stop today was at Port Lockroy, 64°49.73' S and 063°30.53' W, located on a tiny island in the Palmer archipelago, on Goudier Island between Flag Point and Lécuyer Point.  It was discovered by Jean-Baptiste Charcot in 1903 and named after Edmond Lockroy, Secretary of the French Navy. 

It was used by whalers from 1911 to 1931 with 3000 whales processed in that time.  In 1944 the Brits sent a team to claim their piece of the continent and they intended to claim land on the continent, not a tiny island.  The island is no bigger than a football field.  The continent was blocked by ice and the Port was a safe place to anchor so they stayed.  At the time the only point was to claim land however the island was used for science and research and contributed to the development of high frequency radio communications using the ionosphere.  

The site was abandoned in 1962 and surveyed for restoration in 1994.  Restoration started in 1996. It is designated as Historic Site and Monument No. 61 under the Antarctic Treaty.  Today it is manned 4 months of the year by four people and 1000 penguins.  It offers an open museum exhibiting artifacts from the 1950s, a store, and a post office.  They also stamp our passports.  The 4 part time residents greet ships, monitor the artifacts, monitor the penguins and maintain the facility.   Sidney bought a Prison Penguin and a flip book. I bought Christmas Ornaments in the Antarctic Tartan.  The Prison Penguin was made by prisoners in England.  The Antarctic Tartan is based on nature. The white represents the ice.  The thin blue lines represent latitude and longitude.  The grey represents rocks and the small amount of orange represents the orange lichen that grows here.  The black and white represent penguins and whales.  All the proceeds from sales go to the Antarctic Heritage Trust which helps care for and conserve historic buildings and artifacts in Antarctica.

Zodiac Cruise

We were also able to send a few postcards as they run a post office. The mail will get stamped and sent to the Falkland Islands then to London and in to its destination from there. 

Gentoo

Neko Harbor

It was another different and nice stop on a lovely day.  The weather could not be better.  We also were able to see Weddell seals basking in the sun on some of the sea ice as well as cormorant nests and the Arctic Sheathbills.

Can you see the heart?

We learned a bit about ice today as well.  We watched a lecture on it by one of the naturalists who specializes in ice.  He tallied about glaciers and how they form and degrade.  He also described ice caps which are glaciers perched on top of mountains.  If the ice cap is big enough, greater than 50,000 km2 then it is called an ice sheet.  Antarctic and Greenland are covered in ice sheets up to 3 miles thick in places.  Floating ice which is still connected to the glacier or ice cap or ice sheet is called an ice shelf.  Antarctica has two that are as big as Spain.  Some icebergs are also very large, 200 km long and 50 km wide.  And they live for a very long time, generally degrading by breaking into smaller pieces versus melting.  

Injured Adélie Penguin

Icebergs of a certain size are numbered and tracked on satellite.  As the numbered iceberg breaks up, again depending on the size, the piece that broke off will have the same number with a different following letter.  For example iceberg B15A broke off in 2000 and it was 300 km long and 40 km wide.  We went past B15T, the 20th piece of the iceberg and it is still over 10 miles long.  

We also learned about sea ice and how it forms.  It requires cold temperatures and calm seas to form.  It is generally flat and can be colored by whatever froze within it, usually krill.  The other thing that happens with sea ice is that the slat is forced out of the water as if freezes.  Not all of the salt but a good bit.  His happens particularly when two pieces meet.  The very cold brine is forced downward toward the ocean floor and if the water is shallow enough, the brine stream will freeze anything in that seam and anything on the floor it touches like starfish, etc.

We took a zodiac cruise in the afternoon in Neko Harbor, 64°51.53' S and 062°33.39' W, to look at glaciers and rocks versus animals.  It was intended to be a landing but there was still too much ice and another ship was in the place we could land.  We did of course see plenty of birds including an injured juvenile Adélie penguin.  The penguin had an injury behind its left wing and had no feathers there.  It was very thin.  It was quite sad but unlikely that it will survive the cold with the exposed skin.  We also saw the bad behavior of the Skua as it took food directly from a Terns mouth. 

Whale Hello

The activity the kids most enjoyed was trying to lift small pieces of ice into the boat to see there relative weights.  The older ice is heavier as most of the air bubbles have been released.  Younger ice is lighter with more air.  The kids were fishing out piece and basically getting to play in the water. 

Spotlight: Adélie Penguin - The Adélie Penguin was discovered in 1840 and named after the wife of the man who discovered them.  They are mid-sized penguins at 46 to 71 cm high and weigh 3.6 to 6 kg.  They have distinctive white rings around their eyes on their all black head.  Colonies have declined on the Antarctic Peninsula but they have increased in East Antarctica.  They congratulate in large colonies during breeding season some over 250,000 pairs. They breed from October to February and hiked rough nests of stone.  They lay two eggs which are incubated for around 32 days and cared for by both parents.