The night before, we decided to have all hands at 7am, in order to lift the anchor and head south. It was a typical Deception Island day – foggy. After talking to the Argentine Base, we learned that this is the norm and sun is the exception, so all of the blue sky pictures of Deception Island are the exception. The anchor was up and we were off, with breakfast on the road, our last with our fresh bread purchased in Puerto Williams (which has lasted fantastically well and provided us with many sandwiches, breakfasts, and sides to soups.) Now we need to see if we can bake our own!
The wind was minimal, constantly shifting between 5 knots and 17, although hovering more around 8 or 9, just under what we really require to have sails. In addition it kept shifting directions, so we motored the whole way. The first few hours were ice free, but then it became clear we were approaching the continent, as they became quite frequent. They are like clouds and just asking to be named based on their shapes and sizes. We saw the “Witches Finger”, the “Castle”, the “Sphinx”, and the “Camel”, just to name a few. Cameras were constantly in action.
We had 2 possible destinations that day – either Mikkelson Cove on Trinity Island, or Cierva Cove, where the Argentine base, Primavera, is. When close enough we contacted the base to check if the ice conditions were ok to get to the cove. They said yes.
Around 7 that evening we arrived at the base, which is on a point, surrounded by 2 massive glaciers that are just pushing ice out into the sea. They are iceberg factories. The sea was covered in icebergs that we were dodging. It was truly a wonderland. And in addition it was teaming with life. It’s still amazing that this cold and seemingly desolate place has so much action. Penguins were jumping everywhere, in groups of 10 or 20. We saw some seals and earlier in the day at least 3 whales, only 100m from the boat.
Erik took a position at the bow with the boat hook to push aside smaller bits of ice. Eventually when we got close, Erik and I launched Sancho (the Zodiac) to scout possible anchoring places. There was one potential small cove more or less in front of the base and another that was hidden and was a perfectly protected U shape and ice free. However, we later learned from the base, that should the wind change, the ice could easily block the exit. So after Quijote, with Fede and Pato onboard followed Sancho back, the base informed us of this. So Quijote turned around. And it’s amazing how fast the ice moves as the path out was already different from the path in. We also learned to appreciate the power of these small icebergs. As Quijote left, one of them rolled on itself. It was amazing to watch, as it did not move one way or the other, but spun on its own axis, with a wave following as a result.
Meanwhile on Quijote, while Sancho was scouting earlier, they watched a leopard seal grab, smack around on the surface, and kill a penguin! The penguin was then left dead on the surface, as Quijote was passing over the same place and Quijote more or less ran over the penguin. The seal then came back later to grab it.
After a thorough scouting, we determined that it was going to be impossible for us to safely anchor in this place. The base told us that there was an ice free bay just around the corner that would be good, so we motored to check it out. It was indeed ice free, and potentially a great place for a large ship; however the depths were 80+ meters with nothing particularly sheltered, so we said thanks, but no thanks.
So what to do for the night. Here in the peninsula we cannot sail at night, due to the danger of the icebergs. Since it was a calm night with no wind, we decided to motor to the middle of the Gerlache Strait and drift for the night. That way we would be going with the icebergs. So we did and held watches through the night, monitoring the radar. We passed the night without any problems with ice, although there was a small pipe burst in Pato’s cabin at midnight, but that was quickly fixed.
The plan was at first light to start motoring again; however at first light it was thick fog! Around 7, the fog had lifted enough that we started out again, this time aiming for the Enterprise Islands, which among yachts is one of the most protected places in the whole peninsula. As we approached the place all we saw were glaciers and mountains, and definitely nothing that looked safe and protected. The scale of everything makes perspective difficult and one can easily understand the difficulties the first explorers had.
As we got within 2 miles, we started to differentiate the more forward Enterprise Islands from the mainland and see that the charts might be right and that there is a passage! A mile away, we saw what we were looking for – the bow of a rusted old whaling ship, what we were going to go alongside. We also spotted the navigational beacon and proceeded around a smaller island for the anchorage. And it was indeed nearly perfect. It’s a U-shape with walls of snow surrounding it, minimal wind, and a perfect old boat to tie our lines to, as well as rocks on shore to tie off the other side of the boat.
The old whaling ship is partially sunk and the bow sticks out, while the stern is deep in the water. To enter the cove we actually passed over the stern and with the amazing clarity of the water, we could make out everything! I jumped across to the sunken boat to grab the lines and made them fast. Then Erik and I hopped into the Sancho and pulled the other lines to the rocks. Ah, finally we arrived on the Peninsula!
Erik made a great pasta lunch, while we tried to identify the white birds that were flying around us. We have concluded they are Antarctic Terns. Then we all geared up and went for a hike. From the top of the island, we had a fantastic view of Gerlache Strait, as well as finally stretching our legs! On the way down as we were nearing Sancho, 15 Chinstrap penguins were hopping out of the water to make their bed for the evening. And they do hop. The rocks are about 1 meter high, so they have to propel themselves vertically to get up on the rocks! It took them a few attempts, so we would just see penguin faces appearing and then disappearing as if on a trampoline. Once on the rocks they were less graceful and did a sort of waddle / hop to go further up the slope. We stood as they came closer to us. They had a few verbal arguments and then everyone set about their evening bath, of cleaning themselves with their beak. Then acted like a dog making his bed, as a dog will do a few circles before settling down in his place, they did the same and then happily came to rest on their bellies. By now the sun had gone behind the mountain and we went back home to enjoy the evening and watch the high latitude purple hues work their way across the mountains as the sun set. The day finished with an excellent beef dinner, topped by a mushroom sauce and Anastasia’s potatoes!
This morning as Erik was peacefully reading, he heard the vrrrm of an engine. Moments later, 4 zodiacs appeared with 10 tourists each, taking pictures of the sunken boat. A few snaps and they were gone. 20 minutes later another set of 2 zodiacs arrived and Pato went out to chat. After a minute, she then tapped on the window and pointed to Erik to come out. So out went our Viking. It turns out the guide was a nice Danish girl who then chatted with Erik in a mix of Danish and Swedish. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong tourists asked us about Quijote and were in awe that a sailboat was down here in Antarctica. We gave the nice Danish guide Quijote’s Post card with our website and all of the passengers seemed excited!
Now we are spending a bit of time working on the boat doing various projects – I made a lead line this morning to help de
termine depths from Sancho, Fede is reviewing charts, Erik is working on fixing one of the oars and Pato is reviewing the video of the past days. Later today we will hopefully explore another mountain, unless the predicted weather comes in and then we will be happy to spend a lazy afternoon reading onboard. Our heater is doing extremely well. Last night the temperature got down to -1.4C outside, while inside we were always between 20-22 degrees.
Thanks to our fans and those who message us (thanks Miriam for including some English texts). Michel – thanks for the recipe and jokes and puzzles. The recipe will be used tonight and the puzzle we are still working on. Margee – all the penguins were celebrating Mardi Gras yesterday as well!!! Keep the texts coming, we love them each morning.
***You can send FREE text messages to us at http://messaging.iridium.com; number: 881631529272
