Antarctic Cruise Day 36 / 40 - Yankee Harbor, Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica - A full Antarctica experience

Antarctic Cruise Day 36 / 40 - Yankee Harbor, Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica - A fitting final landing

Trip day: 36 / 40

Port days: 17
Sea days: 18
Countries: 5
Continents: 4
Ports/Landings: 13

Last night, they announced our plan for today - sail about five miles to the northeast to Greenwich Island.  We would be landing in Yankee Harbor where there frequently are seals as well as Gentoo colonies.  We awoke to temps in the low 30s F - bikini weather in Antarctica.  Unfortunately, it was accompanied by a low overcast caused by the warm air arriving over the colder water.  To round out the fun, we also had 20+MPH winds and driving snow.  Yea, Antarctica!

Undeterred, we suited up.  Base layer on top and bottom, thin fleece pants over that, waterproof pants over that, boot socks and the muck boots, fleece vest (electrically heated but we didn’t need the heat today), puffer jacket, parka, hat, glove liners and gloves (me) or mittens (Arlona).  We headed to the Zodiac.

Our arrival area had a lot of drift ice all around.  Hmm…I wonder if that will become an issue later… (this might just be a little foreshadowing).  The climb out was again a wet one, then onto the ice, and up the steps carved by the expedition team.

Up on land, we had a driving wind, pelting us with small rain/ice pellets.  If you look closely, you can see my glasses were already covered.

You can see the drift ice in the water (cue ominous music)

You can see the penguins in the distance behind us (cue cuteness sounds)

A pair of brown skuas were flying around.  These are predators that hunt penguin chicks.  It is all part of the circle of life as they have to eat too.  These are large, strong birds with up to a five-foot wingspan, and are impressive to see relatively close-up.

The expedition team typically creates a walkway area for the guests that keeps us safe and creates an appropriate gap between us and the wildlife.  Today was a little different with a much more open “wandering” area.  The penguins, of course, ignored it and also wandered in and out, making for a little closer contact as they walked by.  It was pretty nice having the Gentoos wander so close to us.

They were unfazed by the crappy weather and went about their critical business, holding meetings, and scurrying about.

This looked like a committee about to form

Those patches are covered in penguins…and penguin poo

♫ It’s just a jump to the left… ♫

♫ And a step to the ri...iii...iii…iii…ight ♫

♫ Put your hands on your hips… ♫ - wait – I don’t have hips, or hands for that matter

No Time Warp for me

As we were walking back to the landing area, we spotted a lone penguin hopping up onto the island.  It was a chinstrap penguin!  It seemed to find a Gentoo buddy and they headed off together.

Our ship kept changing from a “ghost ship” to a more visible version, and the driving snow came and went.

We boarded our Zodiac and tried to head back to Polaris.  Remember that drift ice I mentioned?  Well, it completely surrounded our Zodiac and we were seriously stuck.  

Our Zodiac pilot tried but was unable to free us.  

Lucky for us, one passenger insisted that she be allowed to help as this happened to her a couple of days ago and she knew what to do.  The pilot eventually let her help. She pushed large chunks of ice away from the back of the ship with a paddle, clearing a few feet at a time.  This allowed the pilot to back up a bit before more ice blocked the way.  This pattern continued for a few minutes and then we were free from the ice.  She got a round of applause from the other passengers and a relieved "Thank you" from the pilot.

We were constantly pelted with water and snow as we pounded the waves back to Polaris.  Everyone was dripping wet when we got back.  We decided to cancel our Special Operations Boat ride later this afternoon, but it was a moot issue as all operations were canceled.  Weather was coming in and the captain canceled operations for safety reasons.

Speaking of canceled - I forgot to mention that the submarine operations were canceled due to a “technical issue” a couple days ago.  They attempted to run one sub today, but that got canceled as well.  We were lucky to get on when we did.

After returning to the ship, we got out of our wet gear.  Arlona tossed everything into the laundry as it was all covered with salt water.  We will be making use of the drying closet as the puffer and parka instructions are to dry for ten minutes and then hang dry.  We don’t have that kind of time!

This marks the end of our Antarctica time so it is time to return our borrowed gear – the muck boots and the waterproof pants.  Our cabin steward will grab the pants from the room later on, but they asked everyone to place the boots in the hall.  It looks a little creepy – perfect for Halloween - boo...ts.

Today is Halloween, so the World Café had a definite look to it.

That right one obviously ate somewhere other than the wonderful World Café 

The desserts were all decked out for the holiday as well.

After lunch, I checked Windy – a great source for looking at forecasted winds, precipitation, and other critical weather factors.  Here’s what I saw for this afternoon, and basically for the next couple of days.

The red line shows our approximate path from the South Shetland Islands to Ushuaia. We will be looking at 30-50 MPH winds from the west for our entire transit of the Drake Passage.  No more Drake Lake – we’re facing the Drake Shake for the next 36 hours or so.

We will be in the Drake Passage tonight and all day tomorrow. On Wednesday, we will arrive back in South America.  The plan is to sail around Cape Horn, but that will be dictated by the winds.  Right now, it looks like there might be a window where we will only have 15MPH winds or so around the Cape, so timing will be everything.

We got ready for our evening on Polaris.

Our evening started in The Aula with the captain thanking all the passengers and crew for a fantastic experience in Antarctica.  Nearly half of the crew was available to appear and it was awesome.  There has been a Viking film crew here and they showed some incredible drone footage.  I wish we could get a copy as it was beautiful.

We enjoyed dinner with friends, Keith and Marilyn, who we shared our first meal with on the ship about a month ago.  I wrapped up dinner with another scrumptious creation from gelato queen, Tshona.  They have a cold plate where they can spread out the gelato and add your choice of mix-ins.  She has been taking good care of me for the entire journey. The pretzel on top looks like a heart because each creation is made with love!

We stopped by our room to pick up computers and found this on the bed.

Now, we can display evidence of our cocktail competition victory.  Woo!

As we moved to the Explorers’ Bar, the Drake Shake started in earnest with the occasional wave/swell breaking over the windows in the upper level of the Explorers’ Bar on deck #5!  With the Drake Shake in full swing, we enjoyed the ride and a cocktail from the exceptional beverage team.

Tomorrow will be a rocking and rolling day as we continue through the Drake Passage.