December 26, 2107

    The ship is crossing the Scotia Sea area of the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica.  We have not seen land since Cape Horn. Around 6 pm this evening we should be seeing the Antarctic Peninsula Coast.

    There is a water temperature change in the Southern Ocean called the Antarctic Convergence, where the water temperature suddenly drops two or three degrees centigrade on the Antarctic side. It forms a jagged “ring” around the continent. This water temperature change occurred around midnight. The time is known because the engine room constantly monitors the water temperature as part of its operation.

  This morning the outside temperature was 0° C.  It was sunny with lots of white clouds on the horizon and windy at about 45 km/hour from the west.  The ship’s position was 60°57' South

latitude. Oslo, Norway, is located at 59° 55' North latitude.

   After breakfast, we attended the first Antarctica Expedition Team lecture, “Shackleton and the story of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition” presented by Gabriela Roldan. Shackleton got his first taste of Antarctica when he was part of Scott’s 1901-04 expedition where the team all suffered from scurvy. He organized the Nimrod British Antarctic Expedition 1907-09 and the members got the furthest south of any explorers to that date, but realized that there was not enough food and supplies to return safely if they proceeded to the South Pole, decided to return around. He received a knighthood for the expedition’s accomplishments. Shackleton was not in the British Navy, but he was a merchant mariner.  He had to find his own financing for his next expedition in 1914-16 on the ship “Endurance” with a crew of 28 men as well as a Ross 10-man team to supply the return route. The second in command was Wild, he knew how to navigate with a sextant. They stopped at South Georgia island to speak to whalers about ice conditions and were told that the expedition was leaving too late and could be caught in pack ice, which is what happened and eventually the ship was squeezed to the breaking point and sank, but the crew was able to remove all necessary supplies and the three row boats.  The group made it to Elephant Island and made a camp there for 105 days. The two of the row boats were made into shelters while Shackleton took five men with him to get to the end of the ice and get to South Georgia to arrange for a rescue.  A Chilean tugboat was sent to pick up the remaining expedition members.  All 28 men with Shackleton survived, but the 10-man supply team, waiting at Cape Evans on Ross Island, lost three men.  There is a book “Endurance”, that several people have recommended as an interesting read, describing the expedition.

   Just as the lecture ended, there was an announcement that the first iceberg was about two kilometers from the ship on the port side. The location was 61°31' South. We walked on Deck 3 about three kilometers before going the next Antarctica Expedition Team lecture. We dressed in layers, T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, hoodie, long pants, scarf, head band, rain pants acting as windbreakers, lined windbreaker jacket, mittens, socks and runners, plus a camera. You could see your breath on deck again today.    Steps 6743

   The second Antarctica Expedition Team lecture of the morning, “Antarctic Marine Ecosystems”, was presented by Dr. Peter Carey. An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice broken from a glacier and only 1/8 is above the water while sea ice mostly floats on the water and the salt content is concentrated at the bottom layers. Plankton is microscopic and moves on the currents, it does have any other means of propelling itself.  It is either plant, Phytoplankton, or animal, Zooplankton and is the food for Krill which are very tiny shrimplike creatures, which can live up to six or seven years. There are six kinds of seals in Antarctica. The Crabeater Seal in found only in Antarctica and eats krill. The Leopard Seals diet is 75% krill. The most likely whale to see in Antarctica is the Humpback Whale which is a slow-moving whale. The smallest whale is the Minke Whale. The Killer Whale is a member of the Dolphin family.

   By noon the ship’s position was 62°07' South latitude, and still going south. At 3 p.m. the position was 63°03' South latitude, travelling at 20 knots (35 km/hour). The northern Canadian settlement, Iqaluit, Nunavut, on Baffin Island lying along Frobisher Bay is 63° 44' North latitude.

   We had a light lunch in the Lido buffet on Deck 8 and were we were joined by Jan and Doug. They were telling us that the pipe leak in their cabin had got bigger. There was still a heat blower trying to dry out the carpet, but there is a mildew smell. They were given a cabin a deck lower at the front that is bigger, but noisier due to the waves hitting the ship. They have slept in their deck 2 cabin at night.

   We went for another walk on Deck 3 and put on the layers of clothes. The first sighting of land was an outlying island, one of the South Shetland Islands, covered in ice around 2:30. There was a layer of cloud above it and the sun was shining on it. The land was over five kilometers away and the telescopic lens could not focus on all the white to get a photo. There were several icebergs in the distance.    Steps 11,652

   The final Antarctica Expedition Team lecture for today was given by Dr. Margaret Bradshaw in the afternoon, about the Antarctic Icecap, its lakes, rivers, meteorites and deep drilling. Antarctica is the highest continent in the world with an average height of 2,300 meters.  There are two icecaps – East and West.  The ice on the Eastern Icecap averages 4,776 meters thick. There is a large lake, Lake Vostok, containing fresh water under the glacier.  Scientists get their information by drilling cores into the ice and preserving the ice in frozen sterile conditions for later study. They can extract gases to tell the content of the atmosphere tens of thousands of years ago.  Carbon dioxide has steeply risen in the last century, much more than in the previous 1,000 years.  Meteorites that fall on the icecaps are preserved in the ice.  Scientists analyze them for their content and calculate when they arrived on earth.

  We did some reading during the day.  In the afternoon, on board the ship, most of the attention was on the Antarctic visas that the ship passed. The rugged mountains and snow sparkled in the bright sunshine.

    Just before dinner the ship passed Smith Island, the most southern of the Southern Shetland Islands.  The ship is heading toward Graham Land at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. We will be cruising in Dallmann Bay for the evening. It has Anvers (Amberes) Island on one side and Brabounte Island on the other side.  These were named by a Portuguese explorer who named them after provinces in Portugal.

    As we passed the library on the way to dinner, we noticed that the screens all had the same message – There was no Internet available since the ship was out of satellite range. A few days ago, a conversation was overheard where a person was complaining that it took almost five minutes just to log on to the system and the speed was slow. Everyone was at our table for dinner. It looks like Jan and Doug will have to switch cabins, due to the leak in their Deck 2 cabin. The plumbers have not got the problem solved.

   Our choices for dinner were Spicy Shrimp Taco with avocado salsa, Caesar salad and Chicken soup for starters. Main course was pepper & cheese stuffed chicken breast with rice and carrots, and Teriyaki Salmon Caesar Salad. Desserts were Peach Crisp and Hot Fudge Sundae.  Most dinners finished their meals quickly so that they could get warmly dressed to watch the surroundings as the ship was cruising in Dallmann Bay.

    We arrived along the Antarctic coast around 6 pm, until sunset about 11:15 p.m. there was periodic commentary about the landscape, the “bergy bits” which were little pieces of the glaciers or parts of icebergs and the whales and penguins in the water.  We spent over two hours outside, even taking some pictures between courses at dinner.  The water was calm, the wind seemed weaker although the temperature remained at 0° C and the sun was shining. There were humpback whales feeding on krill and penguins, both in the water and standing on an iceberg that floated by.

    Tonight’s featured the Singers and Dancers but the early show was cancelled as the ship was cruising in Dallmann Bay. There were less than half the seats filled in the Mondriaan Lounge for the 10 p.m. show called “Dance”.

  The ship’s position was 64°16' South latitude at 10:20 pm when the day’s commentary ended as we left Dallmann Bay turning to port to continue around Anvers (Amberes) Island to get to Palmer Station for collect the scientists for their presentations in the morning.

   Tonight’s sunset was at 11:46 p.m. and tomorrow’s sunrise will be 2:43 a.m.

Final Steps 17,157