There are no words adequate enough to describe the first glimpse of Antarctica.
The majestic landscape overpowers the senses with its vast, forbidding, pristine, glorious, glacier-covered beauty.
We arrived at a perfect Antarctis summer morning with the sun reflecting blindingly bright from the immense icefield ahead of us.
As we were approaching at very slow speed, and with the little wind there was at this moment, the temperature felt almost like an early spring day in British Columbia.
In front of us lay Anvers Island off the ice covered rocky slopes of the Antarctic Peninsular. Palmer Station is located on Anvers Island. Almost all of the scientiest stationed there came to our ship via two Zodiacs, a chilly journey of a couple of miles across open water. 'Warm' in Antarctica is a relative term, exposure to wind makes even the most 'balmy' day a tough experience. The young men and women gave a couple of lectures about their biological research here, and were going to stay aboard for most of the day.
Our 'Plan A' for the day was a passage through Lemaire Channel, a spectacular narrow passage (plugged up with sea ice and bits of icebergs most of the time, at least at one end). Plan A is our wish list, however plans could go up as far as Plan Z, as ice, wind and weather conditions force changes quite often at a moment's notice - when the ice captain can SEE what is happening inside these channels in terms of ice, current, and potential rapid changes in conditions.
We entered Lemaire Channel after negotiating a clutter of large and small icebergs, it appeared not only utterly and stunningly beautiful, but also relatively navigable. We crept in, the silence except for the occasional announcement from the bridge rendering the entrance almost a sacred experience. Seals sunned themselves on icefloes, penguins did their flying fish act, and jumped and swam en mass through the water, the occasional whale spouted and showed his flukes before a dive. Hundres of icebergs, large and small, competed with each other for the most transluscent and iridiscent shades of white, blues and emeralds. The vertigious mountains, black and bare (a rarity in Antarctica) rose on either side of the channel, which narrows to about 600 feet.
The ice was building up behind us, driven by wind and current. The captain announced that we would steer the ship 360 degrees (making wheelies must be one of his trademarks). This provided for a panoramic experience without leaving a favourite viewing spot on deck. Then we turned back towards Palmer Station backtracking the same route, except for the icebergs which had shifted into a different obstacle course.
Around 3 p.m. we appoached Palmer Station again, and the two Zodiacs sent to pick up the scientists from Amsterdam grew from tiny spots into real boats. A call went out through the ship for a couple of 'lost explorers', who seemed to like the big ship more than returning to base and had not turned up for departure. A short time later, all turned up, and the Zodiacs left with the scientists and a good supply of fresh fruit, vegetables, and Bourbon. Ready for a base camp party. The women of the party had taking the opportunity to get their hair done in the ship's beauty salon. Girls will be girls...
After dropping the visitors off, we returned to transit Neumayer Channel, another magnificient bit of land and ice scape. This time clouds had moved in, and a biting wind cleared the decks of almost all passengers. Yours truly remained, sometimes sheltering behind large steel stanchions but not missing a single minute of this grandest of grand shows on earth.
The good news is - two more days of this ahead. I just hope that we can follow Plan A as far as possible, it promises to be awe-inspiring.
The other good news is - the e/mail internet seems to work in this remote end of the globe.
