Completely Blissed Out

Posted by on Jan 8, 2012 in Antarctica | 3 comments

Today was utterly amazing. I can’t even put into words how incredible everything was — the vast gravel plain below gorgeous glaciers with king penguins and fur seals literally everywhere, the rain that soaked almost everything, the wind that kicked up and really challenged our afternoon Zodiac landing on little Prion Island, and the giant wandering albatrosses nesting there literally 10 feet away from the boardwalk we climbed to reach them – also passing hundreds more fur seals, including tiny clumsy pups and males that charge but veer away if you touch their whiskers with a stick. I am completely blissed out. It’s amazing.

 Sent to you over a satellite phone using GMN’s XGate software.

 

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First Landing in South Georgia

Posted by on Jan 8, 2012 in Antarctica | 0 comments

The Falkland Islands were wonderful (Jan. 2-4, 2012), and now we’ve traversed over 800 miles of open ocean to reach remote, wild, stunning South Georgia Island. We’ll make our first landing this morning at famous Salisbury Plain on the island’s northeast coast. If you’ve seen photos of tens of thousands of King Penguins stretching up a hillside, they were taken here.

Salisbury is also a huge fur seal and elephant seal colony, and we all have to carry walking sticks or broom handles to keep any territorial fur seals at whisker-tickling distance. They do bite but if you stand your ground and rustle their sensitive whiskers with your stick they’ll back off. Many young fur seals are in the water all around our ship, looking up and twirling playfully in the clear blue. King penguins are visible by the thousands on the beach through binoculars and also swim alongside us, bathing with their white bellies skyward or just porpoising along.

There’s a sense of jollity on the ship as passengers take a leisurely breakfast down the hall. It’s drizzling and there’s not enough light for photography so although half the ship got up for 4:30 a.m. breakfast, our 5:30 landing has been postponed to 7:00. For most of us there’s no sense in going back to bed so we might as well enjoy the early morning. I had a cup of espresso about 4:30, from the wonderful automatic espresso machine up in the library. I can hear laughter and clinking cups from down the dining room down the passage.

Soon we’ll gear up for chilly drizzle and hiking in mud, but for now we’re cozy and warm inside the sturdy Ortelius.

 

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Iceberg In Sight!

Posted by on Jan 7, 2012 in Antarctica | 0 comments

The first iceberg of our Antarctic voyage is in sight! It was spotted at 10:24 a.m. on our third day sailing from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia. It’s a beauty, too; towering, with gorgeous blue depths where waves crash over its submerged ledges. This is a chunk of the massive glaciers that pour off the edges of the Antarctic continent and it has drifted northwest over a thousand miles on the currents.

Early this morning, I was awakened by an loud knock on my door and a shout of, “Whales!” I pulled on some warm layers and hurried to the bridge to join a few folks identifying the blows of humpback whales to starboard. Over about fifteen minutes we counted probably 8 whales including a mother and calf pair.

Then in the far distance, the remote and forbidding Shag Rocks appeared on the horizon. The veteran staff say this was the best weather they’ve ever seen at this spot and the captain circled the islands. Blue-eyed shags (cormorants) flew close overhead on their way to and from their nests on the crags.

Just a few miles after Shag Rocks, we passed what was possibly the first Southern Right Whale this voyage has ever seen. I didn’t see the whale myself but from the photos of the flukes I’m certain it was not a humpback.

We are still excited about the rare whale sighting, and now there’s ice!

I’ve seen small icebergs off tidewater glaciers in Southeast Alaska but this lone berg is far bigger, and it’s not even that big by Antarctic standards.

I’m really in the Southern Ocean now.

 

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Made It To Ushuaia!

Posted by on Dec 30, 2011 in Antarctica | 0 comments

Kate made it to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, “The Gateway to Antarctica!”

I first drafted this post in the air above a snowy expanse in the Rocky Mountains on the first of three long flights on the way to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. I’m now in the Hotel Canal Beagle (Beagle Channel Hotel) surrounded by the Southern end of the Andes mountain chain, craggy and snowy even in the summer. It’s only 1000 kilometers to Antarctica!

I have glimpsed our ship, the M/V Ortelius, at the pier, have eaten Fuegian-style trout for dinner in a local art cafe, and at last have a secure internet connection. It’s time for some long-anticipated sleep in a real bed (including a late night packing, it’s been…64 hours with a few airplane naps), but first, I want to let everyone know I made it!

Flying from San Francisco to Atlanta with me were Doug and Gail Cheeseman, founders of Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris, the company on whose Antarctic voyage I’ll be naturalist staff member number 15 for 90 world-traveling passengers.

In Atlanta another staff member and a few passengers joined our flight to Buenos Aires, and then in the BA airport we met up with over a dozen more. My last flight down the length of Argentina stopped briefly in Trelew, Chubut State, which took us low over beautiful Peninsula Valdes, where I had seen Southern Right Whales a few years ago. It’s been a beautiful mid-summer reunion with South America so far.

The Cheesemans group are now spread in two adjacent hotels right on the waterfront of gorgeous, mountainous, alpine-flavored Ushuaia. Tomorrow is a day for getting to know everyone as more people arrive and some go on field trips. On New Year’s Eve afternoon we set sail for Antarctica!

Read about the voyage itinerary and what we’re likely to see: http://cheesemans.com/antarctica_sg_dec11.html

It’s been an incredible three weeks already since I said, “Yes, I’ll go!” and my flight was booked. The response to my requests for sponsorships has been more than I imagined, and just what I needed to be able to take off for a month with a clear mind. My most heartfelt thanks go to each of my generous sponsors, and I look forward to posting a page soon recognizing their contributions.

It’s not too late to sponsor me, by the way. Signing up now for the remaining special limited-edition prints from this artistic expedition will support studio time when I return and allow me to focus on interpreting the experience artistically, in color, in line, in words, and in whatever ways the Antarctic itself inspires me.

Sponsor Kate’s Antarctic Artistic Adventure Go here: http://katespencer.com/store/store/sponsor-kates-sudden-expedition-to-antarctica-reserve-limited-edition-prints-today/

And keep watching this blog to hear about some of that inspiration as it happens. Best wishes from “Fin del Mundo!”

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