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A whale came to play with me once. Also, a leopard seal tried to eat my GoPro. And a family of whales swam underneath our boat. These are some statements that certainly stir the interest of your friends when you tell them. Yet all statements were true, and all came from one expedition to Antarctica..the most beautiful place on Earth.

To get there though, is less beautiful… I am sitting on a table looking outside through the window. Up…down….up…down… The view is above the waves…then below the waves…above the waves…below the waves. Meanwhile plates, cups and knifes fall off the table and at some point even my entire seat moves away from the table, only to move back to it a few seconds later. One has to ‘earn’ the right to see Antarctica it is believed. Crossing the Drake Passage is no joke. One of the roughest seas on Earth, it sure attacked us with gigantic waves. We set off with two ships. Within a day one returned with broken windows. The captain tried to minimise the amount of sick people on the ship by steering westward. By evening time, when entering the cabin, the direction is South again and the ship rolls from waves hitting sideways. It’s going to be a tough night..

The next day is similar with three highlights: the food on-board de l’Austral, an albatross passing by, and by midnight we have land in sight.

When I wake up though, there was something strange….

silence, nothing but silence..

No rocking of the ship, no smashing waves, no wind. This is different. I opened the door to the cabin’s balcony and saw what could only be described as Nirvana… We had arrived at the Antarctic peninsula and were cruising through the Neumayer Channel. The numerous glaciers reflected the Sun and made everything seem bright. Penguins everywhere. Here and there an avalanche falling into the water. And total silence. no traffic, no planes, no mobile phones, no cars, and no people. Only animals.

We stopped at an old scientific station called Port Lokroy, which is inhabited by about a thousand times more penguins than humans.

From Port Lokroy we hopped into the zodiac boats for an excursion to Jougla point where I managed to put my GoPro under the water just as a school of penguins landed from a jump out of the water, and capture them on film. A bit further on we were welcomed by a sleeping seal, safely on his own little iceberg.

We continued our journey South through the LeMaire Channel, where the first whales started appearing. The number of icebergs increased as well. And then it became evident we were heading towards an iceberg cemetery: a large laguna called Pléneau where the shallow water and small exit made it impossible for the icebergs to escape. The result was an incredible concatenation of icebergs.

We set foot ashore in a place called Port Charcot, in Booth island, where penguins had created their own paths through the snow, from continuously walking the same line. From there we could hike to a small summit where remains of Charcot’s expedition can be found. But the view was, and still is as of this day, the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. The tranquil sea covered with icebergs. On the right we could see the amazing Mount Francais on another island. Many mountaineers would like to climb Antarctica’s Mount Vinson, but I’d much rather climb this Mount Francais, the fifth prominent mountain in Antarctica, due to these stunning views. When we turned back we got another reward: a parent penguin with its fin on the shoulder of his baby!

The ship continued through the night to arrive at Paradise Bay in the morning. We soon found out why it had this name: as we left the ship in our zodiac boat, suddenly a Minke whale started following us! It clearly had a great interest in the sound of our boat’s propellor and kept circling us, often coming above to breath. Sticking the GoPro under the water gave the best wildlife pictures I’d certainly ever made. The whale was clearly in a playful mood; you could even make him come closer by splashing your hand a bit in the water!

Our encounters with animals didn’t stop there, at Paradise Bay. A bit later, close to fantastic glacier ice fall ending in the water, we met a leopard seal. His intentions were perhaps a bit less playful. Getting closer and closer to the boat, I noticed that he was getting a bit too close to my GoPro. At some point.. he went for it! I pulled it out and followed him swimming around, occassionally sticking his head out. The dissatisfaction from not getting my GoPro made him turn towards the zodiac boat next to us… from which he took a bite! The boat started deflating slowly so we all rushed back to the ship.

Lunch was served while silently cruising through the Aguirre passage. While eating, a whale suddenly started to breach close to the ship, giving a nice spectacle during lunch!

With our stomaches filled, we set foot ashore again, this time at Neko harbour: a natural harbour with a large glacier pushing its ice into sea, and a beach next to it with a very sleepy seal (and for course…loads of penguins…).

