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29 November – drake days
The last couple of days have been a typical drake crossing with endless sea swell and seabirds. Having left Antarctica probably for the last time, the passengers on the Ioffe are making full use of the bar to drink various toasts to the white continent. Last night a little Chinese lady who does not speak a work of English cornered the expedition staff and literally forced us all to down several beers with her. Buying rounds of ten beers at a time and getting very grumpy when we tried to sip rather than scull. Strange the people you meet. Right now Cape Horn is hidden in fog but we are just offshore heading for the Beagle passage.
Posted in Drake passage, Patrick in Antarctica
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27 November 2010
Overnight we steamed across the Bransfield Strait while a party raged in the bar … but there were a few sore heads in the morning! No worries though, remarkable how a quick dip in Antarctic water clears the head. First stop of the day was Deception island where we wandered around the ruins of the British Antarctic Survey base and a few more adventurous types braved the water for 10 seconds of fame and a photograph. Then half moon which is a standard stop but 
very nice – also got there at low tide which means you can cross the flooded spit of land that is separated from the main island at high tide … doesn’t happen often but if you get across there is a colony of Blue Eyed shag that is pretty cool. Now we are battening down the hatches for the mighty Drake!
Posted in Deception Island, Half Moon Island, Patrick in Antarctica, South Shetland Islands
Tagged Antarctic Shag
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26 November
Last night I slept under the Antarctic midnight sunset and was lulled to sleep by the sound of Gentoo penguins trumpeting their love to potential partners. Those with the best call were busily engaged in energetic lovemaking around us while snowy sheathbills darted around the snow banks picking up unspeakable morsels left behind by the penguins. Not a great deal of sleep was had as I was in an open bivvy that seemed to be a magnet for wandering penguins that tripped over my weary bulk several times. Not too bad I guess but sleep seems to be a long lost friend right now.
The rest of he day ran like a typical day guiding and driving Zodiacs in Antarctica – Packed up the camping early to make our first landing at Port Lockroy were I ended up spending most of my time helping floundering passengers out of thigh deep snow and guiding them over slippery rocks as the tide continually retreated making boat operations difficult.
Sometime tonight we will pass over the rusting hulk of the explorer onthe sea floor where she sank 3 years ago … here’s hoping we don’t join her!
Posted in Danco Island, Palmer Archipelago, Patrick in Antarctica, Port Lockroy
Tagged Gentoo Penguin, Snowy Seathbill
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25 Novemeber
The ice is fighting back and has managed to hold us back from two landings today. As a result we were forced to restrict our activity to cruising around the ice. Pushing through heavy ice is a blast though! No time to write as I have to go and get gear ready for a night of bivvying under the perpetual Antarctic sun at Danco Island.
Posted in Danco Island, Patrick in Antarctica
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24 November 2010
Woke at the crack of dawn.. but dawn is less of a crack and more of a gaping chasm here in Antarctica and lasts for hours …despite this I caught at least the first half of dawn when I dragged myself out of bed at 4:00 to jump in a small rubber boat to charge around icebergs. Minutes later I’m hanging from a crane 25m above the water and descending into the cold ice waters with seals, penguins and whales on my mind.
The first stop was Orne Harbour where I cruised past chinstrap penguins and leopard seal…then a quick dash up to Cuverville Island to see the largest Adelie penguin colony on the Antarctic Peninsula, and finally a landing and hike at Neko Harbour. The last is a particular favorite of mine with a churning glacier descending into a tranquil Bay populated by Gentoo penguins. The Glacier is fast and furious …by glacial standards, and drops icebergs frequently. Today a HUGE carving happened that sent a wave right up over the beach. I was onshore and though I avoided the worst we lost a bit of gear and I spent the rest of the landing wet up to my waist. Still …a great landing. I blazed the trail for the long walk up to
the ridge and then to the next bay where there were about seven Weddel seal asleep. I managed top get 20 minutes sitting alone on the beach listening to the Weddels sing in thier sleep accompanied by the trumpetting of Gentoo penguins.
A beautiful place to be working.
