Antarctica, The Expedition - Landing on South Shetland Islands 17th Feb, 2014

Each zodiac raft has 8 people and the first words that I heard from land were, ‘finally we are here’. To touch ground in Antartica was a dream some of the people had for the last many years. Including one of my tourists, who said, its been forty years and today I have finally come!

First steps on Land!

It was BIG, I thought to myself. It humbled me to realize that I will be coming here again.  The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators or the IAATO had a pre landing mandatory briefing for each one of us. We were informed about the things that had to be taken care of when walking on land. Of the regular precautions like not littering or smoking, the unique one was about the Penguin Highway. The Penguins move from the sea shore to their colony’s inland and in doing so follow only one track over and over again. If we were to encounter such a track or highway, then the animals had the first right to passage. We were just visitors in the land which they called home. The other instruction was about not picking up any stones or pebbles from the landing sites. The penguins build their nests with these stones and if the humans continued to use them as sovenirs from Antarctica then they wouldn’t be any left for the nests. It made me step back a little and realize about how every small thing we do against nature can  turn out to be big in the long run.

The Glaciers under the drifting clouds

With all of the IAATO instructions firmly embedded in our minds we set on our first ice walk in Antarctica. The penguins were still on the other side and it did seem like the end of world. The tourists, all wearing the blue wind proof jacket must’ve looked the same to the penguins.

The strong scent of the penguin poo makes sure that one doesn’t linger around for a long time and leaves after the first few pictures. Its like one of those natural in built defense mechanisms that animals have against their predetors.

I took some time off and watched the penguins walk on the penguin highway. We were given a time to return so I did what I was told, like I expect my people to do on any of my tours. Yes I felt like an absolute tourist and I guess I was liking it, here in Antarctica.

The Chinstrap Penguins on Half Moon Island

The half moon island was the first landing sight. It was also the sight where the Kayakers were going to do some rowing. However the winds would’ve toppled them over is what the instructors felt and therefore there was no other activity on the 17^th February. Well the campers and the Kayakers weren’t complaining as like the others they too had set foot on the continent for the first time.

As the two nights before and many later, that night too my dinner was all about fish. The food, the informative lectures and the general ambience on the MV FRAM, had started to make me more open to the whole idea of cruising. It was comfortable, very comfortable to look at the huge glaciers from the comfort of the observation deck. Every now and then I looked at the old documentaries playing in the mini theatre about the first expedition to the north and the south poles. Well, that wasn’t certainly comfortable. We however owed our little Antarctica expedition to those explorers in the early 1900’s. 

It was Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole in 1911,  on a ship call the Fram. That night in my sleep the pictures from that expedition kept on passing by me. 102 years ago, I thought, these waters were tamed by humans. I was happy they belonged to Norway!