AN UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
With steam billowing from my mouth and snow up to my knees, I summit the small hill on the largest of the Aitcho Islands in the South Shetland chain, to a round of gurgling applause from the local Gentoo penguin colony. But approval on this desolately beautiful rock isn’t the only reward for the 30 hours flying and two days sailing it took to get here; the view across English Strait, which is bathed in glorious golden sunlight, is truly magnificent. If I was an explorer of old, glaring out from thick, round goggles, my beard flecked with icicles, I’d be looking for a good spot to raise my flag. I settle for erecting a tripod instead, as black and white Chinstraps and Gentoos the size of housecats fuss around my feet, oblivious to the captivated imagination of their visitor.
Tiny, unassuming Aitcho is the first dry land since our ship, Aurora Expeditions’ pint-sized Polar Pioneer, left Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina, three days before. There, the port was bustling with ships bound for the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula as an ever-increasing number of affluent and intrepid travellers make for the awe-inspiring White Continent.
It’s more reminiscent of a day cruise to some secluded picnic spot than the beginning of an expedition as we ply the calm waters of the Beagle Channel, enjoying glorious sunshine and views of the snow-dusted peaks which ring Ushuaia’s harbour. We mingle with fellow explorers from across the globe, pose for photos and trace the flight paths of sheathbills and sleek cormorants as they race across the glistening water in formation, their reflections never quite catching up. Then, just after dinner our expedition leader Dr Gary Miller announces our arrival at the Drake Passage and it’s time to batten down the hatches as we enter some of the most tumultuous waters on the globe.
There’s nothing quite like five meter swells and 40 knot winds to bring out the explorer in you, and Aurora’s open bridge policy ensures those who venture up the ship’s narrow staircases feel like part of the Russian crew, as they cling to supports and watch whitecaps slam against the hull, a cascade of cold, green sea pounding against the bridge’s windows.
That’s what Antarctica cruising is all about; it’s a journey to a remote land wreathed by turbulent seas and capped with inhospitable ice, ensuring only the most willing ever venture this far south.
The Drake Passage and the icy environment are not the only detractors; international conventions strictly enforce rules on the number of tourists allowed to visit each season, ensuring it remains pristine. The few cruise companies that are allowed to land passengers on the continent (most of the estimated 40,000 visitors annually arrive by ship, with many on ‘cruise by’ itineraries that never actually land) are regulated by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators and the number of travellers allowed on the ice at any one time, and what they do when they arrive, is all strictly monitored.
Aurora Expeditions have been cruising to the Antarctic Peninsula since the 1990s, and offer a truly authentic take on polar exploration for a lucky handful. The Polar Pioneer, a former Russian spy ship, is far from luxurious but instead its hardy crew, comfort cuisine and compact, practical cabins offers a true sense of how the many scientific teams live here. In fact, Aurora’s marine crew is complemented by a dedicated team of polar junkies – naturalists, biologists and photographers who lead visitors with guided excursions and insightful briefings.
The atmosphere is positively electric through the ship’s narrow confines two days later as the swells finally relent and Gary announces that we’ve made good progress through the Drake and arrived in Antarctic waters with time for an evening landing in the South Shetlands. Our complement of 50 passengers scramble into thick rubber moon boots and bright blue Aurora Expeditions jackets, cameras at the ready as they line the decks waiting for their turn to clamber down the gangway to a waiting zodiac, and the prospect of our first Antarctic landing.
Aitcho is the first of a dozen such excursions that come part and parcel with an Aurora Expeditions cruise At the Hydrurga Rocks, two small, snow and ice-covered rocky islands in the Palmer Archipelago, we watch Weddell seals and a solitary leopard seal lounging on the ice, the sensational views of the Buache and Modey Peaks, towering mountains on nearby Two Hummock Island, as a dramatic backdrop. In narrow, sheltered Neko Harbour, on the west coast of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula, passengers can climb, or sail around, towering icebergs, serenaded by the a vast penguin colony.
Aitcho is the first of a dozen such excursions that come part and parcel with an Aurora Expeditions cruise At the Hydrurga Rocks, two small, snow and ice-covered rocky islands in the Palmer Archipelago, we watch Weddell seals and a solitary leopard seal lounging on the ice, the sensational views of the Buache and Modey Peaks, towering mountains on nearby Two Hummock Island, as a dramatic backdrop. In narrow, sheltered Neko Harbour, on the west coast of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula, passengers can climb, or sail around, towering icebergs, serenaded by the a vast penguin colony.
After our Russian captain crushes and barges our way through the ice of the mesmerising Lemaire Channel, virtually every passenger stooped over the rail on the ship’s foresail to watch the ice floes crack and capsize in our wake. I then board a zodiac driven by Norwegian expedition photographer and bird fanatic Eirik Grønningsæter, leaving the ship icebergs the size of double-storey houses, tracing the wake of an inquisitive minke whale while capturing the turquoise brilliance of freshly turned icebergs.
We meet fellow explorers in Port Lockroy, one of the Peninsula’s most beautiful natural harbours. ringed by the jagged, brutal peaks of the Seven Sisters to one side and the imposing Savoia Peak on the other. Beyond the tiny camp, whale skeletons reach up from the snow, penguins stumble their way across the billiard table-flat sea ice, and blue eyed shags take turns to race across the water and glide through the frozen thermals above the harbour. That night a duo of humpbacks escort our ship through the mirror-like waters of the Gerlache Strait.
Finally it’s our time to play true polar explorer, with two of Aurora’s most popular experiences, ice camping and the polar plunge. The latter takes place on our afternoon in the Lemaire Chanel, where, under a dazzling sun, passengers of all ages leap from the ship’s deck, GoPro cameras at the ready, into the frozen waters, to rounds of applause from crew and guests alike. After the blinding cold of the Antarctic seas, the warmth of the sun is glorious and many passengers wander the decks in their swimming trunks, forgetting they were on the cusp of the Antarctic Circle.
The ice camping is a much hardier experience but one that still seduces 80 percent of the ship’s contingent. Camping under the stars is one of the most popular in a raft of new activities offered by Aurora Expeditions; travellers can now also follow guides up frozen mountain passes, kayak through fields of blue-white icebergs, and even snorkel and scuba dive on selected trips. Aurora guests are encouraged to ‘rough it’ with nothing but sleeping bags between them and the awe-inspiring landscapes of an Antarctic summer night.
The crew ferries passengers loaded up with special sleeping bags and bed rolls across to Useful Island, in the Gerlache Strait. With our camp being a sleeping bag and sky without nothing in between, our little group work up a sweat digging a trench in the wind-hardened ice, piling the snow in a foot-high wall that will help protect us from the whipping polar gusts. Then we settle in for a night under the polar summer skies, all of us snug basking in the silence of Antarctica.
We wave good bye the Antarctica a few days later as the ship slips back into the tumultuous Drake Passage, the first heaving waves arriving mid-way through dinner. But the ice camping isn’t our last chance to explore the wonders of the deep south; after a rare landing at Cape Horn, where we climb the steep staircases to the top of wind-whipped sea cliffs and visit the sole Chilean naval family that protects this last outpost, the Polar Pioneer berths at Porto Williams, the first commercial cruise ship to ever conduct an itinerary turn around there. The remote Chilean town has aspirations to compete with Ushuaia, another 50 kilometres down the Beagle Channel, and our band of now seasoned polar explorers make history as the first polar tourists to disembark at its tiny pier. It’s a fitting end to a unforgettable adventure to the world’s last frozen frontier.
