This is the Magellan Explorer. It is a new and modern expedition vessel custom-built for Antarctic cruises, called a "small ship", capacity ~80 guests.
[From the website: "The ship features a glass-enclosed observation lounge and presentation room with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment, a spacious and stylish dining room, a well-stocked bar, a library, a meeting room, a gym, a sauna, and a medical clinic. The forward-facing observation deck leads to the ship’s bow, which is accessible to guests to offer proximity to marine wildlife. The ship has a fleet of 10 Zodiac boats that are well suited for disembarking and wildlife watching.
For comfortable navigation and maneuverability, the ship features stabilizers and bow and stern thrusters. For safety in navigation, there is an ice-detecting radar. And to reduce the environmental footprint, the vessel is equipped with an energy-recovery system that recycles the heat produced by the engines to warm up the ship and its water supply."
We fly from Punta Arenas to Stanley in the Falklands Islands where we board the ship.
I sat with Victoria on the plane. We talked about anything and everything. Another sister. We landed in the East Falklands at Mt Pleasant Airport. It is an International airport, but Argentina only allows one flight in and out a week. It is a naval base, no photos allowed.
Mt Pleasant International Airport (off the internet)
We get through immigration, then on to two buses to Port Stanley. The bus trip took an hour. We were given some sandwiches, a fruit bar and a drink. We were told dinner was waiting for us on the boat. A guide on the bus told us about living in the Falklands. He showed us the mountains/big hills where the main Falklands War battles were fought. The guide added I don't really want to talk about that as there is a lot more to learn about the Falklands than the war.
I learned that up to the age of 16 young people stay on the island. Then for secondary school, they go to the UK, and get flights home every holiday (paid for). Most young people - 80 per cent our guide reckoned - return after they finish school. There are too many jobs, and not enough people to fill them on the islands.
The catch to that is that there is not enough housing on the island for workers if they were to come. All fruit and vegetables have to be imported. Nothing grows in these soils and weather. There are few trees, and the ones there are, have a windswept lean.
A lot of houses grow their own veggies in pods to spend less on veggie buying. It is windy and cold. The average temperature is 3. Peat was the only source of heating for many years before solar power was introduced. Then I think I went to sleep on the bus.
It is ~9pm. We sight The Magellan Explorer.
Coming more into view.
Now it is time to board. and we all get off the bus and onto the ship.
Bus in the background. This is Mel from Christchurch in the front. Kerri and Nigel behind them. Nigel is why we are here. He had approached Bill at NEXT about funding for the Antarctic Trust, and while that didn't happen, they had got talking some more and that led to Nigel telling Bill about this trip. We've been looking forward to it for 3 years.
On the boat. I might look surprised here. Maybe I am. This boat is stunning. And I was struggling with taking a selfie on the deck. In the background, the lights of Port Stanley. (That is pretty much all of Port Stanley - the population of the Falklands is 3,200.)
As our bags went to our room Hadleigh, our expedition leader, introduced himself. He welcomes us. His first slide is the ship at the top of this page. He is saying there will be a safety briefing after dinner. He will introduce staff later.
Then we head for dinner. First dinner we sit with Helen Clarke and Peter Davis. Darn, I forgot to get a photo. There is one later in the blog. We talked about Helen's 101-year-old Dad. He sounds like a character and she is the chief organiser of looking after him with 3 other sisters. We discussed how Helen and Bill were the chief trip organisers. Peter and I agreed that what we had in common was that we brought a fun element to the trip.
This is our cabin.
The view (taken the next day).
So much to learn about ship life. Both Bill and I did not see the keys in the room when we looked in before dinner. So we locked our keys in our room. We had to get a person at reception to let us in our room to get them. This was your room key.
After dinner, we get our life jackets and get ready for the safety talk.
Hadleigh begins the talk by checking life jackets. He then tells us the layout of everything. He talks about the mudroom and shows a video. In the mudroom, he says to look for your cabin number. We see ours is the one shown on the video - cabin 423. Nice :).
Here is the cleaning part of the mudroom. The talk is all about life jackets, boots, and cleaning your boots.
This is the Antarctic Lounge where we have all our talks and pre - dinner, and post-dinner drinks.
Looking forward in the Antarctic Lounge.
The boat can put you to sleep. It has been a big day. This is Georgie (at the back), Destiny and Porohu (two of the Inspiring Young Explorers on the trip).
