This was to be our last morning on land. I was filled with trepidation.This would be my goodbye to this fragile wilderness and hello to my fragile health.My health was fragile as we were to cross the Drake Passage after the landing.William Brown is anathema. He was born in the 18th century in Ireland, emigrated…
A Scintillating Afternoon in Cierva Cove
After lunch we entered Cierva Cove. The Vavilov moored in the bay. We lined up eagerly on the gangway. The northern sky was a foreboding grey yet filled with texture. Humpback whales were swimming in front of giant icebergs. Nothing can prepare you for the beauty and peace of this land at the bottom of…
My Travels: Gentoos Being Born
The Vavilov had sailed on the north of the South Shetland Islands because thick ice prevented us entering the Antarctic Sound. Now we had turned and were sailing in the channel between the islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. On ether side of the ship rose towering black cliffed mountains with thick glaciers cutting the valleys…
My Travels: Halfmoon Island before Full Moon and Deception on the Vavilov
Penguin Highways Penguins on snow highways. That was one of the photographs I wanted to capture, Today was the day. After three days at sea it was exciting to be doing an excursion again. This morning we would be landing on Halfmoon Island, with three big Chinstrap Penguin Colonies, and perhaps one or two Macaroni…
My Travels: Another Two Days in My Bunk
I started a course of antibiotics and took anti-inflammatories to control my fever. At least I was not nauseous. I just lay in my bunk alternately sweating in my shorts on top of the duvet then shivering under the duvet and two blankets with my thermal underwear on. I left my bunk on the morning…
My Travels: Riches in Gold Harbour and Snowstorm Closes Drygalski Fjord
We landed on a stone beach in moderate surf amongst a group of Elephant seals. Grey-black clouds billowed over the mountains, attempting to cover the gun blue glacier face that divided the black cliff at the other end of the bay.. A loud crack and puff of pure white snow announced the birthing of the…
My Travels: The Fjords and Harbours of South Georgia
Whale blubber tanks are only slightly smaller than oil refinery tanks. The tanks and town buildings of Stromness Bay were uniformly red from the rust and looked peaceful set at the base of glaciers and in the green grass at the water’s edge. This Mad Max like setting belied the peacefulness of the bay and…
My Travels: Amazing Wildlife Spectacles with South Georgia on My Mind
Overnight we crossed the Antarctic Convergence, where the icy waters of the Antarctic mix with the warmer waters of the Atlantic. The ship maintained a blackout with no outside lights except essential navigation lights and all cabins had to have the blackout curtains drawn. We were doing this to avoid petrel mortality as they flew…
My Travels: Laid Low by Aggressive Soup
The next 48 hours were tough. When the aggressive soup was restrained at dinner on New Year’s Eve I received a visit from Liz Gifford shortly after dinner started. She was doing her cabin check and there I was groaning in my bunk with the window opened a slit for fresh cold air. I was…
My Travels: Poems and Delirium
I had not penned a poem for years but as I lay curled up in my bunk rocking from side to side, my mind light from the two-day fast and the drugs to try control the nausea, my thoughts floated away. I grasped these words out of nowhere when I realized how important it was…
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