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01.03.2016: Tag 18 - Gourdin Island and Brown Bluff (Antarctic Continent)
Our wake up call came at 7-15am and a look through our porthole window showed us that it was foggy but there were a lot of large icebergs around. After breakfast I needed to help out a German passenger who asked me to translate for a doctors visit. Shortly afterwards an announcement came over the PA saying we needed to be at the zodiac station in 10 minutes!
I dashed back to our cabin where Victor had given us clean towels posed in the shape of a snail and got changed into my waterproof gear for a landing on Gourdin Island. The swell was quite high and we had a wind speed of 30 knots which meant it wasn't easy to get into the zodiac. One woman in front of us slipped on the step into the zodiac and literally fell in on her backside! We definitely had to be careful.
Our zodiac was the first to land even though we had got onto the third zodiac. Our driver was Ali who was the one with the GPS - it was so foggy that the other zodiacs had to follow us to get to the landing site. It was a very rough and bumpy ride and we couldn't see where we would be landing.
We pulled up to the shore and got out onto rocks which was fairly easy. Once on land the fog started to clear up but it was bitterly cold. We finally got to see some Adélie penguins along with Chinstraps and Gentoos.
Gourdin Island - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We also watched a a Snowy sheathbill feed her chick which was mainly brown with white patches and we got to see a Weddell seal for the first time. It happily posed for photos on the beach!
The divers had a great time with a leopard seal underwater and shared their photos with us.
We spent almost two hours on the island and, whilst the sun came out for a short while giving us a view of the bay and the icebergs, it soon disappeared into the fog again. The ride back to the ship was even choppier and we couldn't see the ship at all. I put my hand above my eyes and shouted "Ship Ahoy!" as a faint shadow appeared!
Getting out of the zodiac onto the gangplank was a real adventure. The swell meant that the zodiac was dipping and pitching and you had to time it right to get out and onto the ship again. The crew were having a great deal of difficulty holding the zodiacs in place using ropes and in the zodiac after us, the driver fell and then the rope broke! Only half the passengers had managed to get off so the zodiac drifted away whilst the crew hunted down another piece of rope and got the rest of the passengers off!
Day 18: Landing on Gourdin Island
We got back just before noon and had to wash our waterproof trousers because they stunk of penguin poop! We went straight to lunch for vegetable soup followed by "make your own burgers!" and French fries. We were really hungry and Kirsten had a job fitting hers into her mouth. But she didn't have as much trouble as Jana and Carolin who had made "Whoppers!" Then Alex walked behind our seats and there was a loud splat followed by "Oh shit!" His burger was piled so high that half of it dropped onto the seat behind Kirsten splattering her with Mayo! Alex quickly swiped his burger back onto his plate and tried to wipe the mess off Kirsten. He was so hungry he didn't hang around to finish the clean up properly!
We set sail for the Antarctic Peninsula passing glaciers along the way. We went out on deck to get our first glimpse of the Seventh Continent. We sailed past Esperanza Station which is manned year round by researchers. There were some huge icebergs with their wonderful turquoise blue colour and we were even accompanied by a minke whale. The scenery was very dramatic and the views were truly amazing.
We dropped anchor at Brown Bluff which is an ice-capped, flat-topped 745m extinct volcano on the Peninsula's north eastern tip. The original diameter of the volcano has been calculated at 12km to 15km and it's approximately one million years old. The bluff takes its name from a striking cliff of reddish-brown rock on its north face. Several hundred Gentoos and 20,000 Adélies nest here but unfortunately rock slides onto the 3km-long beach sometimes wipe out groups of them.
It had turned into a beautiful sunny day but the swell was high again when we got into the zodiac that was rising and falling at the gangplank as we boarded. Kelvin, one of the dive guides, was our driver and the ride over to the landing site was quite rough. I said to him "You do know that we're not divers right?" just in case he thought we were the ones in the dry suits and we'd be OK if we went overboard!!
At 4-30pm on the first of March we finally set foot on the one continent we have never been to! Yippee! Of course, we had to take celebration photos of this most historic moment!
We enjoyed the scenery surrounding us - the volcanic bombs within the brown ashes and blackish basaltic rocks which were everywhere. In addition, there were white granitic boulders on the beach which had been transported by glaciers. We set off to see more Gentoo and Adélie penguins and watched as some of them played with the red flags laid out by the crew to show us that we should not go further along the beach.
We got a great view of the Plancius as it moved to a different spot in the bay and then we set off to hike up to a glacier but we only got part of the way up when the crew started telling people that we had to turn around and go back!
The captain had ordered us all back on board because the wind speed and wave action was increasing out in the bay. That was why we had seen the ship moving position! So we turned around and went back down to queue up for the zodiac ride back and watched a penguin falling over a rope holding one of the zodiacs on the beach!
For the ride back we had Christian as our driver and Ab as the extra crew member to help us get back on board. The first part of the ride was very smooth going between icebergs but when we got further out, that changed! We had to go very slowly because of the waves and even then, we still got very wet!
The gangway was jigging up and down as we approached and we understood why we had been called back by the captain. It was hard work for the crew to get us back on board but we all managed it. The zodiacs after us were having increasing problems as the conditions got worse, but we all managed to get back on board safely and we set sail for our next destination.
At recap we found out that not everyone had managed to get on land because the conditions had changed so quickly and about 10 people never got off the ship! Further south our route was blocked with ice so we might not get to Paulet Island but there would be another chance to land on the Antarctic Continent as we were heading back north to Hope Bay. The rest of the schedule will be arranged depending on weather conditions.
Our evening meal was a BBQ but I ordered the vegetarian and had tofu sausage, half a potato, zucchini and sweet corn. There was a dessert buffet with Tiramisu, strawberry gateaux and a chocolate coffee cake. We could eat as much as we wanted ... which we did!!
Afterwards we had a party in the lounge with disco music and dancing. Tom refreshed my memory on how to dance the Macarena - its been such a long time since I've done that and we all had a lot of fun.
Day 18: Landing at Brown Bluff (Antarctic Continent)