The next day it was exploring the ship and checking equipment. This is Bill after trying on the boots after the briefing. They fit.
We have 2 1/2 days on the boat before we will see the penguins. There will be talks and we will all get to know one another. I love the vibe. Lots in common and the same sense of humour. Out on the deck with Rob and Jean, Bill and I look for seabirds and feel the cold fresh air. It is refreshing.
My first sighting of a seabird - a black-browed albatross.
These are the wipers working on the bridge.
Here are the zodiacs for when we are able to land (weather allowing).
We go back to our rooms. I choose to buy Premium Internet on the ship so I can keep up with the blog. The internet is not great. I clear out emails and other folders. After doing all the clearouts and fiddling around I still can’t write the blog on the website. I work out I will put it all into my notes and when the internet is FAST, I can transfer it.
Rachel, Jo, Shauna and me in the lounge waiting for the first talk.
The first talk is on photography. After the talk, I realised I have to be more interesting with my photos. I think I nailed it here.
I had a go at photographing albatross. Turned out I photographed petrel instead.
We have dinner with German (pronounced Herman, from Argentina) and Rodrigos from Chile. German lives in Bariloche, and Rodrigos in Santigao. But both are very experienced in Antarctic trips and spend 6-8mths of their year on trips. They are both really interesting. German takes the photo.
I say I think his arm is a bit long.
So I asked Lawrence at the next door table to take the photo. He quickly takes one of himself before he takes us (I find out later).
I think he was pleased that he took a photo of himself. We were too when we found out. I spot Charlie in the background of that photo. Both are Inspiring Young Explorers.
Here is the video Lawrence took. I think he meant to take a photo and he took a video.
Before the talk the next day, there is a rainbow fog. I have never heard of a rainbow fog before.
This is Rachel Carr. As mentioned before she is the granddaughter of one of the men who went on the Quest Expedition with Shackleton. She has come from the UK to be on this trip. Her Gramps was Roddy Carr.
Laura gives a talk on life in South Georgia. She lived there for 9 months at the largest former whaling village on the island, Grytviken. She was in charge of the museum. This is her reading Shackleton’s original diary when we visited the musueum later in the trip.
I liked this photo where they captured the exact same shot on the same date in Grytviken as was shot in 1914, including the two men on Mt Duse. (It is 505m high.) You can see the effect of climate change dramatically. Maybe someone will do another at the same time this year. Maybe this will be part of a series of photos similar worldwide and then more people will act to reverse climate change.
After Laura's talk came Marcel's talk. Marcel is an expert on birds, and has a PhD in ?
Marcel introduces us to albatrosses and petrels with easy-to-follow slides. I have included the ones we are most likely to see. I learn more and cement what I already know (which has been forgotten).
In a nutshell, albatrosses and petrels are the big birds, petrels are big and middle birds, petrels and prions are little birds, and petrels are everywhere.
All birds are difficult to see and photograph. Be prepared, be ready and look at habits, size, moultings and plumage to assist you in identifying the birds you see. Photograph them and then you can identify them.
This might be easy for some I think! I love these SIMPLE ways to identify seabirds. (But I forget what GISS is.) Marcell is super succinct when he answers questions. I like his manner and he seems to know a lot. Here are his simple notes on slides.
Yay
I see a black-browed albatross. It is too fast for me to photograph and too far away. Maybe Charlie or John might give me a really close-up photo of one if I ask them.
After Marcel, we have Lydia's talk. Lydia was the 1st female to ascend Everest without O2, in 1988. She has completed 6 Everest summits. Amazing. Her talk was about how she got there.
I loved her first slides. This is her with her husband Dean. They are both climbers. They would have to be.
The first slides ...
What I got was Lydia was a learner, a risk taker, a mountain goat, a high energiser, thrived on the unpredictable and unknown, recovered quickly often, had courage in spades, and loved working in a tight team. I got I would like what she learned and would look at other ways of learning those skills.
The next night we have dinner with Fran and Tom. I love their meeting story. Both went online in Blenheim. They found each other and have been together for five years. They travel together alot.
We are closer to making our first landing. But before that, Tennessee, the historian, is talking. Just as he starts his talk, he spots an iceberg - the first we have seen. The talk stops!
More about Tennessee later.
Other people I talked to. Meet Kelsey. We talked about photography.
Meet Jenny. We talked about Science and the Education team.
We see South Georgia for the first time. It will soon be time for our first landing.
