Antarctica, Day #1 (Dallmann Bay, Cuverville Island, Wilhelmina Bay)

Sunday, February 10

I wasn't ready to get up when the alarm went off at 6:30 am, but this is what we came for...ANTARCTICA!

The planned route had us sailing through Dallman Bay with commentary to start around 7 am. Bob and I made a quick trip up to the Lido and grabbed muffins and a coffee for me and brought them back to the cabin to eat while we got geared up for the cold. Once I got the warm weather clothes on, I had to get outside quick...or die of a heatstroke.

At first there was a layer of low hanging dark clouds, but slowly the sun began to find its way through a bit. We enjoyed the scenery from deck 3 first and then went out on the bow and up to the deck just below the bridge until around 9:00. We then took a break and went to breakfast (or 2nd breakfast in our case). During the time we were on the bow I managed to trip over one of the metal supports for the hull and fell flat. No physical injuries, but my ego sustained a bruising.

Gray and windy at first.

A little blue starting to show through.

Panorama

Being on the bow was quite cold and we were getting windburned so after breakfast we went to the back of the ship on Deck 6. Very few people were there so we didn't have to fight for a spot at the railing. At that time we were cruising Cuverville Island and the scenery was spectacular. The gray clouds had been replaced by sunshine and blue skies making the snow covered mountains even more spectacular.

Deck 6 Aft - Like having a private deck! So much nicer sitting in a lounge chair
instead of vying for a place to stand at the railing on the bow!

A very large colony of penguins was on Cuverville Island. We smelled them before we saw them!

A penguin highway leading up the mountain. Hard to see, but the little specks are penguins.

A little closer view.

The trail went all the way up the mountain!

At one point we saw a mother and baby whale together. The mother would slap her fin and the baby would leap out of the water. We counted at least 8 times the baby breached. There were lots of penguins porpoising (jumping) through the water but I had a hard time even getting video because they were so fast. Here is just a little bit of the video I did of the whale breaching.

Around 1:00 we went back inside and got some lunch at the buffet. It had been a long morning and we were tired so we went back to the room and napped. After just 20 minutes or so I noticed the ship was not moving. I turned on the TV to the ship info channel and heard some announcement but didn't understand it well. Laurel told us later that she thought they said the ship had stopped to pick up someone who needed medial attention.

Even when the ship did start sailing, it was going so slow that the wind was not a problem. Bob and I went to the bow and watched as we sailed by the wreck of the "Governoren". The story that goes along with the wreck is interesting:

Just 9 days later and 800 miles from where Shackleton's ship, Endurance, was crushed by the pack ice the whaling ship, Governoren, burned on January 27, 1915. The Governoren was designed as a floating factory to process the whales that were killed. The crew would render the blubber into oil which was stored in large tanks until the ship reached its final destination. 

As the 1915 whaling mission was being wrapped up, the crew threw a party on board to celebrate the success of the long season and the anticipated journey home. During the party someone knocked a lamp off the table and the ship caught fire. The ship was full of thousands of gallons of whale oil which fueled the fire causing it to quickly grow out of control.

Although the fire caused the loss of all of the whale oil AND a historic ship, the captain was able to run the Governoren aground and the crew of 85 were able to escape. None of the crew members were injured and all were rescued by another whaling vessel.

The wreck of the whaling ship, Governoren. A sailboat was inspecting the wreckage. 

 By now the Zaandam had entered Wilhelmina Bay. Just when we thought we had reached the end of the bay, the captain turned the ship and we went even further. The expedition team were on the bridge and would announce when whales were spotted...over and over again. We were even lucky enough to see another breach.

The expedition ship gives some perspective to just how deep the snow was.

A couple of zodiacs taking people to shore from the expedition ship.

Looks like this chunk of snow could fall at any time!

A close up of a passing berg.

It was hard to go back inside, but I returned to the cabin and quickly showered before going to dinner at the buffet. (We didn't want to take away precious viewing time to eat in the dining room.) We got to the buffet around 5:50 only to find out that they didn't start serving until 6:00 pm. Once we got our food we didn't linger because we wanted to see a documentary movie being shown in the Wajang Theater at 6:30. The movie, Encounters at the End of the World, was about life at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica. The movie was not well made nor that interesting and we were sorry we had not just stayed outside to see Antarctica in person!

Good-night cows.

The captain said the original plan was to sail through the Gerlache Strait over night (where we had been earlier in the day) but there was too much ice...the most he had seen all season. It was too dangerous to dodge the ice in the dark so he made the decision to go back out into open water. He warned everyone that the seas would be rough...up to 3 meter swells. We are guessing the waves might have even been higher as we watched the waves wash up over our window!