Day 5 – 31 December – Punta Arenas to Antarctica.

6am, no news overnight, so we are playing the waiting game to see when/whether we will get a window within which the plane can fly and land on King George Island. Worst case we might be spending New Years Eve in Punta Arenas, however conditions can change quickly – so we remain packed and ready.

We spend some time downloading photos and generally ‘phaffing’ around when the phone rings…Mary answers and it is Sappho from Aurora – we need to be ready to go, downstairs by 8.50 to catch bus to the airport at 9.00. So it’s a scurry to pack up the last of the electronics, take a last photo and try to settle the mounting excitement.

While I settle the hotel account, Linda and Mary go downstairs to make us a sanga for breaky. We are on bus and out of there by 9.10. OMG this is really going to happen!!!!!

At Punta Arenas we had to check our bags, receive our boarding “plastic pass”, then pass through immigration, as we are leaving Chile. We celebrated Aussie New Year while standing in the line. Then through to the lounge to wait…

Then it was time, we walked onto the tarmac to board the plane, to wing our way south to ANTARCTICA.

Unfortunately no window seats for us, but Margaretha was generous in letting Mary stick her camera out a bit and we could see bits and pieces that way.

The flight was with DAP airlines and the crew fed and watered us really well, we had a Baileys to toast new year and Antarctica.

We had an uneventful landing at Frei base, got our cold weather gear sorted then walked past back down the runway, into one of the buildings to get our gumboots and then down to a rocky beach along an icy, slushy track. Walking along with Alan the Aurora Naturalist, we came upon a two month old Elephant seal. Also had to get off the track for a  snow vehicle bringing a passenger from another boat for an emergency evacuation, poor bugger had acute appendicitis and was being flown back on our plane with a doctor and nurse.

On the beach we donned our life jackets and saw our first penguins – some Gentoo and some Chinstraps frolicking in the water and on the beach. We then received our Zodiac briefing (Zodiacs are the rubber boats that are used to ferry us to and from the ship and around on our shore cruises) Finally onto the Zodiac and off to the Polar Pioneer, our home for the next 10 days.

Our cabin 306 is great with plenty of room, we have two single beds (not bunks) a basin and plenty of storage space. The shared toilets are close by, we are very impressed with all of that. We unpacked our carry on gear and explored a little of the ship, then we were all called to the bar for a briefing to meet the crew, followed by a lifeboat drill. The lifeboats are fully enclosed and very very cosy, even without the additional 11 Russian crew we would need to fit in, if it really was necessary.

Then it was 4.00 and time for a lunch of soup and salad followed by a talk on conservation issues in the deck 2 to the lecture room.

It seems not real at the moment, we are actually in Antarctica, we check out the views from the outside decks, there is plenty of ice and snow and black land sticking out. We actually had snow after the lifeboat drill.

As we were cruising out of the bay there were whales spotted, quite a number of humpbacks, tea time was delayed a bit, as they were putting on quite a show for us.

Dinner was late tonight at 9.15, and while we were in the Bransfield Strait the weather had roughed up significantly, many people succumbed to seasickness, Dr John was a busy man that night, with calls to various cabins.

Mary and I were OK, I was keen to get to the bridge though to get some horizon to look at. I sat for quite a few hours up there, watching whales, seabirds and icebergs. I did venture down to the bar about 11.30 to join the other 7 folk who were hanging in for New Years Eve, felt a bit worse down there, but made it to midnight to bring in 2013. Off to a rolling and pitching bed…and slept surprisingly well considering all of that.

So today has already ticked off lots of things

·         Elephant Seal

·         Gentoo Penguins

·         Chinstrap Penguins

·         Humpack whales

·         Icebergs

 

OK, my apologies, these photos are out of order for the day. They are a combination of shots from two of my cameras and one of Mary's and I just have time to rearrange.

 Yay....here we are in Antarctica. L-R - Linda, Mary, Me and Kate. This is just so exciting, you can't wipe the smiles off our dials.

 Here's Mary and I in the hut at the Chilean base, having stripped of some layers, cos its cooking inside and cooling outside. We are awaiting gum boot fitting.

 A baby elephant seal in our path, this little fella is only 2 months old, already mum has left him to fend for himself, he was gallumping his way across the ice, without a care for all of us tromping past him/her...

 A closer shot of our first real Antarctic wildlife.

 Here's me trudging down the icy track to the beach where we board the ship, via Zodiac.

 Our very first penguin encounter. These little guys are Chinstraps...called such for obvious reasons. They were oblivous us to all of us.

 Still grinning like a chesire cat, we now have our life jacket...and are on board the boat. I can't recognise the person next to me...We have to be ferried from the stony beach out to the Polar Pioneer.

 There be our first close encounter with our home for the next 11 days. The Polar Pioneer.

 Here's our extremely comfy and roomy cabin, me by the porthole, my bed on the right, Mary's is on the left behind me in this shot. We have a desk, little couch, a wardrobe each and drawers under our beds, as well as a basin. All good in cabin 306.

 Mary happily pointing out our porthole.

 Doing a bit of a wander around the ship... check out the grin, it is just so very exciting to finally be here!

 Lunch, soup and salad at 4.00. L-R - Margaretha, Barb, Lyn, Jenny, Me, Mary, Nicole and Karen - all part of the Teacher group. In the very comfy dining room.

 Views as we leave the calm waters of the bay at the Chilean base.

 Our first Iceberg, the waves crashing against it, give a bit of insight into the rougher waters that await us on our first night across the Gerlache Strait.

 Our first whale encounter, taken from the ship, everybody was above, its only been a couple of hours and already, seals, penguins, icebergs and now humpback whales.

 Now this is really out of order, this was our final shot in the room as we scurried to pack following our phone call that things were 'all go' from Sappho. L-R, Mary, Linda and flashed out me.

 

 Here's our beautifully painted bus to take us to the airport.

 I really liked the penguins.

 Here we are waiting to pass through immigration (we are leaving Chile) at Punta Arenas airport. L-R - Mary, Linda ,Nicole, Karen and half of me. We had just celebrated Aussie new year, about here in the line.

 Our plane, how cool? Antarctic Airways.

 Toasting New Year in Australia...with a Bailey's on the plane.

 Our plane as we walk across the tarmac.

 Karen and Mary all geared up, after getting off the plane, no easy feat. We started donning our cold gear on the plane which was tricky with no space to do so, so needed some rearranging on the airstrip.

 Looking towards the bay where our ship is anchored.

 The ice pushed off the sides of the airstrip.

 Part of the Chilean base, as we walk along the runway to the boot shed.

 Yep...this is exactly where we are.

 A bit of gear stored in their hangar.

 Linda in Antarctica.

 Looking out, the ship on the left, belonged to the appendicitis guy. Ours is the smaller white and blue one to the right.

 Lifeboat drill, people and orange life jackets squeezing like sardines into the lifeboats.

Time to get out...here's Mary. Each black shape is a place for a bum in the lifeboat.