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It was the beginning of the voyage of about 1,000 km to the Antarctica.
Toward the South. Our ship was a science survey ship of Russia (117m, 6000ton). On the upper deck, four rubber boats with engine (Zodiak) were loaded for the use of landing. The Drake Passage is famous by getting rough, because here is a narrow contact point of the Pacific and the Atlantic. This rough passage is usually called the "Drake Shake". Fortunately, this time it was very quiet. One of the crew said "It's Drake Lake!". |
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I found an iceberg for the first time on the 2nd day after departure. Although it was very small, I actually felt that I had approached Antarctica at last. |
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At last, I arrived at South Shetland Islands through the voyage in 40 hours.
It was a little bit of strong rain, not snow. This island is a ring shaped caldera of a volcano with a narrow entrance and the inside is a perfect anchorage. In this area whale fishing and seal hunting by Europeans and Americans had been active in the 19th century. Thus, in this island, the wreckage of the whale oil tanks etc. that rusted red are still remaining. I was deeply impressed by the human energy that had advanced to the edge of the earth, apart from the justice of whale fishing. At present, several Chinstrap penguins are residents of the old base. |
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The temperature was higher than freezing point and it was light rain. There was a rookery - plenty of nests of Gentoo Penguins. I was embarrassed walking around without getting too close to penguins. When doing droppings, he/she raises their hip to splash outside the nest. It might be a good idea for them to keep their own nest clean. However, the neighbor's one comes at the nest because their nests are located very close together. After all, their nests are stained by neighbors'. Young birds of about 20 cm tall are peeping among the parent's steps. |
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This was lying down quietly. The framework of a whale showed off the huge body by the shore. |
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The southernmost attainment point of this tour. Although I'm coming to
the place which is very near the Antarctic Circle ... Here is a rookery of Adelie penguins. This penguin has eyes with white rims, and is very pretty at a glance. However they stare at me like this bird when I approached. Every young birds of this area are growing very big; someone grows up to about 80% of their parents size. They, however, have black down on the whole body. Although big icebergs and floes are crowding to the circumference of this island, as for the landing point, rocks have appeared and even green moss is growing here and there. |
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The quiet bay which is praised as "the most beautiful natural port
in the world". Actually, from the upper deck, I became fascinated,
forgetting the cold, with the scenery that the morning sun had dyed the
pure white mountains red. |
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Riding on the Zodiak we cruised inside the bay. Crabeater seals were sprawling and watching us on the ice here and there. Some seals have big scars on their body. I imagined they were attacked by a Leopard seal and might have had a narrow escape. |
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The edge of the glacier is towering with terrible force. I was anxious to see if this edge would collapse now. I, however, wanted to see the moment. |
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A small island which is not so far from the continent. This island has
a small hill; the height is about 100 m from sea level. I climbed the snowy
slope to the top of the hill. Rocks appeared there. I found a rookery of
Gentoo penguins. Why do penguins put their home on such a hill top, far from the seaside? The penguins' way to the sea became many ditches on the snowy slope. Groups of penguins marched in the ditch, some were upward and some were downward. Some were crawling and slipping by abdomen. It may be an easy way to go downward and seems they are amusing. |
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A rookery of Chin Strap penguins. Almost all penguins are holding young birds and singing toward the sky worrying about the attack from the sky. Almost all penguins start a chorus when one penguin begins to sing. Large seabirds that aim for eggs and young birds are flying in the air. They have an interest in humans and dive at us. It was very terrible. |
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The Henryk Arctwski base of Poland was the planned last landing point.
Our ship dropped anchor off the coast of the island because waves were
very high because of heavy wind. It was not the situation that we can transfer
to Zodiak due to the white-crested waves all over the surface around the
ship. After all, at about 18 o'clock, the captain decided to weigh anchor
and we started our way home (1/18). The return way was complete "Drake Shake". Two days after, we returned to port of Ushuaia (1/20 07:30). |