One of the best things was yet to come though. As we left Neko via the Errera Channel, and had dinner, we spotted a family of whales. While this is common in Antarctica, it seemed that these whales had (again) an interest in the ship in which we were approaching them. Rather than swimming away, they approached us, waving their fins every now and then in a playful mood. The captain even stopped the ship and came out to watch! As we drifted slowly forward, the family came closer and closer to the side of the boat (where we were all standing to watch), took a deep dive and passed underneath the ship! We all ran to the other side of the ship to see them emerge again to get some air. Combined with the beauty of the surroundings, the setting Sun (that never really set), and the amazing silense so you could hear them breath out from far away, made this one of the most amazing moments of my life.

watch this with sound to hear the silence…

During the night I tried, without success, to capture ESA’s ENVISAT satellite flying over, went to bed late, fell asleep, and was woken up by the captain shouting two words that I wanted to hear for a long time: KILLER WHALES!

We are now in the Gerlach Strait. Put on some pants and the polar jacket and rushed to the balcony. A group of killer whales were hunting a humpback whale. In terms of watching the wildlife, this expedition could not have been more complete.

In a foggy morning, we arrived at Enterprise Island. An Norwegian whale hunting shipwreck called Governoren was set aground in 1915 due to a fire on board, and is still there. Even some wooden life boats can be seen (with an occasional seal sleeping close to it).

While we had stepped on land several times, we still hadn’t stepped on packed ice, so the captain took us to Wilhelmina Bay, where are zodiac boats could ram on to the ice so we could just step out on to the floating ice. It was fun especially as this was an improvised stop (our original route had filled up with icebergs and forced us to take a different route). We sailed along the edge of the packed ice and found many seals jumping in and out of the water. Looking back at the picture from under water, that seal seems to look surprised while looking in my direction. The picture still makes me smile.

Next morning had a typical Antarctica weather: cloudy. This does make the icebergs easier to photograph however, and provided a nice contrast. The Antarctic Sound is known for being difficult to pass due to the many icebergs. We sailed along several icebergs with the zodiacs, being observed by several penguins, and seeing a group of whales pass by.

Our afternoon excursion was at Brown Bluff, known for its big penguin colony close to its beach. As we arrived, many parent penguins came back from fishing and the children ran like crazy towards their mother. Sometimes only to find out that they chased the wrong mother! Sometimes groups of penguins ran in opposite direction of another group, causing funny collisions. And while one penguin was making a little nest of stones, another one stole the stones away. It was an afternoon with plenty of sights to make you smile.

In the middle of a little pond we found a seal, sleeping of course. The waves made his body rock left and right, It took a while before he finally woke up and realised he was surrounded by humans. He took a dive into the water, only to swim towards… me. As he reached the shore and stuck his head out, right next to me, he gave a disapproving look at my hat and took off again.

Our final day in Antarctica was all about hiking. In the morning we summited Deception Island (described in my first ever blog). In the afternoon we sailed to half Moon island (due to its shape). Each end of the island has a hill, with a rocky beach in between where we found a seal telling us ‘politely’ to stay away. The hike to the summit provided us with spectacular views. The last time we could enjoy these views from Antarctic ground.

The return was tough. Not only due to the waves, but also due to the fact that I knew what aftermath was going to come. Sure, As I was looking at the jumping dolphins as we approached South America’s Beagle Channel, I was thinking that Antarctica is a hostile place; it’s freezing, killer whales or leopard seals will hunt you. And yes it would have been more amazing if there would still be more whales left. But the barely touched nature is beyond beautiful. You can shoot a picture in a random direction and the picture will be stunning. The penguins simply do what they do even with you sitting next to them. Seals continue to sleep with you sitting next to them. It is still, as of this day, the most beautiful place I’ve seen. The aftermath was hard. It was hard getting back to civilisation. It was hard accepting to finally switch on your phone again. Like many others who came from Antarctica, I kept searching for opportunities to go back. Research opportunities, etc. I knew that no matter what holiday I took next, I knew it couldn’t match the Antarctica expedition. Finally you give in and continue your life and office work (of course continuing going to other expeditions as recommended by the Antarctica expedition leaders).

But the feeling of longing back turned into gratefulness. Grateful for having been there. Grateful for having had the opportunity to go, and to see all things I wanted to see. How could I possibly go back to civilisation? By knowing I’ve been there, and often thinking back to those wonderful memories.

Ciao!
Robin
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