23 November 2010
We are finally in the peninsula! Well at least we are in theory, but unfortunately the dense fog around us means that there is not much to see. On second look however there are rafts of brash ice stretched over the water and an occasional snow petrel drifting like a white ghost through the fog. The air is brisk and the deck is covered with a fine powder of snow. The sunlight reaches late into the night and as I go to sleep tonight I look forward to an early start on zodiacs cruising around Orne Harbour. Itching to get out on the boats but also weary after three long days at sea…so to bed early for me and 4:30 start on the ice!
Monday 22 November
Another sea day, but today the ship pushed over the Antarctic convergence and entered the waters of Antarctica. It is a phenomenal change with the temperature dropping from 7 degree to 1 degree in a matter of 5 miles and a sudden shift in birdlife. This morning I spent an hour on the back deck watching the albatross wheel in my wake. This afternoon there are no albatross in sight and we areinstead surrounded by cape petrels and small prions that are buzzing around the boat and dipping between the crests of the wave. A lovely part of the ocean but I’m constantly scanning the horizon for our first iceberg and the rocks of Antarctcia … it is still a long wait.
Sunday 21 November
I woke up this morning at 6:00, stepped outside and watched two peale’s dolphins cruise by. This has been followed by a day of sealife with albatross, petrels and terns wheeling around the ship … the bad news is we have not gotten far towards our final destination.
The weather system we were trying to avoid yesterday ended up turning rather nasty and we had to hold off today just outside of the beagle channel. We didn’t actually get underway until 5:00 in the afternoon which puts us a long way behind schedule. Still the sea is heaving outside, our bow is pointed towards Antarctica and we are on our way.
Saturday 20 November
The first day of the season onboard the Russian vessel Ioffe and the day is spent carting boxes from the warf and storing ship for the next passage. The vessel is a typical russian ice-class ship with winding coridors, hidden stairs and six decks which takes a lot of getting used to. It also has massive decks which will get interesting when we hit the bis seas of the drake and have guest just developing thier sealegs and being hurled around on a slippery deck. The air has the slight hint of diesel and the smell of adventure clings to everything.
Right now we are holding off departure for a couple of hours while we wait for a huge weather system to pass through. But we are promed to go and already there are black browed albatross and kelp gull wheeling aroud in the wind over the deck. The Albatross will be our companions as we set later tonight and point our bows towards Antarctica.
Posted in Patrick in Antarctica
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Lazy Sunday
I woke early again and thought I’d check through the electrical system for any faults that might be contributing to my engine problem. So while I charged the old batteries from the shore I dove into the engine compartment and stripped down all the wiring to clean the contact points for the starting system. Thirty minutes later a flick of the ignition key prompted the engine to roar into life. After a moment of hesitation I decided to snub my dodgy wharf rat and pointed the bow to the open water and waved a cheery good bye to Horten and it ferries.
One of the reasons I decided to head off early was that I was supposed to meet an Indian Chief from Alberta, Francois Paulett, who was making a documentary on indigenous perspectives on oil and gas. I had a long way to go to the rendezvous point in Drøbak where I was supposed to meet him at 11:00, so the motor was put to the test as I charged north.
It rained. In fact it never stopped raining from the moment I left the harbor so I hunkered down in the shelter of the cockpit and braced myself for a miserable few hours of motoring which finally saw my tying up to the wharf at 12:00.
Despite the poor weather Francois was welcomed aboard with his film tech and a couple of WWF staff. Unfortunately there was not anything particularly nice to film unless you like grey mist and rain, so after some brief introductions on film, the guests retired below to have a lunch of buffalo jerky (brought by the chief) and several Norwegian courses. A very odd mix of cuisines, but all seemed to enjoy and then the chief had a nap while I stayed above in the rain and headed for home with no remarkable events en route.
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I am now tied up at the KNS yacht harbor on the Bygdøy peninsula and am settling into life aboard the yacht. It is a lovely setting here that while close to the city, is renowned for its bathing beaches and winding bike tracks through the woods which are fresh and green with spring growth at the moment. Unfortunately I took a tumble on one of those tracks while carrying gear to the boat. As a result I broke a finger which forces me to type with two fingers. Since I normally type with two fingers that is not such a problem but it still hurts!
I seem to constantly couple great times with minor disasters but either way I am looking forward to the next few months living on the water and exploring the fjord. Despite all the various catastrophes en route I wore a smile for at least 80% of the time. Life is good
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