At 1800 hrs on the 15th Feb as per schedule, our
ship the MV FRAM set out from the ‘End of the worlds’ port, on a nine-day
classic expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. . We were promptly checked in
after which each of us had to attend a safety drill that was performed by a crewmember.
The crew on the Fram is interestingly all Filipino, with only the expedition
guides and navigation crew being European.
I have always been against cruise tourism, but this was
Antartica and that was the only way to get there. The first hours of sailing were easy and at times it didn’t
feel as if we were moving. We had spent the last 48 hours in more or less
travelling from Mumbai 20 deg above the equator to Ushuaia 56 deg below it, so
after fighting sleep for about 4 hours before dinner I gave in instantly on
assuming the 180 deg position in my cabin. It must be around 4 am when suddenly
I realized that I was moving in bed and I knew that this it. The Drake Passage
is where the three huge oceans, Pacific, Atlantic and the Antarctic start to
converge. The distance between the northern tip where we must be at 4 am
Argentinian time to the southern end of the passage is around 36 hours of travelling
at around 15 knots per hour.
As breakfast was served I already could hear mumbles of ‘oh
I don’t feel like eating’ ,or ‘I want to just go and lie in my bed’. I thought
I was coping quiet well to the sea, but then I realized that we were having a
very calm passage at 2 – 3 deg of danger, which meant nothing. Its good that it
stayed that way mostly to the convergence. Some good lectures about Antarctica
helped the passing of time. The expedition leaders kept on talking about how
lucky this sailing was as they had experienced waves of 20 mtrs in the last
crossing. So much so that even the staff was sick.
The Fram has a beautiful observation deck with high-end
binoculars and a not so expensive bar to give company. Sometime on the 17th
Feb in the distant fog someone shouted ‘land’ . This was it.. we had finally
arrived in the continent. The GPS read 63 deg south latitude and we were
somewhere on the periphery of the South Shetland Islands. The announcements
that happened at regular intervals about the daily program mentioned that our
first landing was going to be at 1430 hours on the half moon island. We were
divided in groups for the landing to make the going out and getting in more
convenient. Our group was no 2. And we were scheduled to make the landing at
1500 hours. The voice on the mic said ‘it is now + 1 deg centigrade but with a
wind speed of close to 45 m/s it feels more like – 3 deg centigrade. Warm
layers consumed most of the ‘bag space’,so we were quiet ready with the
clothes. The footwear was assigned to us by the cruise with a minimum fee.
We were already assigned the rubber boots 2 hours before the
landing. The disembarkation was to be from deck 2, the boots had to be hung
next to your cabin number on the same deck.
As the landing announcements started with group 1, I started
to get into the layers. It took me less time than it takes in Norway in winter.
Wearing the life jacket took the same amount of time as the layers and I was
out on the zodiac boat with the cold Antarctic air in my lungs.
It felt good even with my eyes closed, as I was the one
directly taking the wind on my face. I didn’t look up until I heard ‘iceberg’.
Somewhere in that little ride to the shore everyone including myself realized
that the next few days are going to be different. Unlike anything we had done
before. This land was unlike any place I had been before. It was Antarctica!
